Please Justify This Police Action For Me

[Irreligious Atheist]

Maybe they thought that's how they were supposed to react in that situation, or they were given bad training? I don't know what they were thinking. They should have known better, but clearly they did not.

[The Grand Nudger]

Why would they think that, and why would their training suggest or imply that? Why should they have known better?

Known better with respect to what? Particularly if we're suggesting that they thought their training would dictate it, that they thought that society would assent. Is this just one of those inexplicable mysteries of the universe, like what happened before the big bang, you reckon?

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Here's one that isn't rhetorical. How, do you imagine, has a person who has in their own estimation been against police brutality and for the need for reform, found themselves making common cause with cops who maced a fourth grader as...... again in their own estimation......a negative reaction to the religion of anti-racism? If I were in the business of spreading racist propaganda - I'd be reading you like you were writing a manual. Does the absurdity of your situation, in this regard, ever hit you?

[Irreligious Atheist]

Just because it's called Anti-racism (notice the capital a. I wasn't talking about anti-racism, but rather capital A, Anti-racism), doesn't mean it's a good thing, just like Antifa is not good just because they're defined as being anti-facist. "Feminism only means you want equality" is not a good argument either, because there is 3rd and 4th wave feminism which are very different from 1st wave feminism. Context matters and things are not so simple.

The religion of Anti-racism says you're either Anti-racist or you're a racist. You either agree with the agenda of the Anti-racists, which is an f'd up agenda, and you agree that whenever anything happens to an unarmed black person it happened because of racism, or you are a racist. If those are my two choices, I don't mind being called a racist, because I know in my heart I don't want to see black people mistreated for being black. I've always been against the militarization of the police. I've always been against stop and frisk policies. I think all drugs should be legal and am against people being locked up for drug use. I'm against black people getting longer sentences for the same crimes. I'm white, but I'm poor as shit myself and think it's unfair that your sentence can depend on how good of a lawyer you can afford. I care about all people and know my own heart, and I don't believe in free will anyhow so I know the blacks who commit crime couldn't have chosen to do otherwise, and I know many blacks grow up in an unfair situation and don't see any other way to live life. If people still think I'm racist even though I hold all of these opinions, I am ok with that.

[Rev. Rye]

Why would they think that, and why would their training suggest or imply that? Why should they have known better?

Known better with respect to what? Particularly if we're suggesting that they thought their training would dictate it, that they thought that society would assent. Is this just one of those inexplicable mysteries of the universe, like what happened before the big bang, you reckon?

It makes perfect sense when you keep the old mantra of "when the only tool you have is a hammer, all your problems look like nails" in mind.



I know this was a line in Arrival, but I can't find a clip of the scene on YouTube. The closest thing I can find is a clip of the score called "Hammers and Nails," but that wouldn't actually help.

[The Grand Nudger]

Jesus christ, have you checked for antifa under your bed? Wanna tell me about dominion voting machines or the ghost of hugo chavez next? Why would the agenda of anti-racism be bad. Why would people think that you're a racist, and why would you be okay with that? Same question again.

Does the absurdity of your situation in this regard ever hit you? How has it come to pass that you, a non [insert negatively valued descriptor here] person has come to make common cause with identical rhetorical flourish as the actual [insert negatively valued descriptor here] folk? You went full steve king - but you're not steve king anymore than those cops who maced a kid are, so what gives?

[Irreligious Atheist]

Why would they think that, and why would their training suggest or imply that?  Why should they have known better?

Known better with respect to what?  Particularly if we're suggesting that they thought their training would dictate it, that they thought that society would assent.  Is this just one of those inexplicable mysteries of the universe, like what happened before the big bang, you reckon?

---

Here's one that isn't rhetorical.  How, do you imagine, has a person who has in their own estimation been against police brutality and for the need for reform, found themselves making common cause with cops who maced a fourth grader as...... again in their own estimation......a negative reaction to the religion of anti-racism?  If I were in the business of spreading racist propaganda - I'd be reading you like you were writing a manual.  Does the absurdity of your situation, in this regard, ever hit you?

I think they should have known better because it seems to me they probably could have done something different in their situation, like grab the girl around the waist and try to move her further into the car so her legs weren't sticking out of it and so her arms weren't hurt. I haven't had police training though so maybe I'd be thinking differently if I had. All I can go off is what seems to make sense in my head.

I don't agree with how the police handled the situation, but I brought up some things to add context. I think it's relevant that they say they didn't want her to get hypothermia because I think that might explain why they didn't stand there out in the cold for an hour waiting for her to calm down. Did they pepper spray her just for the hell of it? Maybe, and maybe not. It's always a good idea to take context into account though.

[The Grand Nudger]

Why would they do that if they can just mace her? For the hell of it?........again...an absurd comparison where neither option reflects reality. They maced her to make her comply. Simple.

By all means, add as much context as you think an explanation would require. As a person committed to speaking out against police brutality, why do you think that law enforcement officers might believe that macing a nine year old is a solution to noncompliance, and why do you think that law enforcement officers might believe that they can get away with it, and how did we get to that point?

Because she was fat and had a bad mom? Is that the context that you think needs to be taken into account? Is that the context that explains an officers decision to mace a child, or their belief that it was appropriate, or their belief that they would get away with it even if it weren't?

[Rev. Rye]

Maybe the objection is to the more jackasstic extremists, you know, the ones who actually do legit hate white people and react to their people's history of racist oppression by becoming entitled, but all the way insisting that they can't be racist because only the people with actual power can be racist and they only want that level of power really, really, bad (which is the problem with applying the power plus prejudice definition of systemic racism to individual ideas); people like this:



But if that's the case, well, then anti-racism isn't the problem, because all those types are doing is whining on social media (even if it is really fucking loud) and, odds are, the worst they're going to do is make your eyes roll so far back into your head you can probably see your own skull. That doesn't mean the underlying idea of anti-racism isn't a good one; just that some people are idiots about it.

[The Grand Nudger]

-and absolutely none of that is an explanation for why a cop maces a child, why they might think it's appropriate, and why they might believe they'd get away with it if it weren't.

It's just some poor asshole who hasn't quite discovered himself flogging his greivances against.....[reads back], literally every idiotic boogeyman and cause in wingnutistan. It's infuriating, and I'll posit again that we literally can't do better if this is what's bouncing around in the decent segment of americas heads. That's our cultural ceiling, while the out and out indecents are busily excavating The Fall.

[Irreligious Atheist]

Jesus christ, have you checked for antifa under your bed?  Wanna tell me about dominion voting machines or the ghost of hugo chavez next?  Why would the agenda of anti-racism be bad.  Why would people think that you're a racist, and why would you be okay with that?  Same question again.

Does the absurdity of your situation in this regard ever hit you?  How has it come to pass that you, a non [insert negatively valued descriptor here] person has come to make common cause with identical rhetorical flourish as the actual [insert negatively valued descriptor here] folk?  You went full steve king - but you're not steve king anymore than those cops who maced a kid are, so what gives?

I think I've only mentioned Antifa a couple times on here. I don't talk about them much. I bet though, that if it was President Trump's supporters attacking the Democrats headquarters, you'd have slightly more of a problem with it.

Anti-racism is bad because it calls for the defunding of the police which will only hurt blacks, it ended up in chokeholds being banned (cops beating people with batons rather than using these holds which UFC fighters say are very safe and a far better alternative doesn't sound good for blacks to me), and they demonize white people for not agreeing with them about every interaction between a black person and a cop that goes badly for the black person. This demonizaton of whites is only helping to create more white supremacists and further dividing the races. I want people of all races to get along, but BLM and the religion of Anti-racism are great recruiting tools for hate groups.

I use arguments that make sense to me. I'm not going to refrain from using an argument because some hateful person says things somewhat similar to justify their hate. If I think something is a good argument then I will use it, regardless of what other people are saying.

Why am I ok with being called a racist? I don't let names bother me. I don't like it when any race is being demonized, whether that's blacks, Asians, whites, or whoever, but being called a racist is what it is. I just shrug it off.