On Current Events: BLM · 11:45pm Jun 4th, 2020
I wonder every day while uprisings are taking place how to explain to my son what our reality is.
The last 3 years have been so divisive, that putting anything in context is challenging, especially when some of the children his age, at his school, his friends… have parents that openly pretend that the circumstances that brought us to what's happening right now are simply the result of "left-wing propaganda" or "socialism!".
People that are perfectly happy to equally compare what happened at Lafayette Square with the armed protests around the country to "reopen America" as if they both represented the same. As if staying home orders to prevent the spread of a deadly disease merits armed response from protesters and no action from the police, but the brutal and systematic abuse of power that significantly affects the black community more than others from the very individuals that are supposed to protect them deserves armed action against them.
People that have the audacity to call out that, "if they believe Covid-19 is real, they should stay home!"
I'll be honest. I don't give a fuck about your political inclination. I really don't. Some of my best friends—people who I am thankful not only are part of my life, but exist as a part of this world—are basically political polar opposites of me.
They live. They breathe, they suffer and they create. And yet, it's because I know they are capable of this empathy, of this knowledge of what is right or wrong; that they have the ability to think objectively and research and think, think, THINK, that it's so frustrating when what should be obvious happens and they join hands against the things they preach.
There is this notion, here, in the United States, that the people have a right to protest. A right to demand action from their government. The freedom to speak and be heard. It's a right that is so essential to the identity of Americans that anyone who has worked in retail knows it is exercised ad nauseum.
Which is why it's so difficult to understand how this essential right, this force that everyone left AND right of the political spectrum screams and defends—sometimes with actual armed threats—is somehow diminished when it comes to defending it for your fellow human beings.
Some believe that the act of "defending" with a weapon a bar is simply "acting American". You're taking arms to defend what is important to you. How is a bar, a store, a location, more important than your fellow human being. Your co-worker. Your neighbor. Your customer. You name it?
How is it that you condemn damage to property, but you do not condemn murder? How is it that years and years and years of minorities suffering worse abuse, more murder, more profiling is okay and doesn't deserve to stop?
This is not new. This is not something that came from nowhere. Where are you, right now, armed and decisive right-winged voices of the first and second amendments? Now that tyranny and abuse of power are rampant. Now that the president pulled a move directly out of the Dictator Rulebook to clear with violence a peaceful protest in a show of force against his very people, simply to prove that he could get away with that and take a picture?
Why do you justify violence against citizens because some bad apples threw bricks at buildings or destroyed property, but you allow some bad apples to commit murder, abuse their power, and intimidate YOU and others and not condemn them?
How can you be blind to the fact that racism is real? That these protests are not for the sake of some obscure conspiracy, but because people have had enough? That the protests start peaceful, and violence escalates violence?
Why is it that when the news coverage shows rows of armed people threatening lives if they can't go fishing, plant seeds, or eat out (all of which they could, by the way) you speak up defending them, saying that the free media is only focusing the bad, but you are so EAGER to ensure that any bad press for the marches is more than enough proof that all these people are violent and dangerous?
Where are you when the military is being pushed by the President to move against the people they are sworn to defend? What is a nation, if not its people?
The protests right now, are against violence perpetrated against ALL of us, but almost unbelievably so more against the black community.
Where are you, people that holler and rave about how they don't want the government to rule their lives now? Who are you siding with? What do you stand for?
I look at the eyes of some of you, and I know you are good people. That you know right from wrong. That if you witnessed something like what happened to George Floyd, you would know, deep within you, even if you said nothing—that that was wrong.
Black Lives Matter. They do. THEY DO. We need to speak up, and remind everyone that they goddamn DO. Not because anyone thinks that white people aren't also abused by authority with a badge. Not because it's like Latinos don't have to deal with shit like ICE. Not because we want to pretend that Chinese immigrants weren't used as fodder to build rails for trains. Not because they matter more… but because history has proven that they have consistently mattered less.
And it's high time that they are valued equally. So don't fall into the false argument that saying "All lives matter" is the same thing.
Admit it to yourself, and others. Black lives matter.
Start from there.
If you want to protest do so peacefully. Make your voice heard.
Put into practice those Constitutional Amendments.
Because this is the time to do so.
Well-put. Thanks for writing this!
It's almost like right-libertarians have more in common with fascists than they'd care to admit.
It's perfectly possible to condemn both.
5276579
Not taking a side on this issue is not possible. You can either side with the protestors, or you can side with the current regime. Grow a fucking spine and pick one. There is no value you can contribute by saying both sides make things worse (they don't, by the way. Protesting is great and committing war crimes against civilians is bad).
If you describe yourself as "moderate," you are not helping the fight against systematic oppression, you are in the way. You are nothing but the sorry little infantryman they send in the get skewered by the enemy's frontline.
Let me make it clear, the protestors are the ones fighting for you to not be gunned down in the streets. These protestors are fucking heroes. And to all those rolling their eyes thinking, well, I wouldn't go that far, I honestly wish everyone had the privilege to believe that.
So, if you could stop massaging your prostate with that fencepost, that'd be awesome.
Black Lives Matter
5276604
Cops killing unarmed civilians is wrong.
People burning down buildings is also wrong. Y'know how fire gets out of control and y'know, kills people?
5276612
Depends what building. I don't think burning down that police precinct is wrong. Burning down a small business is wrong.
Cops killing unarmed civilians is always wrong.
5276612
I am deeply afraid that there are people who would downvote a comment about how burning down buildings is wrong.
The line in the sand has been drawn for years now, though, and it's clear that many of us aren't going to budge from our positions. So what happens next seems to be pretty obvious, if we can't work things out with arguments and discussions.
Well said, Wandy.
Black Lives Matter. I put my money where my mouth is on this one, and i wish i could do more.
5276615
I support the cause of Irish independence and unity. I feel the Six Counties should belong to Ireland-do belong to Ireland. What I do not support is the campaign of genocide against Ulster Scots carried out by the Provisional IRA. Same issue here. You can agree with someone's cause and not agree with their methods.
5276628
Yeah, the difference is the protestors are not calling for, or committing genocide.
5276612
Bard, though I agree with this particular comment of yours, these blogs aren't the place to be posting like this right now.
I don’t do this often, but I’m going to speak as a minority who grew up being beaten (literally) by racist white people.
If burning down a police station gets my people out of cages. Burn them all down. If burning down a police station keeps black men and women from being literally murdered in the streets. Burn them all down.
If that’s what it takes. Do it. Because I could be killed at random by a police officer who was ‘scared for his life’ for no reason at all beyond the color of my skin and their own preconceptions, and if that happened today, I would just be another name for protestors to say, if anyone even bothered to notice it happened at all.
Republicans 2020: "Burning down a police station isn't going to change anything!"
Republicans 1864: "Burning down an entire slave state is going to change everything."
warontherocks.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/1280px-Sherman_sea_1868-1024x616.jpg
Why did y'all become cowards?
5276689
https://www.livescience.com/34241-democratic-republican-parties-switch-platforms.html
5276604
On the contrary. As a wise banana once said:
Or, if you prefer space doggos:
5276724
This is just a ridiculous statement. Refusing to know about things is literally just anti-intellectual.
Not knowing about something is fine. The issue is, because of the protests and demonstrations around the world, virtually everyone is now aware of the issue. If you haven't thought about it enough, think about it enough, then take a stand.
One word answers all your questions of why: convenience.
I'm not really sure how to tackle this in a way that won't be read in a way that I do not intend, but I feel like something needs to be said anyway.
I read the blog entry and sincerely believe that everything I read is wrong; utterly, completely, totally, wrong.
I read the blog entry and I see someone I like, respect, and regard as a friend expressing an incredible depth of pain and anguish.
Saying that I am sorry, Wanderer, doesn't even begin to begin to suffice, but that is all I have. I desperately hope that this, too, will pass and that this anguish does not continue for you, or your friends, or family, or anyone else that you care about.
For the vast majority, who are doing nothing wrong, I can only hope that peace and order prevail, so justice and law can follow. For the relatively small number remaining, there can be no justice without peace, no law without order, and there is only one solution to a mob rampaging through, burning, beating, looting, killing. I wish it was otherwise.
5276881 IF it was a unified mob burning and looting etc. going around all over the US, then there would be ways to deal with them. Most of the protests are not, in fact like that, and the one from Lafayette you can see from beginning to end there was no violence until the president decided to disperse them as if they were for a photo op. This is recorded, from all fronts, national, international, and amateur.
Show me where there was any violence at all there before the federal officers went in like that. In fact, the Washington PD was not even involved—they are used to dealing with protests in there, they happen constantly, and they know how to dismantle them without violance. This was a next-level strongman act to just prove he could do that.
5276612
choking on smoke from a fire and choking by strangulation/blocking the airway both usually have the same outcome if left unassisted - the difference is that one is a lethal crime and the other is a lethal hazard
you tell me which is which
5276899
The most of the protestors that are not part of the mob are the "vast majority, who are doing nothing wrong" I mentioned in my post.
As to Laffayette, I understand the events that went on in a way entirely different than you do. I don't see any point in engaging in an acrimonious fight about it, however, since I do not see a way to convince you that there is nothing that Trump has done that resembles any act of a dictator, and I do not see anything that Trump has done that justifies the "dictator" label. At this point, with 4 years of arm-waving accusations of tyranny on his part, my threshold for proof that he's anything of the sort is impossibly high.
5276724
Yo: you have been a friend of mine. People might not know that but it's true, even if you don't want to hang out with me anymore since I'm absolutely on D's side of this one, something you've learned (and you seem to avoid yanking my chain about it: thank you for that, saves me sleepless nights and a lot of distress)
What people are saying when they refuse to allow a 'no opinion' or to put up with mocking memes and stuff, is that their experience and the experience of those they care about suggests to them that you are taking sides, and they're inclined to hold you to that. And sometimes it seems really weird, this taking of sides, and doesn't seem to have a decent explanation unless you go down a really dark and twisted path (look up HBomberguy talking about 'The Bell Curve', for instance, to get an alternate perspective on the dishonesty of this dark path).
I've got a friend who leans in similar directions as you, and it seems like there's nothing I can do about it, even though she was literally beat up by cops herself not at all long ago. She still has ideas about the appropriate direction for 'justice'. Seems we don't agree, so we can't talk about that.
I understand how much you need to keep your own counsel. Just understand that I lump you in with the people whom, I guess, create their own justice and fall to it. I'm guessing you have some specific ideas about sorts of people who made their beds and now lie in it. I contest those sorts of arguments, but that's not my job, nor am I the boss of you or indeed your reasoning. I'd just like to say: you're doing the same thing that earns your own contempt, and need to step back and re-evaluate. I don't have to have contempt, necessarily… but I sure can't fault people being upset by this, even as you try to find a 'dialed back' position that's still consistent with what you really think.
Honesty's a bitch. Hope it doesn't cost you more than you have to give.
5276604
A war crime is an act that constitutes a serious violation of the laws of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility.[1] Examples of crimes include intentionally killing civilians or prisoners, torturing, destroying civilian property, taking hostages, performing a perfidy, raping, using child soldiers, pillaging, declaring that no quarter will be given, and seriously violating the principles of distinction, proportionality, and military necessity.
Pretty sure both side commit war crimes then
5277019
to answer your original question of what war crimes were/would be committed: "no quarter"
nice Wikipedia copypaste though
Wow, this is a real hot mess. Is it too much to ask to keep all this political shit out of fimfiction? I come here because the world is an awful place, and this is one of my only reprieves from the harsh realities of life. To see one of my favorite authors spewing endlessly about their political opinion, here of all places, sickens me. Don't ask if I agree with everything you said or reject each and every statement you've made. It. Does. Not. Matter. This site should be no place for political discourse. Take that shit somewhere else.
Just... let me have my ponies in peace. Please?
5277030 it was meant to be copy paste I wasn't trying to make an argument I was pointing out burning down private buildings is also considered a war crime along with killing civilians.
I feel i should share my experiences with white cops as a black man growing up.
my first one was as a kid. me, my dad and my sister were just popping fireworks at a park, celebrating the 4th of july, when a cop just comes and tells us that we cant do that in the park. at first, we complied, but then he tried to take the fireworks that my dad worked his ass off for. naturally, he did not take well to it, and proceeded to fight back. we ended up heading to my uncles house after running away, and to this day my sister isn't the biggest fan of the 4th.
Next up was around 2009 or so. I was headed back from a game shop playing yugioh when a cop stopped me. I was just walking mind you, so i wondered what was wrong, and if i was about to become a statistic. All they wanted to do was see if i was alright because i was goin full stop across the bridge. They then offered me a ride home, but i declined as they probably had better things to do.
Finally, in 2013, on my way to work (again walking because i like to walk), a cop stopped me to warn me that there was a guy who had taken off in the area that had done something and to be careful.
What i'm trying to say is that while I appreciate the support from everyone who supports the cause, I don't want folks burning shit down. I don't care if its a cop station or the white house (I would not cry if it was the White House though), but do NOT burn things down just to support my life mattering. I also don't want any harm to come to the cops either, surprising as it may be to hear.
You can say 'But Kaijin, they dont care about why, why should you care about them?'. Simple. They're supposed to protect us. They may not do it all the time, or even at all for my race, but don't attack them. 'An eye for an eye makes us all blind' and all that.
also, if you do support BLM and we finally get cops to not treat us like shit, continue to support it when they, hopefully, move on to getting gang violence down so the cops don't have an excuse to shoot us.
This was real meandering, but its what i have on my mind. I truly appreciate all the support i've seen in the past few days. Oh, and to 5276604
They absolutely can refuse to take a side in this. the only ones who don't have a choice is my race, but I refuse to bring others into it if they do not wish to be involved. just sayin.
Edit* Something I remembered! Pleas do not forget my fellow black men and women who are hurt from either the cops or rioters when you say that Black Lives Matter.
5277044
Here you go. All the stories (and I do mean all of them, including the deleted ones, the rejected ones, the unpublished ones...), none of the drama.
5277044
you clicked on this post despite the title and despite the first paragraph or so that you clearly saw on your feed - who's more responsible here? it's like walking into a rock concert and complaining that the music is too loud
it's all inevitable at this point m8, and at some point we're just gonna have to accept it • everyone, even the people you'd least expect are talking about this, and for good reason; to keep people aware and to educate people on the way the world is right now - it's frustrating, yes, but it can't be ignored, especially not now
throwing a tantrum about it is just plain silly, if you want to escape, then fine, no one's stopping you, I'm pretty sure all of us are sick and tired of 2020 at this point - but just remember that again, you clicked on this post, you chose to expose yourself to D's hot take, and if you can't handle the heat stay out of the furnace
5277044
Sadly that might not be fully possible with the world reacting as it is. The truth is everyone’s human and has a feeling in what’s happening.
5277044
With the best will in the world, that’s alright. You don’t have to participate in this discussion. You may, if you choose, ignore everything happening.
I’m not saying that as an accusation or a remark in your character. I’m saying: that is legitimately you’re choice.
But please understand that there are those of us who are only here because we wanted something better. We want a world of loyalty and generosity and kindness and laughter and honesty and magic because we aren’t allowed that outside because of our skin color or our orientation or our identity.
You’re here because you want to a place to rest, and that valid. That’s fine. But there are many who are here because we want to take something of this world of bright and good things and bring it back with us.
If you have the grace and fortune to not be one of those who would be killed in the street for ‘looking like a threat’ then from the bottom of my heart, I’m glad that you’re safe. There is no shame in choosing to stay there.
But this isn’t politics to me and it’s not politics to many others.
This is life or death. I’m sorry to say that.
5277074
man I was so optimistic that 2020 would be a better year than 2019 - just another case of misplaced optimism and unrealistic expectations on my part I guess
5277071
Some people do not have it in them to endure but that’s not a matter of shame. Let this person be, alright? He expressed his opinions and that’s his right.
5277078
Gosh darnit dude I was in the same boat and then covid happened an I was like well it can’t really get worse that this. Turns out the universe just loves proving me wrong.
5277078
Personally I kept any optimism I had on the back burner until that orange potatoe is out of office. My people are still dying in cages though, so that’s probably a personal view.
5277071
Dude lay off he doesent want to have to deal with it that’s enough. He shouldn’t be forced into this if he doesent want to. Not everyone wants to be in the middle of this and he has a right to his own opinion and the choice to stay out of it.
I think something needs to be clarified here that hasn’t been.
I read a lot of comments about ‘politics’ so let’s be clear. What is happening outside? What is happening in DC and Minneapolis and Lafayette and New York? That is not politics.
What’s happening here is there are hundreds of thousands of people rising up to fight for their lives. This is not hyperbole. I’m not being dramatic.
I mean: we are being murdered and we are done with just taking it.
Only someone who has not suffered the trauma of systemic violence, racism, and prejudice of our Nation’s government could call what’s happening here ‘politics’.
Being pro-protestor is not political for me. It’s the only way that I might be able to stay alive. It’s me siding with the group of people who have this radical idea that maybe law enforcement shouldn’t be able to just murder me and get away with it anymore. This about being equal.
So let me say it again.
This is not Political. Lives are not Political.
A man being murdered in the street by a cop is not political. Nor is a child in a cage. Nor is a journalist being blinded for life.
These things aren’t politics.
We are dying. Help us.
5277081
5277085
he can express his opinions, again I'm not stopping him - I apologize for coming off harsher than I had meant to, although the attack on D for similarly expressing his opinions was a bit much, he can choose to stay out of it if he wishes, that's fine, like I said, 2020's been a shit year for all of us... but this ain't it, and people are gonna talk about it, and there's not really much we can do about it except just... to let them talk, 'cause they've got shit to say
I'm attempting to escape through music and fanfictions so forth but I do feel like I have to regularly check and make sure aliens aren't coming up next this year - I don't go into people's BLM posts telling them to stop talking about it, because why the hell would I do that? if I don't feel like I have the mental strength to read it/go through its inevitably sane comment section, I just don't
5277098
I understand that. I’m not asking you not to speak your mind. I’m asking you to show some compassion to someone whose situation you do not know.
I’m just asking you to be kind.
5277093 It's really easy to assign it a political agenda when you're not a recipient either directly or indirectly of what's happening, end even easier to think that by writing this blog, or making a statement in support of the one movement that is big enough to make a change we are attacking people for their political views rather than asking them to consider what they have in front of them, and act in what boils down to their best interests as well.
5277103
You’re my friend, D. I’m behind you on this.
5277082
you just wait for July when we get Independence Day IRL except without President Bill Pullman to lead us to victory
5277083
I still find it hard to believe it's already been four years with this spudheaded melony fartwobbler
5277111 Lol that was me agreeing with your point.
5277045 Just a quick clarification, a war crime is perpetrated by the military, not by civilians. I understand what point you're trying to make, but the distinction there is very important.
5277126
I know. Sorry that was me just making a clear statement that I’m on your side.
I never leave ambiguity or room for grey areas with my statements so people can’t claim they didn’t know where I stood or something stupid like that. It’s lost me a lot of friends, but it’s made me a few too.
I take very hard stances, if my melodramatic romances weren’t enough of a clue.
Here's some facts about Minneapolis and Minnesota in the last week. 66 Businesses and buildings burned down, more than 900 stores looted and vandalized. Reported cases of murder, rape, and vandalism by protesters. Thousands are now jobless. Target has closed 20 locations. More than 30 grocery stores are now closed. City curfew in effect. And individual gun sales through the roof at record highs.
Yeah that sounds like it showed the government what for. Maybe now that darn democrat mayor and democrat governor and that entire city council filled with very left leaning politicians will listen and... wait I just heard that the City council is taking about disbanding police entirely as if it will stop rioting... Huh, well that explains the gun sales. If police ain't gonna come when a rapist comes for you, you'd best be packin' heat.
My sympathies are with the protestors, I do believe many of them want a change in policy for how the police operate. But shutting down an entire service? See how a week of anarchy goes for you.
5277152 On the other hand, Flint and several other places have been completely without incident. And the police was involved. Washington was peaceful until the feds were involved.
Wherever you want to find examples of peace and rampage you will find them—I'm not endorsing violence. In fact, as has been pointed out, BLM is TRYING to work with the police and work within whatever is lawfully allowed. Some people take advantage of that to go to extremes. But that doesn't take away that the movement is not for ill, but for good. And it doesn't take away that the issues at hand that they are marching to protest are real. That damage to people and places is being done I will not deny, nor endorse... in fact, my stance is that if you are there as part of the march and you see people doing that, you should step in and stop them, because most people want a peaceful event.
5277171
Yeah I have been making an archive of protestors stepping in on rioters, I plan to do a compilation video with locations when things die down. The protestors stepping in are the true heroes here. They show that this is THEIR message and damn anyone who will harm their communities, their neighbors, and their homes. Not only is stopping rioters good for the community, its good PR, it shows conviction, honesty. And that is how you make a change, by winning hearts and minds. So good on those protestors. Stay peaceful, and protect your neighborhoods.
I think one thing to remember in all this is that this isn't just about George Floyd. What happened to him was terrible, but it wasn't the first incident like that. It was just the tipping point. Back in March, it was Breonna Taylor, over in Louisville. Police broke into her home at midnight with a no-knock warrant. Her boyfriend thought someone was breaking in, because someone was breaking in. He shot and wounded an officer, and she died in bed from 8 gunshot wounds from the police. These were plainsclothes officers without body cameras, btw. Took until May 21st for the FBI to investigate.
And it's hardly just the two of them, either. The reason it's gotten so big is things like this keep happening, and nothing's being done. And they've tried peaceful protests before. They haven't been working. (Remember Colin Kaepernick?)
And with protests about police brutality being met with more police brutality, I don't think this is going to go away any time soon...
The other thing I've been noticing is that the looters and protesters don't seem to be largely the same groups.
(And I did hear the Minneapolis council was talking about disbanding the local police... and replacing them, basically rebuilding their police force from the ground up.)
--Sweetie Belle
Thank you for taking a stand on this, WandererD. Black lives matter, and fascism is a loser ideology.