Patterico's Pontifications

8/25/2020

Angry Youth Unwittingly Campaign For Trump

Filed under: General — Dana @ 7:50 pm



[guest posts by Dana]

n Adams Morgan, protesters screamed at Lauren B. Victor for several minutes for refusing to raise her fist with them.

“Are you a Christian?” a female protester demanded.

“Good for you — you stood your ground,” Chuck Modiano said sarcastically as the crowd moved on.

Modiano, who had been yelling at Victor and moments later identified himself as a citizen journalist who writes for @Deadspin, told Victor he couldn’t understand why she was the only diner in the area who wouldn’t comply. “What was in you, you couldn’t do this?”

“I felt I was under attack,” Victor, an urban planner, said, adding that she felt there was something wrong about being coerced to show support.

“In the moment, it didn’t feel right,” Victor said, adding that she also could understand their anger. “I wasn’t actually frightened. I didn’t think they’d do anything to me,” she said. “I’m very much with them. I’ve been marching with them for weeks and weeks and weeks.”

Given many comments regarding protesters’ races, it’s worth noting that a young Black woman leading the protest Monday asked White protesters to step forward, as seen here. This direction was given more than once.

Idiots. They haven’t got a clue that their outrageous bullying is not only devouring a righteous cause, but it is also providing Donald Trump with the visual he needs – especially during convention week – to convince average Americans why they need to re-elect the self-professed law and order president .

And yes, Ms. Victor was indeed under attack. She was being bullied and shamed and being strong-armed into submission. If that isn’t being under attack, I don’t know what is. No wonder it didn’t feel right. Everyone should be allowed to think about an issue, work through it, let it marinate, and draw their own conclusions in their own time and on their own terms. Further, only that individual should make the decision about whether to even make their views known to others.

Here’s my unpopular take: I don’t care who you are, and what your cause is: Do not approach me during a pandemic when I am masked-up, minding my own business, and having drinks and/or waiting for a meal while supporting a local establishment with my hard-earned money. There is a righteous concern at the root of the protests, but these jokers are working to obliterate it with their strong-arm tactics. They are trying to *force* compliance from a fellow American and make that individual bend and conform to their will, right then and there. Obedience to the cause. Approved speech only. Submit now. Do it, or be labeled a heretic and known from this point on as a racist who clearly hates black people and thinks it’s dandy that another black man was killed by the cops. This is what constitutes reasoning these days. Both sides of the aisle play this twisted game with their pet causes as they furiously try to convince the masses that they have landed on the “right side of history.”

So, my reaction to the angry youth in the video or anyone trying to force me into submission: Me and my brown skin say fuck you to any kind of bullying. I’ll think what I want to think, I’ll believe what I want to believe, I’ll say what I want to say, and I’ll decide when and where I make my stands. All of this because God gave me a brain to think for myself, and I don’t need any mob telling me how to think and what to say. And don’t you dare try to force my hand in such an authoritarian manner. Seriously, just who do you think you are? Let me eat my damn waffle in peace. I owe you nothing.

For those who have falsely framed the scenario as: If the women in the video don’t pledge their allegiance to the cause when demanded, then they obviously don’t care that another black man was killed by law enforcement. To them I say: It is possible to hold two thoughts in one’s head at the same time, even two seemingly opposing thoughts. Adults do it all the time.

–Dana

Politicians and Journalists Leap to Conclusions About Shooting, Sparking Riots

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 8:29 am



There are riots in Wisconsin, with looting and burning, over the perceived injustice of this shooting:

In Kenosha:

By late Monday, a truck had been lit on fire, recreating a scene from Sunday’s protests that saw city trucks on fire. The danger appeared to build deeper into the night: Several structures, including a Wisconsin Department of Corrections building, were set on fire in Kenosha. A local furniture store was also completely engulfed in flames.

In Madison:

Madison Police confirmed Tuesday morning in a press release that they arrested six people during Monday night protests, including one person armed with a handgun. Overall, the release said, about 500 people attended the protests.

Arrests started after people started lighting fires in dumpsters, breaking windows and looting businesses, in addition to throwing rocks, bottles and other objects at officers throughout the night. The release confirmed the use of chemical agents on protesters again.

The guy had a warrant for his arrest:

Blake had an open warrant stemming from a domestic case in May, but police officials have not said if the officers were aware of the warrant when they responded to the call Sunday. Online records indicate a warrant was issued in the case in early July.

You know who knew he had a warrant? The suspect. By the way, the “domestic case” involvedsexual assault, trespassing and disorderly conduct in connection with domestic abuse.” Officers were apparently yelling “drop the knife” as he walked around the vehicle. They had tried to tase him without success.

David A. Graham at The Atlantic tells us that it is irrelevant whether the individual was going for a gun:

A great deal remains unclear about the incident. … Was Blake involved in the original disturbance? What was his connection to the women? What happened before the video starts? When and why was he tased? What did officers say to him? Why was he going to the car? Why did officers shoot? Was there a gun in the car?

None of this is fully known, but regardless of what preceded the shooting, and even if Blake ignored a police command to stop, it’s nearly impossible to imagine any way that his shooting was justified.

It’s easy for me to imagine a way the shooting was justified: if there was a gun in the car (one of the questions Graham says is unanswered), if the reason the individual was going to the car (another unanswered question) was to get the gun, and if the reason the cops shot (a third unanswered question) was because he was getting a gun, that would be a possible way that the shooting could be justified.

(I can imagine other scenarios, too, but stick with the obvious one for now.)

Luckily, the governor of Wisconsin, Tony Evers, is not jumping to conclusions or fanning the flames:

Tonight, Jacob Blake was shot in the back multiple times, in broad daylight, in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Kathy and I join his family, friends, and neighbors in hoping earnestly that he will not succumb to his injuries. While we do not have all of the details yet, what we know for certain is that he is not the first Black man or person to have been shot or injured or mercilessly killed at the hands of individuals in law enforcement in our state or our country.

Oh. Never mind. He is.

I don’t know whether this man was going for a gun. Neither do the rioters, or David A. Graham at The Atlantic, or Wisconsin governor Tony Evers.

The media entities and politicians who suggest, without evidence, that shootings like this re unjustified … well, they might as well be themselves lighting the matches that burn down Wisconsin businesses.


Powered by WordPress.

Page loaded in: 0.0782 secs.