06-02-2020, 06:07 PMCarbine Wrote:

06-02-2020, 01:34 PMhhh81 Wrote: Does it need to stop, though?

Yes. I think that's pretty apparent to most people at this point.

Quote:The shift from "peaceful" protests to rioting/looting has very specific and important reasons. In part, escalation has been intentionally incited by police and White supremacists in city after city in hopes of discrediting this movement to the White moderate.

Defending riots and looting isn't a good look dude. I don't care what the cause is, violence and the destruction of people's livelihoods should never be acceptable by any society. Furthermore, you immediately discredit this movement by shifting the blame to police and so-called 'white supremacists'. Police are required to be there - it's their job to uphold the Constitution in the US (see here). I haven't seen anything from any news source to suggest 'white supremacists' are instigating either. Have you? Be careful not to provide a pasty white kid in blackout clothing as proof because I'm pretty sure that's the standard 'uniform' for the newly (or soon to be newly) designated terrorist group, Antifa.

Quote:Additionally, looting has a fundamental value and legitimacy within protests.

Sigh. No, it doesn't. Looting is stealing. It's a crime. A protest doesn't change that.

Quote:Trevor Noah explained it better than I could drawing on social contract theory and how the American social contract has been violated over. and over. and over. again over our history. When our nation's history and present actions both show that Black Americans are not included in the social contract of America, those laws have no moral authority and following them blindly is submission to oppression.

I have no idea what this 'social contract theory' thing is but perhaps it should stay as it's called: theory. A comedian probably isn't the best vehicle for explaining this kind of stuff either - regardless of his skin color. You wouldn't trust a fry cook, for example, with finding a cure to the coronavirus, would you?

Quote:Substantive change rarely comes from quietly asking the systems that be to change internally. There needs to be a disruption, a shake up, to the status quo.

Logically speaking, yes, you are correct when it comes to shaking up the status quo. However, the means do not justify the ends when it comes to this movement.
Rioting and looting will be and have been met with similarly destructive means by the police and private citizens so far. Police are oath-bound to confront these rioters (from the above link): “I, AB, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic..." Private citizens are entitled to self-defense through the 2nd Amendment to the US Constitution.

Now, with that being said, and before someone calls me a racist, I largely support the BLM movement and their right to peaceful protest, like every other person in a free society. They aren't being withheld from that right, even during a worldwide pandemic (which has oddly become less of a big deal over the past few days, it seems). I do not support the rioting and looting that are being sparked by these protests, however. George Floyd's family has said on numerous occasions that they want the violence to stop. Wasn't his death the reason this all boiled over? Why are the riots and looting continuing then?

And as for Mark Rycroft, the reason this thread even exists, come on. The dude owns a liquor store that, presumably, was being looted during one of the riots in Colorado. I'd be pissed too if my business was being destroyed by lawless thugs. While I don't wish for a similar kind of retribution that he described, the reaction to what was probably a very emotional night for him is absolutely justified. Maybe not on a public forum, and as a locally known sportscaster, but justified nonetheless.

It's not as if he was saying 'F*ck BLM' or something to that effect, despite how some people took it.

Here are some links I found pretty quickly after googling of white supremacists groups being suspected or confirmed as attempting to incite violence as well as deflect blame to the antifa boogeyman:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...lence.html

https://www.businessinsider.com/white-su...sts-2020-6

https://twitter.com/joshscampbell/status...00483?s=19

Here's a thread of 150+ instances of police violence against peaceful protesters, bystanders, reporters, the works really:

https://twitter.com/greg_doucette/status...59847?s=19.

In these instances, the cops are starting the violence. All with cameras rolling.