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  • Showing only topics with the tag "protests". Back to normal view
    1. Do you think there will be a 'silver lining' or any long-term results from these protests?

      I think the biggest effect of this will be that a lot of white suburban Klobuchar-ites will be more apprehensive of keeping the police as it is and a lot of progressives (like me, I always thought...

      I think the biggest effect of this will be that a lot of white suburban Klobuchar-ites will be more apprehensive of keeping the police as it is and a lot of progressives (like me, I always thought it was a class matter disguised as a race one) will take identity politics and racism more seriously and see themselves as privileged white people because it's become pretty hard not to. There will also be a lot of people in poor countries who will relate to the experience of being brutalized by the police and see the US as increasingly like them. I'm Brazilian and I honestly can't really see how is the US any better than my country anymore and in my state I scarcely see the police with more than batons and only in Rio de Janeiro (where drug gangs hide in the mountains and the state government is run by the party led by a former military officer) is the police really comparable.

      Organizers might see that strength in numbers does little against FOX News and other media outlets so serious organization (proper mottos for example) might be taken more seriously.

      Black people might be energized enough by this to turnout at an equal rate to white people despite the institutional barriers, which hasn't happened since Obama.

      17 votes
    2. Why aren't more leaders encouraging protesters to stay home?

      I can think of several good reasons why protesting is a really bad idea right now: The virus doesn't care if your cause is just. If you end up going to jail, that's another hotspot. It provides...

      I can think of several good reasons why protesting is a really bad idea right now:

      • The virus doesn't care if your cause is just.
      • If you end up going to jail, that's another hotspot.
      • It provides cover for violence.
      • The courts are going to do whatever they do at their own pace anyway.
      • The long-term work of police reform isn't even going to begin until the crisis is over.

      And yet, despite all these good reasons, I don't see leaders, black or otherwise, clearly saying that people should stay home. For example, Obama's statement is carefully neutral on this. It seems to be taboo?

      But I'm out of touch. What am I missing?

      11 votes
    3. General US protests discussion

      There's a lot of unrest in the US lately, with protests going on in several cities. How do you feel about the state of things in the US, regarding racism, police brutality, etc...? What's your...

      There's a lot of unrest in the US lately, with protests going on in several cities.

      How do you feel about the state of things in the US, regarding racism, police brutality, etc...? What's your viewpoint on the protests? How do you see the situation evolving? Some fear deadly confrontation between military police and civilians.

      Have you had the misfortune of having a negative encounter with police officers? Care to tell your story? Have you participated yourself in one of these protests? What was your experience like? If you haven't, do you keep yourself informed? Where do you primarily find news? What's the general mood in your neighborhood, in your community, in your city?

      We've seen protests pop up a lot more in recent years in various parts of the world - eg. Hong Kong, Lebanon, France, etc... Do you feel that this is symptomatic of a larger, global unease? Or can the US protests be considered wholly specific?

      36 votes
    4. Should we consolidate all the George Floyd protest threads into a daily megapost/thread like we did when COVID began spreading?

      The main advantage of this is that updates can be organized and followed daily like on the COVID threads (which is especially useful if you don't live in the US and can't keep track of what's...

      The main advantage of this is that updates can be organized and followed daily like on the COVID threads (which is especially useful if you don't live in the US and can't keep track of what's going on) and the main disadvantage is that unlike COVID, we have no idea if this will go on long enough or be dynamic enough to truly merit that. (Although in @dubteedub's COVID post he doesn't discount doing updates every 3 days, which we could do although that conflicts with 7-day weeks)

      12 votes