News The Michael Brown shooting

[Calliegirl]

I'm on the fence about the Michael Brown shooting. The video showed he was a violent person, so if the facts described by the grand jury were accurate, the cop may have felt his life was in danger.

But, the Eric Garner case is different. That was obviously an extreme use of deadly force for a non-life threatening situation. That cop should have been charged with murder.

 

[Spang]

The video shows that Michael Brown stole cigars and pushed someone. It only proves that he is a teenager doing things that teenagers do: making mistakes and using poor judgement.

Nothing Michael did in that video warranted a death sentence.

If Michael Brown were a cow or chicken, would folks on this forum side with the killer cop or remain on the fence? I think not. #BlackLivesMatter

 

[Spang]

Also, Darren Wilson may have felt that his life was in danger, because like many white people, he has an irrational fear of Black people.

 

[Mischief]

All of this is incredibly sad. It's depressing that, as a spciety, we haven't gotten any better than this.

 

[Clueless Git]

Victim blaming is kind of his thing.

There's a story about a village idiot who could see right through the fine words of con men when cleverer people than he couldn't.

Go home and put some clothes on, Emperor Spang.

 

[beancounter]

Jon Stewart tears apart Rand Paul and Fox News’ response to Eric Garner decision - Salon.com

 

[Calliegirl]

The video shows that Michael Brown stole cigars and pushed someone. It only proves that he is a teenager doing things that teenagers do: making mistakes and using poor judgement.

Nothing Michael did in that video warranted a death sentence.

If Michael Brown were a cow or chicken, would folks on this forum side with the killer cop or remain on the fence? I think not. #BlackLivesMatter

I've known teenagers who have shoplifted; they slipped a candy bar into their pocket, got caught and apologized, not knocked people out of their way. That was more than a teenager showing bad judgement, it was a bully and a thief.

I agree that stealing and assault aren't death sentence crimes, but if you're fighting with a cop over a gun, then you're taking your chances with being shot. He stole, he assaulted someone, he was standing in the road blocking traffic, fought with a cop, and his family mentioned that he had a record; all of this shows it wasn't just 'a kid being a kid'.

I have no doubt that the black people there are continuously harassed and mistreated by the police. Middle America is known for it's extreme racism and mistreatment of all non-whites. I've been to the south and seen it first hand. Hell, I've seen it happen in Southern California. I went on some ride alongs and the police stopped anyone who wasn't white and asked what they were doing in the white affluent neighborhood they were patrolling. It was definitely an eye opener.

In this case, he may have originally been confronted by the cop for being black, or because he was standing in the road, or both. But, I don't believe he was shot for being black, I think he was shot for trying to grab a cop's gun.

I've never seen or heard of a cow or chicken purposely rob someone and then assault them. But if it ever happens, and they fight a cop for a gun and end up getting shot and killed, I'll let you know if my opinion on this changes.

 

[ledboots]

Nvm

 

[Spang]

...he was standing in the road blocking traffic, fought with a cop, and his family mentioned that he had a record; all of this shows it wasn't just 'a kid being a kid'.

None of this is verified fact. We only have one side of the story. We never got to hear Michael Brown's side of the story, Darren Wilson made sure of it. We also have a bunch of eye-witness testimony, but eye-witness testimony is notoriously unreliable.

I don't believe he was shot for being black, I think he was shot for trying to grab a cop's gun.

White people can shoot up movie theaters, schools, and "Congress on Your Corner" gatherings, and be merely apprehended by the police. If there's no racial component to these cop killings, if you think police are killing people without scrutiny, regardless of race, you should be terrified to leave your house.

 

[Blobbenstein]

Just because there is probably a racial element to some police interaction with the public, doesn't mean that that is always the case. It doesn't follow.

 

[Clueless Git]

Just because there is probably a racial element to some police interaction with the public, doesn't mean that that is always the case. It doesn't follow.

Aye, it also doesn't follow that any racial element(s) in police/public interactions is/are exclusive to the police.

The idea that any minority group cannot be racist itself is ridiculous beyond belief.

 

[Blobbenstein]

The idea that any minority group cannot be racist itself is ridiculous beyond belief.

yes, I think the mechanisms for racism apply to all races.

 

[Calliegirl]

I think this is kind of like the boy who cried wolf. I think the police have had confrontations with the residents without a real reason so many times, that this time when there was a reason, no one believes them and/or no one cares.

 

[Blobbenstein]

yes, I think the mechanisms for racism apply to all races.

I think some of those mechanisms, at least, are an inability for the mind to achieve a gestalt.

"Gestalt psychology or gestaltism (German: Gestalt "shape, form") is a theory of mind of the Berlin School. Gestalt psychology tries to understand the laws of our ability to acquire and maintain meaningful perceptions in an apparently chaotic world. The central principle of gestalt psychology is that the mind forms a global whole with self-organizing tendencies. This principle maintains that when the human mind (perceptual system) forms a percept or gestalt, the whole has a reality of its own, independent of the parts."

Gestalt psychology - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This, I think can be due to a person meeting someone with:

A different physical form and features to the ones they are attuned to.
A difference in accent to the one they are attuned to.
A difference in culture to the one they are attuned to.

Even things like names could be included, I think....names from other countries and cultures can be harder to differentiate between, for me anyway.

Without a gestalt, or weaker ones, you can't recognise someone quickly, and strongly, and then that will lead to less trust, and more fear, and thus more hatred/dislike.

 

[rainforests1]

White people can shoot up movie theaters, schools, and "Congress on Your Corner" gatherings, and be merely apprehended by the police. If there's no racial component to these cop killings, if you think police are killing people without scrutiny, regardless of race, you should be terrified to leave your house.

Could you give me 10 examples regarding your first comment here? If you try to follow the law as much as possible bad things rarely happen to you regardless of what race you are.

 

[Spang]

Could you give me 10 examples regarding your first comment here?

I can give you some examples, such as Jared Loughner and James Holmes. But a much longer list, and what's really at issue here, are cops killing unarmed Black people. Unarmed Black people who have killed zero people, such as Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Oscar Grant, Tamir Rice, John Crawford, Jonathan Ferrell, etc., etc., etc. But I'm sure they were all asking for it.

 

[Clueless Git]

Here's an idea for a new law that should keep the less agile witted amongst us happy ..

NO policeman may shoot anyone (of any colour) for resisting arrest untill such point that person has actualy secured possession of that policeman's gun.

 

[Mischief]

Here's an idea for a new law that should keep the less agile witted amongst us happy ..

NO policeman may shoot anyone (of any colour) for resisting arrest untill such point that person has actualy secured possession of that policeman's gun.

As always, those of us who are less agile witted stand in awe of your wits, CG.

 

[Spang]

White person with a real gun:

Black child with a toy gun:

But it isn't about race, you guys.

 

[Clueless Git]

But it isn't about race, you guys.

It always will be for as long as enough people want it to be, Spang.