prevailing attitudes appears to be that this is "same old same old" for the good ol' USA, especially given the incidents in the past few weeks
which is a disturbing reputation to have
It is incredibly hard to report on, and not just because the police are actively tear gassing reporters.
It really lies at the center of decades of racial oppression, including police abuses, dehumanizing narratives about people of color, police militarization, misplaced paranoia about crime, and its just a mess.
Basically it doesn't "blurb" well. I'm not sure how another country would be able to report on it well without setting side three or four entire evenings to lay the necessary backstory.
I get the distinct sense that Aussie media are experiencing a sort of "news fatigue" when it comes to shootings in the US. "Things still the same in the US by our perspective" is an uninteresting headline.
Like I ain't saying Australia's shit don't stink, because oh boy it does, but right this second the US has a reputation for people getting shot all the time and nothing changing. I've honestly seen the coverage of shootings in the US decline sharply in frequency and intensity since Sandy Hook, which was covered over here in Australia from top to tail.
You could argue that that involved kids and so it's got more international appeal, but I honestly feel like right now there is really no sympathy left (in Australia at least) for the US when it comes to shootings.
Which is pretty goddamn sad.
I don't think any Americans here would disagree that the United States has a completely justified reputation of frequently being, and pardon my French, "fucking crazy." And I can't really blame people in Australia for not caring when this has been struggling to be a major news story here in the States. Like even when it has been on major television networks the police brutality aspect has been so downplayed as to be laughable if it wasn't goddamn infuriating.
The U.S. Attorney’s office announced late Wednesday that it would launch a civil rights investigation into the circumstances surrounding Brown’s killing.
“In conducting the independent federal investigation into whether there were federal civil rights violations, we will be working as much as possible with the local authorities who are determining whether there were any state law violations,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a statement, adding, “We urge witnesses or individuals with any information related to the incident who have not yet come forward to contact the local FBI office.”
I can 100% understand not releasing the cop's name right now. I don't know if I like it, but I can understand it
I kind of understand it, but at the same time it kind of seems like the police protecting their own and it's only going to make people angrier about the situation and more dubious about justice happening.
this had better be the only fucking thing on the front page of the Post tomorrow
i want people screaming to their representatives
Haha, good luck with that. Nobody is going to give a shit
they arrested a Post reporter. that's not stuff that's supposed to happen HERE.
it's gonna be on the front page. guaranteed. BIG LETTERS.
You would think, and I would hope, but I guess I'm just too damn cynical to think anything will come of this. I figure at most it'll be on the news a little bit but within a week or two it'll be back to business as usual.
Skip to the 9 minute mark to see a neighborhood turn into a warzone
I'm in no way what-so-ever defending the police's use of force there, but the dudes started throwing stuff at them. You can see a bottle break in front of them right before they start opening up.
I mean, that's a totally silly use of force against what seems to be a few bottles (you can see a few things get thrown if you look closely. You can also hear a girl yell "stop throwing stuff at them" though it's too late by then), but whoever threw that first bottle was also not very smart.
I'd say too that while they looked be very peaceful, they're blocking a public road, which is probably in part what provoked the police to try to disperse them to begin with.
Again, I'm not trying to defend that use of force against that sorta protest, but people need to be smarter about how they protest as well. Just because you're peaceful, doesn't mean you can't provoke a violent reaction.
It looked to me like the first things that are thrown are the flashbangs/poppers.
And as far as blocking public roads, the police force already had that well in hand. They were too far for anything from the crowd to even reach them and they were counting down/giving warnings about dispersing.
The first things being thrown are deafening and nauseating sound waves by the police's LRAD, which can cause permanent hearing loss and brain damage
I'm cynical enough that in the future I could see this event being used as justification for further militarization of police
a twisted, warped account of it.
But mark my words we'll have some republican lawmaker describing what he saw on fox news pleading for more military equipment for the police
+3
Options
MachwingIt looks like a harmless old computer, doesn't it?Left in this cave to rot ... or to flower!Registered Userregular
As long as people are "hoping" it will get better, it won't. I'm not sure there's a way to make things better that hasn't been subordinated by our current legal framework.
That's a bad picture. The numbers up top are the numbers of apps, searches and arrests in Ferguson, broken down into white and black
are those numbers useful without also knowing the ratio of black and white residents of the area?
I mean I'm sure they would show a clear racial bias in police actions with that information, I'm just confused about why the paper is framing those numbers without any context.
Like, I'm completely at a loss. It's like a demented dystopia. There are times I get into it about policing and law enforcement on here with people and the fact is I'm always speaking from a Canadian perspective, and I try to be mindful of that but in the end I clearly just don't have a real sense of how fucking insane it has become in the US and how (for now, I guess?) different it is here.
Not to say awful bullshit doesn't happen here or anything but like, it just drives home that it's like healthcare; it's something I'm incapable of really having a meaningful conversation with Americans about from my own experience and perspective because what you lot have got going on in your country on this subject is batshit fucking crazy and I don't even know how to begin suggesting solutions to it because they're such fucked up deep-rooted cultural problems I don't know what the fuck to say.
I mean, I knew American prisons were awful but until I watched this video recently I didn't realize how bad the prison privatization problem in America has become, for example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Pz3syET3DY
That's a bad picture. The numbers up top are the numbers of apps, searches and arrests in Ferguson, broken down into white and black
are those numbers useful without also knowing the ratio of black and white residents of the area?
I mean I'm sure they would show a clear racial bias in police actions with that information, I'm just confused about why the paper is framing those numbers without any context.
That's a bad picture. The numbers up top are the numbers of apps, searches and arrests in Ferguson, broken down into white and black
are those numbers useful without also knowing the ratio of black and white residents of the area?
I mean I'm sure they would show a clear racial bias in police actions with that information, I'm just confused about why the paper is framing those numbers without any context.
For the record, Ferguson is 64.9% black and 30.6% white. So the number for blacks statistically should be about double the number for whites. As it stands, blacks made up 86% of the stops, 91.9% of the searches, and 92.7% of the arrests.
Like, I'm completely at a loss. It's like a demented dystopia. There are times I get into it about policing and law enforcement on here with people and the fact is I'm always speaking from a Canadian perspective, and I try to be mindful of that but in the end I clearly just don't have a real sense of how fucking insane it has become in the US and how (for now, I guess?) different it is here.
Not to say awful bullshit doesn't happen here or anything but like, it just drives home that it's like healthcare; it's something I'm incapable of really having a meaningful conversation with Americans about from my own experience and perspective because what you lot have got going on in your country on this subject is batshit fucking crazy and I don't even know how to begin suggesting solutions to it because they're such fucked up deep-rooted cultural problems I don't know what the fuck to say.
I mean, I knew American prisons were awful but until I watched this video recently I didn't realize how bad the prison privatization problem in America has become, for example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Pz3syET3DY
I'm speechless in the face of that shit.
I can't imagine every police department in this country is this fucked up, but then what do I know? I'm a white, middle class male from a hippy west coast university town. So I imagine my personal experiences are about as relevant to the people in Ferguson as yours. It's just fucked up.
prevailing attitudes appears to be that this is "same old same old" for the good ol' USA, especially given the incidents in the past few weeks
which is a disturbing reputation to have
It is incredibly hard to report on, and not just because the police are actively tear gassing reporters.
It really lies at the center of decades of racial oppression, including police abuses, dehumanizing narratives about people of color, police militarization, misplaced paranoia about crime, and its just a mess.
Basically it doesn't "blurb" well. I'm not sure how another country would be able to report on it well without setting side three or four entire evenings to lay the necessary backstory.
I get the distinct sense that Aussie media are experiencing a sort of "news fatigue" when it comes to shootings in the US. "Things still the same in the US by our perspective" is an uninteresting headline.
Like I ain't saying Australia's shit don't stink, because oh boy it does, but right this second the US has a reputation for people getting shot all the time and nothing changing. I've honestly seen the coverage of shootings in the US decline sharply in frequency and intensity since Sandy Hook, which was covered over here in Australia from top to tail.
You could argue that that involved kids and so it's got more international appeal, but I honestly feel like right now there is really no sympathy left (in Australia at least) for the US when it comes to shootings.
Which is pretty goddamn sad.
I don't think any Americans here would disagree that the United States has a completely justified reputation of frequently being, and pardon my French, "fucking crazy." And I can't really blame people in Australia for not caring when this has been struggling to be a major news story here in the States. Like even when it has been on major television networks the police brutality aspect has been so downplayed as to be laughable if it wasn't goddamn infuriating.
It's not that we don't care. The prevailing attitude just seems to be that it's inevitable in a society that seems to believe that it's a right to have a device that can so easily and simply kill a room full of people with little effort. It's something that the majority of the population here just don't have the context to understand. If I piss someone off here in traffic, the worst I'll get is some physical abuse, but if I'm on my bike then I'll be in armour anyway so w/e. I don't have to worry that the angry dickhead is going to pull a gun at me and go on a power trip. Parents don't have to be concerned about their kids at school being shot by a poorly diagnosed loner. Call it gun control priviledge or something, but we just don't have the context or mental cycles to react with anything more than 'well, that's what you get'. Cos it just seems like that's what you get. After Sandy Hook there was renewed talk of 'lets do something about it', but.. nothing was. The same will happen here, 'something must be done!' but...
Ditto what Viv said, its not headlining here but it is mentioned. Will this change anything about the policing system in the US? About gun laws? What would be a day out unknown outrage here seems to happen so often, fatigue is a good word for it.
I say "I don't understand why this is allowed to happen so much and nothing changes", not that I don't know why, but it just is alarming how this is a regular occurrence.
I was wondering how we'd react here then I remembered we had the riots of 2011 after the death of a young black lad by a police officer (he was suspected to commit a gang crime I think?) and it was all conflicting on whether he was shooting or not, one police officer went to prison eventually I think. Not before huge riots and damage and few people got killed and arson etc.
Ditto what Viv said, its not headlining here but it is mentioned. Will this change anything about the policing system in the US? About gun laws? What would be a day out unknown outrage here seems to happen so often, fatigue is a good word for it.
I say "I don't understand why this is allowed to happen so much and nothing changes", not that I don't know why, but it just is alarming how this is a regular occurrence.
I was wondering how we'd react here then I remembered we had the riots of 2011 after the death of a young black lad by a police officer (he was suspected to commit a gang crime I think?) and it was all conflicting on whether he was shooting or not, one police officer went to prison eventually I think. Not before huge riots and damage and few people got killed and arson etc.
Those riots were surreal. I spent three days in the Swedish wilderness and when I got back to civilisation got told "lol, the UK is on fire"
Posts
i want people screaming to their representatives
Registered just for the Mass Effect threads | Steam: click ^^^ | Origin: curlyhairedboy
Haha, good luck with that. Nobody is going to give a shit
I kind of understand it, but at the same time it kind of seems like the police protecting their own and it's only going to make people angrier about the situation and more dubious about justice happening.
{Twitter, Everybody's doing it. }{Writing and Story Blog}
they arrested a Post reporter. that's not stuff that's supposed to happen HERE.
it's gonna be on the front page. guaranteed. BIG LETTERS.
Registered just for the Mass Effect threads | Steam: click ^^^ | Origin: curlyhairedboy
You would think, and I would hope, but I guess I'm just too damn cynical to think anything will come of this. I figure at most it'll be on the news a little bit but within a week or two it'll be back to business as usual.
It won't.
The acquisition of military surplus by state and city police forces has been building for years now.
If this shameful use of that hardware doesn't cause some sort of roll back, the next time it happens will be far worse.
It's a picture that was taken in 2011 in Brazil: http://urbanlegends.about.com/od/fauxphotos/ss/Cop-Pepper-Sprays-Child.htm
a twisted, warped account of it.
But mark my words we'll have some republican lawmaker describing what he saw on fox news pleading for more military equipment for the police
Nothing has happened to any other police/official name released that I can remember, whether it be the BART cop or George Zimmerman.
The longer this goes, the bigger this story is going to be.
It's already on the front page of the Post's site
also, man, the face he makes
are those numbers useful without also knowing the ratio of black and white residents of the area?
I mean I'm sure they would show a clear racial bias in police actions with that information, I'm just confused about why the paper is framing those numbers without any context.
Not to say awful bullshit doesn't happen here or anything but like, it just drives home that it's like healthcare; it's something I'm incapable of really having a meaningful conversation with Americans about from my own experience and perspective because what you lot have got going on in your country on this subject is batshit fucking crazy and I don't even know how to begin suggesting solutions to it because they're such fucked up deep-rooted cultural problems I don't know what the fuck to say.
I mean, I knew American prisons were awful but until I watched this video recently I didn't realize how bad the prison privatization problem in America has become, for example:
I'm speechless in the face of that shit.
They have those numbers on page 2.
I can't imagine every police department in this country is this fucked up, but then what do I know? I'm a white, middle class male from a hippy west coast university town. So I imagine my personal experiences are about as relevant to the people in Ferguson as yours. It's just fucked up.
Ah yes, speaking of white middle class hippy west coast university town... these Ferguson police make the Oakland P.D. look good, though.
Apparently I need to start watching Last Week Tonight
It's not that we don't care. The prevailing attitude just seems to be that it's inevitable in a society that seems to believe that it's a right to have a device that can so easily and simply kill a room full of people with little effort. It's something that the majority of the population here just don't have the context to understand. If I piss someone off here in traffic, the worst I'll get is some physical abuse, but if I'm on my bike then I'll be in armour anyway so w/e. I don't have to worry that the angry dickhead is going to pull a gun at me and go on a power trip. Parents don't have to be concerned about their kids at school being shot by a poorly diagnosed loner. Call it gun control priviledge or something, but we just don't have the context or mental cycles to react with anything more than 'well, that's what you get'. Cos it just seems like that's what you get. After Sandy Hook there was renewed talk of 'lets do something about it', but.. nothing was. The same will happen here, 'something must be done!' but...
I say "I don't understand why this is allowed to happen so much and nothing changes", not that I don't know why, but it just is alarming how this is a regular occurrence.
I was wondering how we'd react here then I remembered we had the riots of 2011 after the death of a young black lad by a police officer (he was suspected to commit a gang crime I think?) and it was all conflicting on whether he was shooting or not, one police officer went to prison eventually I think. Not before huge riots and damage and few people got killed and arson etc.
And I hate news.com.au
http://mobile.news.com.au/world/ferguson-journalists-ryan-j-reilly-wesley-lowery-arrested-as-warriorcops-stalk-streets/story-fndir2ev-1227024317404
Satans..... hints.....
Those riots were surreal. I spent three days in the Swedish wilderness and when I got back to civilisation got told "lol, the UK is on fire"