Question About The Riots

[halfback20]

Is the number higher than zero?

 

Is anyone, in any profession, perfect? No. Can things improve? Yes. Is it as bad as some would have you believe? Not even close.

[TheDeuce]

Is anyone, in any profession, perfect? No. Can things improve? Yes. Is it as bad as some would have you believe? Not even close.

 

Nobody is asking you to be perfect. People are asking cops to stop killing unarmed people.

 

You don't get to have "bad apples" in Law Enforcement.

 

Funny you say "not even close." The "few bad apples" group would have you believe it's only a very small number of bad police. To that I say, not even close.

[halfback20]

To answer your questions, yes. The numbers are incredibly low. And yes, social media would have you believe it is open season for law enforcement against African Americans. I get that. It is nowhere near how it is perceived.

 

Where the rub is though, why do we accept this as collateral damage? It is kind of like the COVID-19 thing in that we are conditioned to believe there is a segment of the population which will die because of COVID-19, so we should not inconvenience everyone else to spare X amount of lives. And being 100 here, where I get nervous is that we are aiming for utopia... which we should be. But one bad apple can set back the conversation for years. Trying to say "it is just one bad apple" is not constructive dialogue, even if it is the truth.

 

The numbers are very low and have been decreasing significantly since 2015. Some people want everyone to believe its getting worse and that is not true according to statistics.

 

How is it constructive to mislead people and in some cases outright lie about police killing unarmed civilians?

[bugatti]

I agree on the bold but not necessarily on the first assertion. As this article from CNBC points out, it is a struggle to determine.

 

Last year, more than 1,000 people were killed by police, according to Mapping Police Violence, one research group.

 

Black people were disproportionately among those killed, the group found. Black people accounted for 24% of those killed, despite making up only about 13% of the population.

 

Scientists have struggled to study whether racial bias is directly responsible for the disproportionate killing of black people, given limited data on the race of those with whom police regularly come into contact.

 

George Floyd death: Police violence in the U.S. in 4 charts

 

And I assume this is for armed people as well? Most shooting deaths presumably are warranted.

[TheDeuce]

How is it constructive to mislead people and in some cases outright lie about police killing unarmed civilians?

 

How constructive is it to continue saying "it's not that bad"?

[bugatti]

The numbers are very low and have been decreasing significantly since 2015. Some people want everyone to believe its getting worse and that is not true according to statistics.

 

How is it constructive to mislead people and in some cases outright lie about police killing unarmed civilians?

It is not constructive. It is part of the conversation. Many (not saying you) feel that should be the end of the conversation.

[theguru]

And I assume this is for armed people as well? Most shooting deaths presumably are warranted.

 

I believe you are correct on all counts there bug.

[halfback20]

How constructive is it to continue saying "it's not that bad"?

 

Who said that?

 

I didn't. I said the numbers don't reflect what some people are saying.

[John Anthony]

Nobody is asking you to be perfect. People are asking cops to stop killing unarmed people.

 

You don't get to have "bad apples" in Law Enforcement.

 

Funny you say "not even close." The "few bad apples" group would have you believe it's only a very small number of bad police. To that I say, not even close.

 

What percentage of police would you say is honorable?

[halfback20]

Cincy police will start you at $17 an hour to deal with this.

 

They need to double that.

[TheDeuce]

What percentage of police would you say is honorable?

 

I'd say 70% of police took the job for the right reasons and try to do the right thing all of the time.

[John Anthony]

I'd say 70% of police took the job for the right reasons and try to do the right thing all of the time.

 

I believe it’s higher than that, but it’s subjective I suppose. There are certainly some cops who shouldn’t have shields.

[TheDeuce]

I believe it’s higher than that, but it’s subjective I suppose. There are certainly some cops who shouldn’t have shields.

 

Unfortunately, our perceptions probably differ greatly.

[Bert]

Back to the argument of those saying what percent are peaceful protesters vs looting rioters, the girlfriend of a cop who has been manning the line/patrolling we talked with at dinner last night said time of day really determines the make up. In the evening during day light, mostly protesters who worse offense is F bombs but rioters are far and few between. When the sun comes down, the mix starts changing and as things start getting dangerous, the earlier protesters numbers begin lowering as they notice many of the people from earlier are no longer seen and people not seen earlier are showing up and the people causing problems tend to be part of that group, not all of it obviously but some part of it.

[Bert]

I am in lockstep with you here @MBWC41 but that is also a statement of the problem facing us as a society.

 

The criminals are using the protesters as cover to be criminals which makes the lawful and legal protesters a part of the problem.

 

It is a Catch-22 for sure.

 

Guru may have been more correct about the bold than we originally knew. When St. Patrick's church in downtown Louisville was broken into, it was more than vandalized, it was out right desecrated. Along with damage, numerous anti God quotes such as "God is Dead" or "God is a (insert explitive)" spray painted all over. Regardless to whether you love God, Hate God or don't even believe in Him, how exactly does religious desecration achieve anything in regards to police brutality? Most civil rights leaders are religious ministers? I believe it was reported that Breonna was a church goer. It sounds as though other churches across the country have been targeted such as NYC's Cathedral. As I said above, Guru may have been more correct than we know that out right criminals are opportunists using the protests as cover for their alternative agendas which have little to do with Breonna or the gentleman in Minneapolis.