Racist Police Response to Ferguson Protests

[DaveC]

Originally Posted by bobsaget77

Yeah, they don't care because most of them don't even have jobs.


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Now THERE'S a hell of an assumption.


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[Vlad n U 2]

I don't blame them, really. Protesting isn't really meant to be convenient, is it?

[bono_212]

Originally Posted by Vlad n U 2

I don't blame them, really. Protesting isn't really meant to be convenient, is it?

So you would be OK with blocking traffic on a highway?

[Vlad n U 2]

In the event that more simple methods have been unsuccessful, then yes.

[nbelcik]

Originally Posted by bobsaget77

Yeah, they don't care because most of them don't even have jobs.


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Way to be an asshole.


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[bono_212]

Originally Posted by Vlad n U 2

In the event that more simple methods have been unsuccessful, then yes.

There was a car crash victim that had to be rerouted because the highway was blocked up. How does that help anything?

[nbelcik]

It really is appalling that people are more concerned with protestors blocking traffic rather than the issues that the protesters are protesting against.


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[bono_212]

Originally Posted by nbelcik

It really is appalling that people are more concerned with protestors blocking traffic rather than the issues that the protesters are protesting against.


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I think you're missing what the problem is. That's certainly not where I'm coming from, at any rate.

[Vlad n U 2]

Originally Posted by bono_212

There was a car crash victim that had to be rerouted because the highway was blocked up. How does that help anything?

That's definitely a very unfortunate occurrence, without a doubt. It's unlikely I'm going to see eye to eye with you on this, but I wanted to know if you feel the same way when you hear about/see images of protest movements around the world where they occupy heavily used roads etc?

Originally Posted by nbelcik

It really is appalling that people are more concerned with protestors blocking traffic rather than the issues that the protesters are protesting against.


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Agreed, in general.

[deep]

If blocking traffic does not get the job done
They should bring down the internet or cause a major power outage.

[Oregoropa]

Originally Posted by bobsaget77

Yeah, they don't care because most of them don't even have jobs.

They might be on George Soros's payroll. Professional protesters.

[bono_212]

Originally Posted by Vlad n U 2

That's definitely a very unfortunate occurrence, without a doubt. It's unlikely I'm going to see eye to eye with you on this, but I wanted to know if you feel the same way when you hear about/see images of protest movements around the world where they occupy heavily used roads etc?

I think (to me, of course) there's a big difference between shutting down a surface road and a highway. Surface roads, you can usually get around, but highways have so few other options.

And as Hewson points out. Sometimes something you do, even if you are raising awareness, leaves people so bitter, that it does more harm to your cause then good.

[Vlad n U 2]

Originally Posted by Oregoropa

They might be on George Soros's payroll. Professional protesters.

And why would he support a progressive protest movement? I would've thought generic colour revolutions are more his thing.

[deep]

Originally Posted by nbelcik

It really is appalling that people are more concerned with protestors blocking traffic rather than the issues that the protesters are protesting against.


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Really?
If you were on a freeway to the hospital and you got stuck in place for a few hours you would still feel this way?

[bobsaget77]

Originally Posted by nbelcik

Way to be an asshole.


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Originally Posted by DaveC

Now THERE'S a hell of an assumption.


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Not really. Ferguson and the St. Louis areas have very high unemployment. Ferguson it was around 10% in October and is rising very fast. St. Louis obviously has it's rough spots and is still around 10% as well.
Also, how would these people have time to protest all the time and loot up towns while they work? Unless these people are on some kind of organized protesting rotation (highly unlikely, but actually pretty impressive) there is not a lot of time to work. I've seen some on the street interviews with people from those areas and many have said that they quit their jobs just to protest. Admirable, I guess, if you support the cause, but unemployed now nonetheless.
It's not a stretch to say that a very good amount of the people in that protest are unemployed. It's only going to get worse because no one in their right mind would move there and their destruction of business and property has/will cause businesses to leave town and start somewhere new.
Can't blame the justice system and cops for everything. The cops didn't burn down and loot business and single handedly put the city in an economic hole in which they will probably never recover.


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[DaveC]

Originally Posted by bono_212

And as Hewson points out. Sometimes something you do, even if you are raising awareness, leaves people so bitter, that it does more harm to your cause then good.

This.

A few years ago when the civil war in Sri Lanka was winding up the very large Tamil community here in Toronto thought it would be a good idea to block the Gardiner Expressway (the freeway that runs through downtown) for an entire day.

It is unclear what exactly they were "protesting" (considering the war was happening on the exact opposite side of the planet; I believe the intent was to try to drum up support in the form of funding/supplies to be sent to the Tamil Tigers and framing the conflict as a Kosovo-style ethnic cleansing, which it clearly was not to anybody with at least one eye and a brain cell), and caused so many problems, e.g. congestion, rerouted ambulances/fire/police (I believe that someone died because an ambulance was stuck in stopped traffic, and there's nowhere to get off for about a 3 km stretch).

The action had the exact opposite effect, whereby many people who were sympathetic to the plight of the Tamils (which was entirely their own doing, IMO, but that's a topic for another thread) simply switched to wishing for a quick end to the war, which equated to the Tamil Tigers getting shit stomped - which effectively did happen a week or two later.

The community kept protesting afterwards (and shut down another freeway in the suburbs), and nobody gave a shit and just wanted them to shut up and go away.

These tactics are stupid, pointless, countereffective, and illegal. I have zero support for shit like this.



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[bobsaget77]

Do citizens still have the right of way on the highway? I'm not totally sure on the official laws in relation to that.


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[DaveC]

Originally Posted by bobsaget77

Do citizens still have the right of way on the highway? I'm not totally sure on the official laws in relation to that.


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By "citizens" do you mean pedestrians?

If so, then no. In Canada at least, slow-moving vehicles, animals, and pedestrians (basically anything that can't go at least 70 km/hr) are not allowed on limited-access highways. The police can ticket/fine anyone on foot on these roads.


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[deep]

Here in Los Angelse they have shut down freeways which is illegal
People have been blocked in their cars.for extended time periods.

I imagine 50% of people here are sympathetic to Ferguson isues. Trapping those people in their cars is as useful as Dave's.example above for the Tamils.

I don't know if they have jobs or not.
But they don't care about people who do.

[nbelcik]

Originally Posted by deep

Really?

If you were on a freeway to the hospital and you got stuck in place for a few hours you would still feel this way?

No, it wouldn't make a difference, because I have empathy for them and the cause they're supporting. Yes, it would be a major inconvenience to me, but I understand that sometimes you have to do drastic things in order to get people to pay attention to your cause. These issues have been ignored for so long and if it takes protests like these to bring them to the forefront then so be it.


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