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No he did not. This was, as he mentioned, about unarmed black people being killed by the police. Specific problems require specific solutions and the first thing you need to do is to get the diagnose right, and in order to do that you need the right info.
What you did by unfiltering to "correct" what you labeled as cherry-picking was to flooding and burying the relevant evidence in a sea of white noise that distort the results.

I'm sorry, I don't agree. If the action required in the States is so specific that these protests can't help other minorities they're totally ******, police brutality is police brutality and racism is racism. Police are killings trending upward and police killings of minorities trending upward is exactly why the US need these protests. The black community will be, and for whatever reason generally are, the most vocal minority but this is bigger than just one race and I would be amazed if other minorities weren't in support of it when, from my interpretation the majority of White people are.

They are not. This is a sanitary issue. We are in the middle of a global pandemic. And yes, what happened is a tragegy, period. No buts. You do have to weight the consequences thou, and in order to do that you have consider the following facts

1- Global pandemic
2- Highest unemployment in the last 25 years
3- Highest number of people requesting benefits in recorded history
4- No free healthcase

I dont think you need to be a neurosurgeon or a nasa engineer to see how adding high concentrations of people to those 4 is a recipe for (an even worse) disaster.
I still disagree, you can't let persecution slide or it will only get worse. There will be a time to take it off the streets for sure,and maybe that has come I don't have the perspective to know that, but this needed a massive reaction.
 
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I'm sorry, I don't agree. If the action required in the States is so specific that these protests can't help other minorities they're totally ******, police brutality is police brutality and racism is racism. Police are killings trending upward and police killings of minorities trending upward is exactly why the US need these protests. The black community will be, and for whatever reason generally are, the most vocal minority but this is bigger than just one race and I would be amazed if other minorities weren't in support of it when from my interpretation the majority of White people are.
I dont have a problem with you disagreeing, course, but i do have a problem with you making a statement and presenting as facts/revealed thruths when you haven't presented evidence to support them.

Allow me to illustrate with an example. You imply that the problem is police brutality towards a specific minority (blacks) in the US and then state that the police killings are trending upwards.
So which is the problem we are discussing? is it 1) Racism and targetting of the of police towards blacks (and related brutality) or 2) police brutality regardless of any social, economic, racial, gender or ethnic classification? You cant have it both ways. Again, diagnosing the problems is fundamental, and in order to do that you need to precisely define the problem.
And here is the kicker: if it is a) then the evidence provided by Steve clearly shows the trend is not going upwards and if it is b), then why bring race to the table at all?
Either way, i see incongruences.

The above is (i hope) what i consider mostly fact-based and the interpretation of those facts. Let me give you a couple of questions that are going through my mind when i read your posts. Why is an Irish living in Ireland so concerned with this? Why does it matter when it happens in the US and not the rest of the world? I can guarantee you, 100%, without an iota of doubt that worse, 10x times worse things happen related to both racism and police brutality in pretty much every longitude and latitude.
2 weeks ago the police killed a guy who went for a walk in Argentina. Did you post about it? Give me 10 minutes and i can find a brutality case from the last two months in the continent of your choosing.
What is so special about this case for people outside the US that makes it stand head and shoulders above the rest?

In April 2019 Venezuelan security forces purposedly drove armoured vehicles into a crowd. Could you point me out to your posts in outrage? How many protests did you organize about that? How many rallies did you attend to?
If police brutality is so important, I'd like to see coherence in your actions, and if your interest lies only in police brutality in the US, i'd like to know why.
This is an important question, a relevant one. Coherence and congruence are very, very important.

In general, I wouldn't have a problem with protest (course) but we are in a global pandemic and I happen to have both doctors in the family as well as members of a high-risk group regarding covid, therefore i am reasonably well informed about the how it spreads and the potential consequences of it spreading. We all have to make sacrifices, some more than others.
People have stopped going to shelters, to work, visiting their loved ones, going to see their sister's newborn baby at the hospital/house. There are people who, sadly but understandably, couldn't even say goodbye to their deceased.
Given that, asking them to delay, postpone, or find other ways to protest sounds quite reasonable to me.

By supporting the protest you are implicitly saying their right to protest is more important than other people's right to work, educate yourself in school or attend a funeral.
Again, this is an exceptional circumstance that requires extraordinary solutions.

Another 1st world example: In the Netherlands bars/cafes have all been closed for months. They have received money from the government to pay mostly salaries, but utilities, taxes and rent still come down (mostly to the owners/operators). The owners did not like the measure one bit, not one tiny bit, but they understood where it was coming from and abided by it. Not only that but after the bars were opened a lot of restrictions apply which limit their income generation (they can host about 1/3 of the people they used to) and they have to pay the costs to adjust their places to comply with the new rules. Again, they do not like it, they are desperate, but they still understand. Two days after that there is a massive BLM rally in a landmark square where social distancing is not respected and even the mayor attends. Every single bar owner, waiter/waitress, bartender, cook, food/beverages producer/distributor felt like a bloody idiot, and rightly so.

This is, epidemiology speaking, a group issue. Either you have a mega strict quarantine with harsh enforcement or you can lighten things a bit and expect (hope) people will behave in a reasonable and cautious manner. When they don't they are fist fvcking everyone else who did. It's a loud "i don't care what you did for society, i want to do as i please, and i can get away with it"
I don't support that. I cant.

The fact radicals (again, not you) have a standard response, when you bring the sanitary issue to the table, that ranges from "you are a racist" to "you are a racist" only adds insult to injury. It's as if they (not you) are immune to facts, common sense, and rational thought. They are not far away from people who are against vaccines. Health flat-earthers, but more dangerous, because their actions have a direct impact on others
 
Trump sent a cease and desist to CNN after they showed a poll that had Biden ahead of him.

You couldn't make it up.
 
Why does it matter when it happens in the US and not the rest of the world? I can guarantee you, 100%, without an iota of doubt that worse, 10x times worse things happen related to both racism and police brutality in pretty much every longitude and latitude.
In SA Colin Khosa was allegedly assaulted by members of the defence force on Good Friday, during the nationwide lockdown.

According to court papers, they kicked and punched Khosa, holding his hands behind his back while they choked and beat him, slammed him against the wall, and used the butt of a machine gun to hit him.

He died soon after of blunt force trauma to the head.

In an interview with members of the IPID task team, two neighbours of the Khosa family said they had seen SANDF members assaulting Khosa and his brother-in-law, Thabiso Muvhango.

They took video recordings of it on their phone.

One witness alleged that, after seeing her recording the incident, members of the SANDF took her to a JMPD bus, where they assaulted her and forced her to delete the footage.

Another witness said SANDF members saw him taking a video - and he, too, was assaulted.

According to both witnesses, after being forced into the bus, they were taken to Alexandra Mall.

There, they were forced into an army truck, where SANDF members continued to assault them.

A JMPD officer corroborated this, saying he drove them to the mall without knowing why.

The witnesses were then driven to a nearby off-ramp about 15 minutes away and dropped off, and their phones were thrown into the bush.

This was now during the lockdown, black policeman/Soldier on black civilian, but for some reason, some of our political parties decided they would rather protest the US killing.
https://www.news24.com/news24/south...-family-come-to-light-in-ipid-report-20200610



a case of Black on white murder last week and a man I knew well went unnoticed but its understandable I guess because there are so many of these everyday, anycase he was a very kind man who moved from Austria to South Africa because he loved this country. He was murdered by panga last saturday, this man taught me how to love a Weissbeer. We spent many afternoons at his eatery enjoying german sausages and Bavarian Weiss beers, this news has shocked our community but people only give a **** about the cop in America and George Floyd.

"On crews arrival, they were met by a gruesome sight of the body of the owner of the establishment who had been hacked by a panga."

"It appears that the owner was confronted just outside the office where he was then hit with a panga, the patient was then walked through to his office where the suspect checked for money."

"The patients companion heard the commotion and was subsequently able to raise the alarm and call for help before she got out of the house."

https://www.iol.co.za/news/south-af...estaurant-owner-dies-in-panga-attack-49065805

Minorities are targeted and attacked in other parts of the world too, people just don't care yet.


My point? America is not special
 
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On the eastern front specifically, there is a strong argument that can be made that a large part of the reason that it proved so important was because the Germans had to split their resources between both fronts and a decent argument to be made that if Churchill hadn't come to power and maintained the war effort, the Soviets would never have had the oppertunity to inflict such losses on the germans.

If you compared the deployments on Eastern and Western fronts - in terms of the army - it was almost a distraction. However, the impact of the US' precision (relatively) bombing campaign on the factories was something that made a significant difference. But anyway, continuing this sideshow serves no purpose.

Just look into Churchill's performance in a bit more detail and you'll see he's far from a hero.



So which is the problem we are discussing? is it 1) Racism and targetting of the of police towards blacks (and related brutality) or 2) police brutality regardless of any social, economic, racial, gender or ethnic classification? You cant have it both ways.

Why not both?

Certain police departments in the US are almost out of control with regards brutality.

There is strong evidence various ethnic groups are targeted to high degrees. Why not tackle that too?




Regarding the protests - yes - it really is unfortunate timing. While I wholeheartedly agree with the sentiments - I'd love to see some of those "officers" get their comeuppance* - I cannot agree with the massed assemblies. Its potential to act as a superspreading event is too high. The "what if" scenario is quite scary. [Although there is strong evidence it doesn't transmit well outdoors - that's still not something I'd like to test en-mass.]
 
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I dont have a problem with you disagreeing, course, but i do have a problem with you making a statement and presenting as facts/revealed thruths when you haven't presented evidence to support them.

Allow me to illustrate with an example. You imply that the problem is police brutality towards a specific minority (blacks) in the US and then state that the police killings are trending upwards.
So which is the problem we are discussing? is it 1) Racism and targetting of the of police towards blacks (and related brutality) or 2) police brutality regardless of any social, economic, racial, gender or ethnic classification? You cant have it both ways. Again, diagnosing the problems is fundamental, and in order to do that you need to precisely define the problem.
And here is the kicker: if it is a) then the evidence provided by Steve clearly shows the trend is not going upwards and if it is b), then why bring race to the table at all?
Either way, i see incongruences.

Firstly, excellent post. Without going back on my own posts, I'm fairly certain I haven't mentioned racism or brutality specifically against, I believe I entered the argument after videos of brutality against all ethnicities (primarily black yes and this is certainly a topic which is closest to the black community) so any mention of racism is not exclusive to any minority in the States. So Steve and I were arguing different points at best, I do think focusing on the reduced brutality against blacks and ignoring the increases that are across the board elsewhere as a sort of endorsement for Trump is cherry picking though. I can understand why Steve-o went but I think it missed the mark.
The above is (i hope) what i consider mostly fact-based and the interpretation of those facts. Let me give you a couple of questions that are going through my mind when i read your posts. Why is an Irish living in Ireland so concerned with this? Why does it matter when it happens in the US and not the rest of the world? I can guarantee you, 100%, without an iota of doubt that worse, 10x times worse things happen related to both racism and police brutality in pretty much every longitude and latitude.
2 weeks ago the police killed a guy who went for a walk in Argentina. Did you post about it? Give me 10 minutes and i can find a brutality case from the last two months in the continent of your choosing.
What is so special about this case for people outside the US that makes it stand head and shoulders above the rest?
I don't really have an answer other than that I don't really follow domestic politics outside of Ireland, the UK, France and the US, and this has also become a worldwide movement. The rest of your post highlights why it should be, systemic racism is a problem all across the board and the wealth or lack thereof of a nation appears to have nothing to do with it. Here we have it in the most "prominent" nation in the world and it can be used as a catalyst to act against it.
In April 2019 Venezuelan security forces purposedly drove armoured vehicles into a crowd. Could you point me out to your posts in outrage? How many protests did you organize about that? How many rallies did you attend to?
If police brutality is so important, I'd like to see coherence in your actions, and if your interest lies only in police brutality in the US, i'd like to know why.
This is an important question, a relevant one. Coherence and congruence are very, very important.
Does my ignorance to goings on in a country on the continent that I'm least connected to and one that I don't speak the language, or even know the name of the capital city not allow me to have a point of view on police brutality? I also never organised, nor attended, a protest, I didn't believe it was my place. All I have done is educate myself to ensure I'm not part of the problem and be able to tell others if they are.

I'd also add that I think racism is still the bigger of the two issues, I didn't bring up the clashes between police and firefighters in France, I didn't think it was that important and I don't believe it's something likely to lead to change. The current movements and protests can in my opinion and that's an important difference.
In general, I wouldn't have a problem with protest (course) but we are in a global pandemic and I happen to have both doctors in the family as well as members of a high-risk group regarding covid, therefore i am reasonably well informed about the how it spreads and the potential consequences of it spreading. We all have to make sacrifices, some more than others.
People have stopped going to shelters, to work, visiting their loved ones, going to see their sister's newborn baby at the hospital/house. There are people who, sadly but understandably, couldn't even say goodbye to their deceased.
Given that, asking them to delay, postpone, or find other ways to protest sounds quite reasonable to me.

I'm the exact same, I have relations who are doctors, work in hospitals or are at risk. All of whom condone the protests though because they know what it's like to be persecuted, in their case it was being run out of their family home for being Catholics in the North but they all believe something like this can't be postponed. Strike when the iron is hot was the phrase used.*
By supporting the protest you are implicitly saying their right to protest is more important than other people's right to work, educate yourself in school or attend a funeral.
Again, this is an exceptional circumstance that requires extraordinary solutions.

I honestly think this is an exceptional enough circumstance for protesting to trump those rights. It's a unique opportunity where everyone is living in fear like those affected by racism are every day. I think it probably has to be limited as a result but I don't think, as a white Irish person, I can understand what the limit is.

Another 1st world example: In the Netherlands bars/cafes have all been closed for months. They have received money from the government to pay mostly salaries, but utilities, taxes and rent still come down (mostly to the owners/operators). The owners did not like the measure one bit, not one tiny bit, but they understood where it was coming from and abided by it. Not only that but after the bars were opened a lot of restrictions apply which limit their income generation (they can host about 1/3 of the people they used to) and they have to pay the costs to adjust their places to comply with the new rules. Again, they do not like it, they are desperate, but they still understand. Two days after that there is a massive BLM rally in a landmark square where social distancing is not respected and even the mayor attends. Every single bar owner, waiter/waitress, bartender, cook, food/beverages producer/distributor felt like a bloody idiot, and rightly so.

This goes full circle to my first point of the social value of protesting racism vs Drinking and socialising. Maybe it's not a big enough issue in the Netherlands to warrant a protest, but I honestly don't know.
This is, epidemiology speaking, a group issue. Either you have a mega strict quarantine with harsh enforcement or you can lighten things a bit and expect (hope) people will behave in a reasonable and cautious manner. When they don't they are fist fvcking everyone else who did. It's a loud "i don't care what you did for society, i want to do as i please, and i can get away with it"
I don't support that. I cant.
I'm sure they think that the people they're putting in danger would do the same to them, regardless of circumstance. It's not a rationale thought, but I've heard or read multiple times over the past couple weeks that a reaction to racism isn't rational because racism in itself is inherently irrational. Is it using the virus as a weapon? Probably, I doubt that's the intention, but it's hard for me to be totally against it when we're talking about people who, at a normal time, have little to no leverage.
The fact radicals (again, not you) have a standard response, when you bring the sanitary issue to the table, that ranges from "you are a racist" to "you are a racist" only adds insult to injury. It's as if they (not you) are immune to facts, common sense, and rational thought. They are not far away from people who are against vaccines. Health flat-earthers, but more dangerous, because their actions have a direct impact on others
I think this where we ultimately disagree, I don't think you're a racist at all but a I think that to hurt someone or something that is so much more powerful than you sometimes you have to fight dirty. I don't feel particularly great about innocent people dying as a result of this, in a perfect world that could not be condoned and many will see it as a waste of life but ultimately I think these people are fighting for their lives and at the moment I'm on their side.

*This paragraph is outlining why I have formed my opinion. I'm not trying to use a privilege argument to dismiss you, that would be the height of hypocrisy.

Edit: Formatting
 
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If you compared the deployments on Eastern and Western fronts - in terms of the army - it was almost a distraction. However, the impact of the US' precision (relatively) bombing campaign on the factories was something that made a significant difference. But anyway, continuing this sideshow serves no purpose.

Just look into Churchill's performance in a bit more detail and you'll see he's far from a hero.





Why not both?

Certain police departments in the US are almost out of control with regards brutality.

There is strong evidence various ethnic groups are targeted to high degrees. Why not tackle that too?




Regarding the protests - yes - it really is unfortunate timing. While I wholeheartedly agree with the sentiments - I'd love to see some of those "officers" get their comeuppance* - I cannot agree with the massed assemblies. Its potential to act as a superspreading event is too high. The "what if" scenario is quite scary. [Although there is strong evidence it doesn't transmit well outdoors - that's still not something I'd like to test en-mass.]

Yeah your wrong
 
Why not both?
I don't have a problem discussing both, but since different problems might require different solutions i find it more efficient and clear for every intellectually honest party involved to treat one problem at a time. Otherwise, you keep going back and forth between different issues and switching the issue when it suits you.
It's just a common mechanism to streamline discussions when the actual purpose is to find a solution.
 
Yeah your wrong

No surprise the wee squaddie refuses to look beyond his foxhole.

There were approx 3 times more German divisions in the Soviet Union compared to France, and those that were in France were mostly reserve, youth or undergoing refit.
 
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I don't have a problem discussing both, but since different problems might require different solutions i find it more efficient and clear for every intellectually honest party involved to treat one problem at a time. Otherwise, you keep going back and forth between different issues and switching the issue when it suits you.
It's just a common mechanism to streamline discussions when the actual purpose is to find a solution.

The solution (at least limited to here) is competent policing.
 
No surprise the wee squaddie refuses to look beyond his foxhole.

There were approx 3 times more German divisions in the Soviet Union compared to France, and those that were in France were mostly reserve, youth or undergoing refit.
Happy to have this debate on PM mate as it far more complicated and possibly boring than many would want to read on here
 
Does anyone have a decent arguement for not reading down any statues? I'm getting hypothetical like pulling down the Pyramids under where does it stop. Obviously it stops well beyond that but absurdist arguements don't help.

Also some saying erasing history but a lot of these statues don't have any historical context (such as Colston).
 
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