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Protestors: You’ve Been Duped
It’s been a lousy few months for everyone, especially for the black community. You’ve experienced more illness from COVID-19 than almost any other group. You lost your jobs right after the economy expanded and gave you work. Then you were stuck at home for weeks on end. And then George Floyd was killed. And your world exploded.
Your initial reaction is no surprise to many of us—for years you’ve listened to the litany of anger against law enforcement, so it only seemed right to join a protest. So you did. Except that in these protests, you can’t see the truth: you’re being used, so used.
What do I mean? For those of you who are sincere about protesting, I respect your right to do it. The problem is that, possibly without intending to, you are providing cover for criminals and terrorists. Those people who are burning down buildings in your town, who are attacking the police who want to protect your parents, who are destroying the businesses where you shop—they are using you. As you mingle with your friends, holding up signs, calling out for justice, the criminals are right there with you, hiding among you, destroying everything that you cherish—those monuments to your lives. And they don’t care that they are hurting you—they only want devastation and chaos.
We can argue about whether these terrorists are local or from out of town. It doesn’t really matter. What matters is that they don’t care a fig about social justice, and they don’t care about you. They are wiping out any chance for justice to rule, because they are using you as shields so they can meet their agenda which has nothing to do with justice, but only with annihilating any semblance of law.
That’s the truth of what’s happening. If you care about any of these outcomes, what can you do? One option is to stop the protests. Give law enforcement an opportunity to round up the real anarchists; once they are shut down, you can continue your protests, if you are so motivated.
Or if you don’t want to stop, go home before dark. You have several hours to make your point during daylight; let those who want to destroy your homes be arrested. Watch the action on TV. This is an opportunity to ensure that law enforcement actually works for you! Let the police and National Guard know that you want these monsters thrown in jail, and you won’t support them.
Protest anarchy. That’s demonstrating true power.
Published in Culture
Suzy,
Duped is too soft a word. They have been cruelly used by the worst monsters.
The Black community has been damaged that will have a lasting effect for years.
Regards,
Jim
That’s true, Jim. But if I were really writing to the protestors, I would want them to be able to hear me. Your wording is more accurate, my wording is more tempered.
A business owner who knew George Floyd and the police officer. And we can see one foolish woman who has no clue about the suffering and hatred she supports.
Too true. (sigh)
You are giving the “protestors” way too much credit for consistency. There is no goal other than general wonderfulness. There is no legislative proposal or program. There is no ten-point plan being held up by those evil Republicans. Feelings, emotions and emoji-level thought patterns.
Ah, but I’m not. The protestors are acting strictly on emotion. The girl in the video above is prepared to justify the riots due to the propaganda she’s learned, without a thought about the Latino man who’s lost his business. So I am trying to appeal on an emotional level, not a rational level: they’re destroying your homes, your parents’ homes. So go home!
The Protesters are protesting what, exactly? Why are people in Atlanta marching about something that happened across a continent? Nothing has been done to them personally. I did not protest when the same city killed a white person. I sure did not go burn something down.
America is demonstrably less racist than it was when I was a kid.
I do not care for the CBC’s conclusion that the business owner is fine with “the violence that came with” the protests, only upset that it affected him.
And the twit girl is what you get when the schools teach Howard Zinn’s version of America.
For some, @bryangstephens, it will never be enough. It must be a complete, perfect elimination of racism, as the Left explains to them. Of course, that can never happen, since (no matter what they tell us), blacks will perpetuate racism against whites.
Unpossible. Everybody knows that 100,000 unarmed black men are killed by white cops in the US every year. No Justice, No Peace!
Which is the reality for way too much of the US population.@susanquinn‘s heartfelt (racist! male hegemonic!) appeal to logic depends on an agreed set of facts. There isn’t one.
That would require dealing with two conflicting feelings at the same!!? Back off, lady. That’s too much like math.
And you KNOW all this is going to morph into silencing anyone who is concerned about the after-effects, and will also be massaged against Trump (who the officer was somehow influenced by, Trump being a “racist,” etc.) . In other words, you either support the burning/looting or you don’t believe that “Black Lives Matter.” Non minorities are also the target of the duping.
Between handing the country over to appeasement of the anarchists (whatever fog is in ther minds) and Trump, I’m not having a hard time deciding, since we know what will spill out of Biden.
C’mon you guys! Do my suggestions really seem impossible? Don’t you think that some people might be influenced by these ideas? How can people feel satisfaction that their neighborhoods are being destroyed? And then will they blame others for not fixing things fast enough? Arrghhhh!!!
If anyone has a good way to try to de-escalate the situation, aside from arresting all the mayors, I’d sure love to hear it. I’m not being sarcastic at all. I’m really interested. What will it take?
This: And keep your powder dry.
They were protesting about it in Dublin today Bryan. The world is gone bananas.
I like these guys! The most gratifying part is that they spoke nothing about giving up. And I think that no matter how fruitless our efforts may seem, we have to keep working at changing things for the better. At least that’s what I believe.
People who think in slogans and speak in bullets, to paraphrase Orwell.
How can you tell the difference between a sincere protester who starts off peaceful, but ends up rioting? Not sure you can. At that point, a peaceful protest becomes a riot and any sincere protesters had better get the hell out before the “it” hits then fan . . .
It’s not their neighborhood, as the people actually living there don’t want the place burned down. The rioters are destroying someone else’s neighborhood, rationalizing that it’s for the “greater good” (assuming they have any rationalization at all). The power structure won’t destroy itself, don’t you know.
I really don’t get black people. Not all of them, but far too many. On the one hand, they want you to respect them. On the other hand, they are trapped in a grievance mentality where they blame their lack of progress on others. I don’t see how self-respecting people can blame others for their problems.
I often enjoy a comedic YouTube channel based in England. Today, in the name of the racist Black Lives Matter, they raised over forty thousand dollars for the racist NAACP.
I can’t think of an organization that less represents Martin Luther King’s plea to judge people by character rather than by skin color.
I agree, @stad. Any violence tips the scales and they’ve gone over to the other side!
I’m with you, @joshuafinch. I don’t get it either. It means embracing a victim mentality–the only benefit is that you don’t have to take responsibility.
I guess I’m not devious enough. This is really sick. Thanks, OTLC. I think.
The video of George Floyd’s death shocked everyone, and everyone regardless of party or race was united and ready to do something about the problem. From the President to the far left everyone had empathy for the black community on this issue.
And then Black Lives Matter took to the streets to protest. It was probably the worst thing they could have done. Bad actors joined in and started up with the violence, vandalism, burning and looting. It has spoiled the moment and damaged their movement.
No they will not be, because they all believe in nothing but how they have been hurt. And others fuel it. Fundamentally, there is a vast swath of people of many races who think America is fundamentally racist and can never get any better. There is nothing that can be done while those people cling to that belief. Nothing. They will not be rational about it.
Susan, they will do whatever damage they do, and blame the Man. All of liberalism in this nation, all of it, is about making the Man responsible for everything that goes wrong. It is like 3rd wave feminism. Women want to make whatever choices they want, and when the consequences are bad, it is a Man’s fault. It is the same on race. It is the same on everything.
I think it is sad that anyone would see peaceful protest at the apparent wrongful death of a black man at the hands of law enforcement and rioting as a legitimate part of the same dynamic. A recently published study from a black Harvard professor demonstrates that the likelihood of a black person being killed by police is actually lower than someone from another racial category. Apparently Black Lives Do Matter to the men and women in blue, notwithstanding the instances when black men are wrongfully killed. Yes there is more aggressive policing, but lethality is far more rare.
We are all the victims of race baiters that overstate the likelihood that anyone will be discriminated against solely on the color of their skin, much less that the American system or subsystem is arrayed against black people. Affirmative action is legal racism that favors one group over another based solely on an immutable characteristic. Just ask ethnic Asians seeking admission to Harvard.
It is the race baiters, the anarchists and the arsonists that need to be dealt with, not the shop keepers and law enforcement. These riots dishonor the correct aspirations of Dr. Martin Luther King. If a particular police department will not deal with a particular officer or officers arising out of a particular event, then peacefully protest the inaction. Take civil action if available and appropriate. Vote in leader who will hold individuals accountable for malign acts. But do not confuse peaceful protests and riots. There is no factual basis for doing so. It promotes an entirely different agenda.
There are protestors and there are rioters. The protesters are the ones peaceful displaying signs and chanting. The rioters are throwing things, breaking things, attacking people, burning down buildings, and looting. Do not dignify the latter by mixing them with the former. Many of the latter are likely being paid to conduct a war on our country, and need to be charged, arrested, and tried. The former are righteously appalled sovereign citizens, the latter are in it to destroy our nation. This dichotomy must be recognized to clarify communications.