Reporter beaten, bloodied and robbed by a group of attackers as he covered the Ferguson protests Sun - Polidicks

[QUOTE=Oscar Lima Echo;48426256]You just did tho. Then how about you find some good news about protesters behaving like functioning citizens and post them instead of talking shit about the OP for not agreeing with you in the zimmerman case?[/QUOTE] Nevermind the almost-daily protests that have occurred in an around the city of Ferguson since last year, of course. The peaceful gatherings and regular meetings held at the churches, government government buildings, parking lots of local businesses, and neighborhoods. Nevermind the yard signs plastered in front of every other house here, including mine. Nevermind the meetings being held between local community leaders, political leaders, police leaders, and concerned citizens that are being hosted by the government on a regular basis. The news doesn't report on the protesters who peacefully assemble and act like "functioning citizens," because that is not controversial and thus not interesting to folks such as yourself.

[QUOTE=Big Dumb American;48435962]Nevermind the almost-daily protests that have occurred in an around the city of Ferguson since last year, of course. The peaceful gatherings and regular meetings held at the churches, government government buildings, parking lots of local businesses, and neighborhoods. Nevermind the yard signs plastered in front of every other house here, including mine. Nevermind the meetings being held between local community leaders, political leaders, police leaders, and concerned citizens that are being hosted by the government on a regular basis. The news doesn't report on the protesters who peacefully assemble and act like "functioning citizens," because that is not controversial and thus not interesting to folks such as yourself.[/QUOTE] They're quick to say "not all cops are bad!" and then they immediately pin everyone in the movement as bad without even spending half a second researching the drivel they're spouting. The idea that black people don't care about crime is ludicrous - a google search will prove you wrong. The idea that BLM is an excuse to loot and rob and mug people is likewise ludicrous - you can find peaceful assemblies across the country involving thousands of people. The idea that BLM only protests the deaths of criminals is also totally incorrect, a majority of the people they protest are not career criminals. The idea that BLM is a racial hate group is also a joke - there are people that take it too far, but almost every BLM rally has a multi-racial audience ranging from white to hispanic to asian to black. I wish people would see the irony of pinning the opposition as "mostly bad" or even "all bad" while adamantly defending that [i]their side[/i] is "not all bad." Spend an hour googling around and you can find hundreds of marches and rallies and protests that demand an end to violence using peaceful means. Those types of protests don't sell pageviews. People want to see violence and aggression, so the media uses that. Same as gamergate - people want to think gamers are sexist and misogynist, so the media paints it like that to brew up controversy and generate pageviews and print money. The fact that Facepunch is vehemently in support of Gamergate despite media misrepresentation, yet against BLM [i]because of[/i] media misrepresentation is just unbelievably ironic. If people would dig as much into these issues as they did into who Quinn fucked, they'd reveal plenty of evidence that would likely change their mind. Sorry for drawing parallels to GG so often, but the media reaction is nearly identical and the Facepunch reaction has been the absolute opposite. It's just silly. The [i]only[/i] person in these threads who does his own research and comes to different conclusions consistently has been sgman91 - and I can respect that, because he's digging and researching and actually forming opinions based on the evidence. I disagree with him on a lot of stuff, but I'm happy to have reasonable discussion with him because he will cite stuff and make reasonable counterarguments, even though I disagree with his conclusions. Most people read a few Breitbart articles and think they're "in the know on what really happened." Dig deeper, "alternative media" is just as scummy and misleading as mass media. Primary sources. Police reports. Academic essays on the concept of structural racism. Don't just read a VICE article and say "that's all I need to know!"

[QUOTE=Pvt. Martin;48427260]Ok that's fucking it. These fuckers have gone to far now. I don't care about the issues that sparked this, these folks are now beating up random people for the hell of it now. Change takes forever, but we need to stop this violence right now. [editline]10th August 2015[/editline] I think Im just gonna do what Isak is doing and just stop reading about stuff like this. I've had enough of hearing about it.[/QUOTE] The "fuckers" you speak of are such a horrible minority of people who actually give a shit about social issues today that you really shouldn't get all that bent up about it. Yes there are terrible people who exploit situations like Ferguson for their own benefit. Their affiliation with Black Lives Matter, even if they are truly affiliated, does not mean that all BLM activists are looters and robbers. You only hear about the controversial BLM members because of our shitty news media (that in my opinion is the single worst problem in America today.)

[QUOTE=Oscar Lima Echo;48426458] I can't honestly say BLM is has made any positive change or notions so far, it seems like it's used as an excuse for looting and racism.[/QUOTE] DOJ investigation into racial targeting by Ferguson Police and the restructuring of our local police and court systems that this led to. Body cameras, which are in the process of being introduced nationwide. New and additional training for police officers, and other police reforms, many of which are being introduced nationwide. City government acknowledging the problem and holding monthly meetings with concerned citizens and community leaders to address racial disparity. Presidential acknowledgment of systematic racism, and the formation of committees whose purpose is to create actionable policies to help combat it. Saying that BLM hasn't made any positive changes in the problem is simply ignorance. Saying that all BLM cares about is [I]looting[/I] is exactly the kind of bigotry that makes this call for social reform so necessary.

Sarcasm goggles broken before. Fixed.

Ah.. Facepunch is really good at beating around the bush. [editline]11th August 2015[/editline] [QUOTE=TheTalon;48427133]Black Lives Matter ..... Only if they're taken by someone who is non black. That's what I've gathered over the years. No one gives a shit if it's black on black. No outrage, no protests.[/QUOTE] Be careful, those who don't agree will call you racist even though their view on race is the same.

[QUOTE=Archonos 2;48437764]HA. You have the nerve to point and call others racist then quote "all black people" as saying "we dindu nuffin." You're incredible.[/QUOTE] Get your sarcasm goggles checked, son.

[QUOTE=Archonos 2;48437764]HA. You have the nerve to point and call others racist then quote "all black people" as saying "we dindu nuffin." You're incredible.[/QUOTE] You very seriously misinterpreted that post.

Thank god for Isak and Big Dumb American. My faith in this forum's views on racism have been restored because of you two. The majority of others in this thread were the reason I was staying away from a lot of "racial controversy" threads like this one because they didn't understand that it's more than just what was being said on the articles. It was a huge problem for me because when the protests in Ferguson broke out and eventually Micheal Brown was revealed to be a thug because I swear everyone on this forum went "lol why are they still protesting micheal brown was just a thug and got what was coming to them" when they didn't realize that those protests were more than just about one man getting shot. I mean you could see even before the DOJ report on how Ferguson government was basically primed for racism by having an all white government and only one black officer despite more than half of the population being black. But obviously that couldn't have happened because all racism disappeared after the civil rights movement, so obviously the protesters were just doing it so they could loot and raid the place. Man that was such a retarded moment on this forum.

And people are surprised when the police get militarized and call down the fucking humvees. Jesus christ, this isn't even about race, this is about a band of subhumans going on a rampage and getting surprised when the police get all of the gear they desperately need to fight off a growing horde of violent monkeys. This guy is just a reporter and he still gets cut down like it's nothing. [highlight](User was banned for this post (""This isn't about race," "violent monkeys"" - Big Dumb American))[/highlight]

[QUOTE=MrHeadHopper;48440699]And people are surprised when the police get militarized and call down the fucking humvees. Jesus christ, this isn't even about race, this is about a band of subhumans going on a rampage and getting surprised when the police get all of the gear they desperately need to fight off a growing horde of violent monkeys. This guy is just a reporter and he still gets cut down like it's nothing.[/QUOTE] Subhumans, horde of violent monkeys? Jesus fucking christ. :toadleave:

[QUOTE=.Isak.;48440714]Subhumans, horde of violent monkeys? Jesus fucking christ. :toadleave:[/QUOTE] You're the one making the connection. Doesn't that make you the racist? White people can be subhuman violent monkeys, too. I see some of them from time to time. Fact is, it doesn't matter what color your skin is. Disobeying the law and being violent purely out of anger and destroying property and causing potentially fatal damage to people is wrong. I don't know about you but I try to separate myself from people who do things like that because I don't view it as a good way to go about handling things.

I dunno who did it. It could've been some of the protestors, it could've been looters looking for an easy score. It could've been some white people being assholes. Who the fuck knows, but this shit shouldn't be happening.

[QUOTE=haloguy234;48441143]You're the one making the connection. Doesn't that make you the racist? White people can be subhuman violent monkeys, too. I see some of them from time to time. Fact is, it doesn't matter what color your skin is. Disobeying the law and being violent purely out of anger and destroying property and causing potentially fatal damage to people is wrong. I don't know about you but I try to separate myself from people who do things like that because I don't view it as a good way to go about handling things.[/QUOTE] Both are pretty race-loaded language. Dehumanization was always a key part of racialism and classification. That post was still pretty fucking funny though. But also, I really don't get how the fuck people call someone like Isak a racist with a straight face. It's like still talking about race when we're 'post-racial' and have legal equality makes you the racist, either because you simply must think race is real or you hate white people. Pretty pathetic.

[QUOTE=Conscript;48441179]Both are pretty race-loaded language. Dehumanization was always a key part of racialism and classification. That post was still pretty fucking funny though. But also, I really don't get how the fuck people call someone like Isak a racist with a straight face. It's like still talking about race when we're 'post-racial' and have legal equality makes you the racist, either because you simply must think race is real or you hate white people. Pretty pathetic.[/QUOTE] There's this sentiment online, especially on places like FP and Reddit, that recognizing race at all makes you a racist. I challenge when people use front-loaded racially-charged phrasing, especially words like "thug," or "dindu nuffin." People always argue that I'm the racist because "white people can be thugs too." They're not wrong - by definition, thugs are just violent people. But nobody calls white people thugs. Nobody calls Dylann Roof a thug and a criminal, despite having a criminal record and acting violently. They call him a kid. Then an 18-year-old Brown is justifiably shot, he's a thug. It's become a heavily racially-charged word. Language like "subhuman" and "monkeys" are also [I]very[/I] racially charged. You can say "white people can be monkeys too," but you're ignoring the historical context of hundreds of years of history of black people being called chimps and monkeys and apes. You can say "white people can be niggers too!!" if you define "nigger" as meaning "ignorant hood thug." It doesn't excuse the fact that it's racially-charged language and should be viewed as such. It's just frustrating to me that someone can call a black person a "violent monkey" and still try to explain away that "white people could be monkeys too." Okay, when was the last time you heard someone call a white person a "violent monkey?" Why wasn't Roof called a violent monkey? Why weren't the Vancouver hockey rioters 4 years ago called "violent monkeys?" It is [i]absolutely necessary[/i] to recognize race when talking about race issues. You can say "Oh, I'm colorblind, I treat everybody like they're white!" and you're still being ignorant of the actual issues they may face. Because they're not white, and not everyone treats people in a colorblind manner. You don't see that if you say "oh they're white to me!"

I think that the movement that began after Brown's death last year has led to a lot of productive reforms in the police force and society, like the ones BDA quoted above. At the same time, though, there are a lot of people using this movement as a shield who don't even really care about actual issues, who use the excuse of 'I feel wronged by this thing' to justify violence and stupidity and hatred. And, Isak, while I know this isn't true for everyone, especially not in mass media, I've hardly seen anyone call Dylann Roof a 'kid'. Usually they use some variation on 'monster' or 'horrible human being'.

[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;48426099]"Florida Man" is a meme, the only point of those threads is that they involve a man in Florida. This is a multi-story event that has several articles covering different aspects of it throughout as it develops. I suppose if WW2 broke out, we would have only had one news article a week about one single event in the war? That's not how news works.[/QUOTE] Knowing SH's history, it would probably be forced to consolidate into one thread.

I really should stop clicking on anything posted by Lamar, if only for the idiotic drama .Isak. kicks off all the time :glare: First off: The article doesn't mention the attackers being black. It's likely, but as long as there's no additional statement by Lamar it's plain and simple sharing of information about a current event. Regardless of the OP's motivation that [B][I]has[/I][/B] to be allowed in any functioning society and [I]must not be an act that is combated[/I]. If you [I]really[/I] want to oppose this, .Isak., please be aware that you are attacking one of the foundations of equality and people witnessing it will respond to you accordingly. Secondly: What do you think attacking something that is as matter-of-fact as the OP with a polemic is going to accomplish (especially in front of a moderate audience)? You simply cannot deny that event has taken place, and you cannot discredit the messenger while behaving incomparably worse yourself. No offence against you personally, but this isn't even the pot calling the kettle black anymore, it's mud accusing a glass of water (of doubtful nutritional value but at least the latter is potable). If you really want to effect any kind of positive difference compared to your non-involvement you need to stop spinning in place while the bridges around you are starting to smoke from the friction heat. Thirdly: Are you trying to insult your audience? That Lamar is intentionally trying to discredit BLM is obvious to everyone seeing at least two of these threads. Your continued overblown reactions here make it seem as if you had a disregard for everyone else's intellectual capacity. (Yes, I'm fully aware that the average age on this forum is relatively low. That doesn't mean the users are idiots, especially considering that media spin is discussed here on a regular basis.) And last but not least, on a slightly different note: The tactic you should be employing here to get your point across most effectively is to politely frame the event in the larger context so that others may evaluate its relevancy for themselves. This time it took you six posts for anything resembling that, and even worse you still felt the need to misquote/lie about the post that you replied to, presumably to exasperate anyone participating here. You can't have lasting victories as long as you employ dirty tactics that clumsy and obvious. If anyone with decent debate skills is around you can't use any of them at all or you'll most likely get people who'll crush your argument as devil's advocates even though they mostly agree with your position because they perceive your behaviour as aggravating (:rolleyes:). In any case, here's my personal take on the overall situation: I think BLM has a really good point, but they've been so incredibly bad at making it I'm not even sure they have a [U]net[/U] positive impact. For example there's a scathing official report highlighting the widespread institutional racism in one of the cities protests happened in. That's an incredibly strong piece of evidence, but what's paraded around to this day instead? "Hands up don't shoot", an appeal to emotion based on a testimony by a biased party directly involved in that situation. Similarly there's a sheer incomprehensible amount of racial hatred floating around the movement (no, not all of it is originating from black protesters, but a lot of people "supporting" the cause will happily spread it since white people are fair game and I have not once seen someone directly tell them off for it). What right do the people trading one injustice for another think they have to do that? What motivates someone to selectively keep quiet about that issue even though it's, while not at the same scale, fundamentally the same thing? Why do so many of their "allies" opt to try to erase reporting about issues with the movement? It's frustrating to no end because I keep seeing opportunities for positive change with little to no trade-offs, but instead of at least somewhat intently following through on these matters so many people appear to be content at digging even deeper trenches for the sake of "awareness" while at the same time hollowing out the foundation they themselves stand on too. You're not going to get rid of the unbalanced feedback loop that are racial (or religious, or cultural, or political, or financial, or whatever other competitive divide there is) tensions by shoving as much of a signal towards the other end. It just comes back to the sender before long :why: From what I've seen so far I'm certain that to make real positive change you need at least two things: -Respect for your opposition, because they are part of any solution that's better than the initial state. -The guts to stand against your own "allies" when they do something counter-productive. The first point I can definitely see with/around BLM still despite the sheer unbearable level of noise. Most situations where someone reasonable and friendly appears that I've seen do calm down to a level where discussion is actually possible. At least if no SJWs only in it for self-validation or -promotion are present. What the movement is utterly failing at is the second part though. There seems to be a widespread intentional blindness (or sometimes even denial) regarding any crimes committed by black people around the protests or by high-profile victims shot by police and that, too, is racism that needs to be counteracted to eventually arrive at a positive outcome.

No doubt poverty and socioeconomic inequalities compelled them to do this.

[QUOTE=.Isak.;48441338]...words like "thug," or "dindu nuffin." People always argue that I'm the racist because "white people can be thugs too." They're not wrong - by definition, thugs are just violent people. But nobody calls white people thugs. Nobody calls Dylann Roof a thug and a criminal, despite having a criminal record and acting violently. "[/QUOTE] People usually don't call terrorists thugs. Its usually reserved for violent criminals just causing chaos for fun or violent thieves. Thug is hardly racist. Dindu Nuffin almost certainly is.

[QUOTE=haloguy234;48441143]You're the one making the connection. Doesn't that make you the racist? White people can be subhuman violent monkeys, too. I see some of them from time to time. Fact is, it doesn't matter what color your skin is. Disobeying the law and being violent purely out of anger and destroying property and causing potentially fatal damage to people is wrong. I don't know about you but I try to separate myself from people who do things like that because I don't view it as a good way to go about handling things.[/QUOTE] Uh what? Subhuman and Monkey have always been slang for black people or some other race than White. How the fuck does that make him racist that he's acknowledging the fact that society has defined those terms those ways?

[QUOTE=Octavius;48426152]And if he was to say 'the protesters' it would still be a pretty stupid thing to say.[/QUOTE] yeah 'the protesters' are peaceful loving people :-)

[QUOTE=TornadoAP;48442400]Subhuman and Monkey have always been slang for black people or some other race than White. How the fuck does that make him racist that he's acknowledging the fact that society has defined those terms those ways?[/QUOTE] There's a tactic that always pops up in these threads, where someone will make disparaging statements using racially-charged words, then when called out on it, say 'Oh I didn't say they were (race), you must be racist for making that assumption'. It's transparently dishonest yet I see it over and over again.

[QUOTE=catbarf;48444024]There's a tactic that always pops up in these threads, where someone will make disparaging statements using racially-charged words, then when called out on it, say 'Oh I didn't say they were (race), you must be racist for making that assumption'. It's transparently dishonest yet I see it over and over again.[/QUOTE] It's basically a more roundabout way of saying "there are black people and there are niggers." How someone could actually think they can get away with that is completely beyond me

[QUOTE=catbarf;48444024]There's a tactic that always pops up in these threads, where someone will make disparaging statements using racially-charged words, then when called out on it, say 'Oh I didn't say they were (race), you must be racist for making that assumption'. It's transparently dishonest yet I see it over and over again.[/QUOTE] Yeah lmao, it's quite ridiculous. You never see that kind of phrases used in any other thread about rioting, protesting or looting, except when it involves black people. Like, come on, we see through, trying to defend that post is cringy.

[QUOTE=PaperBurrito;48441418]I think that the movement that began after Brown's death last year has led to a lot of productive reforms in the police force and society, like the ones BDA quoted above. At the same time, though, there are a lot of people using this movement as a shield who don't even really care about actual issues, who use the excuse of 'I feel wronged by this thing' to justify violence and stupidity and hatred. And, Isak, while I know this isn't true for everyone, especially not in mass media, I've hardly seen anyone call Dylann Roof a 'kid'. Usually they use some variation on 'monster' or 'horrible human being'.[/QUOTE] [url]http://facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=1472045[/url] "He's an angsty kid who went out and murdered people," along with numerous people call him "dude." [url]http://facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=1471596[/url] "holy shit the kid has a rhodesian flag patch," along with a lot of fun discussion about how the civil war had nothing to do with slavery It's not super common, but when you see people call an 18-year-old black person a thug and then call a 21-year-old white terrorist a "kid," it speaks volumes.