Comment by the_af

23 days ago

But surely the history and treatment of black people in the US is at the root of it all, rather than "the radicalized left"?

Cop violence against black suspects because of violent crime by blacks seems a very suspect explanation. It ignores how the US got to that situation. Also, cops aren't in the same category as criminals (well, non-criminal cops anyway) and should be held to higher standards. They should de-escalate, not be another factor in violence.

It seems to me it's a spiral of violence in which the cops sometimes play a role in making it worse, and in any case, it makes the excuses for Scott Adams' views very weak in my opinion. So we should cut Scott Adams' some slack because he was "radicalized" by the "hysterical reaction of the left", but not acknowledge the reasons for BLM's existence or anything even before that?

> But surely the history and treatment of black people in the US is at the root of it all, rather than "the radicalized left"?

At some point people have to stop blaming whites from hundreds of years ago and start looking at the consequences current policies and individual choices. This cop violence problem is really only a thing in high-crime areas.

> It ignores how the US got to that situation

Yes, by very lenient with violent criminals.

> Also, cops aren't in the same category as criminals (well, non-criminal cops anyway) and should be held to higher standards. They should de-escalate, not be another factor in violence.

They try that. Suspects refuse to cooperate and results are predictable.

> So we should cut Scott Adams' some slack because he was "radicalized" by the "hysterical reaction of the left", but not acknowledge the reasons for BLM's existence or anything even before that?

There's nothing radical about peacefully disengaging with people who think your mere existance is a bad thing. BLM on the other hand is mostly an attempt to make crime worse by weakening police forces, which again, would mostly hurt black people.

  • > This cop violence problem is really only a thing in high-crime areas.

    All around the world, and all through recorded history the same thing can be seen.

    It's more of an interconnected feedback loop.

    Distrusted minority areas are over-policed with excess force, more charges are laid (even if actual crime rates are on par with majority less policed areas), people that are over policed act up and push back, reported crime increases.

    In the recent history of the USofA there are even examples of state munfactured crime - the CIA famously raised money for off book weapons to foreign fighters by buying cocaine and selling in bulk in minority parts of the USofA.

    That was under Ronald Reagan.

    • 50% of murderers are black and most of their victims are other blacks. Pretending like the violent crime problem in minority areas is made up only hurts those communities.

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  • > At some point people have to stop blaming whites from hundreds of years ago

    Why? And how is blaming "the hysterical reaction of the left" doing that?

    It seems all you're doing is simply stopping at the point of analysis you find palatable, which is dishonest.

    > [the US got to the current violent situation] by very lenient with violent criminals.

    Bullshit. Your opinion lacks any depth or explanatory power. No serious analysis would stop here.

    > [cops try to de-escalate]. Suspects refuse to cooperate and results are predictable.

    Reality shows otherwise. There's reason there has been increasing backlash against police violence, and it's not "the hysterical left".

    > There's nothing radical about peacefully disengaging with people who think your mere existance is a bad thing. BLM on the other hand is mostly an attempt to make crime worse by weakening police forces, which again, would mostly hurt black people.

    This doesn't address what I said, ignores the original comment (that Scott Adams had become radicalized, not even the OP dismissed this) and is generally a dishonest comment.

    All this shows is that you have right-wing views about policing, but explains nothing and ignores the reality of how we got there.

    • > Why? And how is blaming "the hysterical reaction of the left" doing that?

      Leftists pushing the idea that all good aspects of western culture are white supremacy and must be dismantled would be a factor, yes.

      > Bullshit. Your opinion lacks any depth or explanatory power. No serious analysis would stop here.

      Crime rates in minority areas prove it.

      > Reality shows otherwise. There's reason there has been increasing backlash against police violence, and it's not "the hysterical left".

      The increased backlash responds to increased profitability. Just look at how much BLM leaders cash in. Most police shooting victims are white, yet there's not talk about it anywhere.

      https://www.statista.com/statistics/585152/people-shot-to-de...

      > that Scott Adams had become radicalized

      He wasn't. That's just leftist hysteria and willfull character assassination.

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