Why are black people protesting?

I keep reading in the news that black college kids are protesting all over the country but I can't for the life of me find out why. I've read something about a shit swastika and a football team, but not an actual reason for the mass protests. News stories always just say it's about racism or something vague like that, but not what set all the whole thing off.

What the fuck is going on? Someone mind shedding some light on the whole situation?

 

[Dudeofteenage]

As I said in the Paris thread, the proper way to handle a shit swastika drawn on a bathroom wall is to call the janitor so they can bring some proper clean supplies and take care of it.

Yeah, I wasn't specifically talking about this incident, I was taking issue more generally with the idea that there's a dichotomy between protesting and achieving things.

 

[Von Clausewitz]

It's just a shit swastika? Some idiot drew a swastika with shit and that is enough to make people protest? This must be the epitome of first world problems, even in Germany people wouldn't give a single shit (haha) about this.

 

[HeirenPlaya]

The swastika was not even drawn in the proper direction to represent Nazism, assuming that the photo was reversed. Damn, people are stupid these days.

 

[Functional Animal]

The swastika was not even drawn in the proper direction to represent Nazism, assuming that the photo was reversed. Damn, people are stupid these days.

Have you ever seen a graffiti swastika (shit based or otherwise) drawn "right"? They're always backwards and off by 45 degrees.

 

[Cute Anime Girl]

work

>Black people
>work

 

[DrunkTails]

That sounds like an overreaction.

You think?

The whole Black Lives Matter is one planet sized overreaction. The fact that they are screeching against the recent Paris terrorist attack because its stealing their spotlight (I feel sick even saying that ) is a demonstration that these people are just manbabies who want attention and goodies cos their special snowflakes.

Black lives don't matter, All lives matter. But telling them that is an exercise in futility.

 

[Marvin]

You think?

The whole Black Lives Matter is one planet sized overreaction. The fact that they are screeching against the recent Paris terrorist attack because its stealing their spotlight (I feel sick even saying that ) is a demonstration that these people are just manbabies who want attention and goodies cos their special snowflakes.

Black lives don't matter, All lives matter. But telling them that is an exercise in futility.

Most people don't treat it that way. A black person getting killed is not given the same attention as a white person getting killed. A black person getting killed is considered "normal". It's a real issue.

 

[DrunkTails]

Most people don't treat it that way. A black person getting killed is not given the same attention as a white person getting killed. A black person getting killed is considered "normal". It's a real issue.

A black person being killed but not receiving the same attention is lamentable, I agree with that as much as most people here would. It is something that needs to be fixed.

My arguement is that there is a limit of how far one can take their race/gender/sexuality issues before it becomes unacceptable. The recent terrorist attack on Paris left 120+ people dead. Did any of those people deserve to die? No. Is racial hate a serious thing? Of course it is. But when someone compares someone painting a swastika with crap in the same level as the Paris attack, there is a serious problem.

 

[Marvin]

My arguement is that there is a limit of how far one can take their race/gender/sexuality issues before it becomes unacceptable. The recent terrorist attack on Paris left 120+ people dead. Did any of those people deserve to die? No. Is racial hate a serious thing? Of course it is. But when someone compares someone painting a swastika with crap in the same level as the Paris attack, there is a serious problem.

I'm not comparing the two. People who do compare the two are huge dipshits.

I'm just saying that "all lives matter" is a shitty response to "black lives matter".

 

[DrunkTails]

I'm just saying that "all lives matter" is a shitty response to "black lives matter".

True, sadly enough it is a shitty response. Unfortunately the people behind the black lives matter group are basically portraying everyone who is not black as evil racists.

Of course black lives matter, just like other minorities and whites do. One of the main problems is that by constantly screaming "black lives matter" and harassing others who are not black or outright attack someone with different opinions, that "black lives matter" slogan is slowly becomjng a war cry for people who want to be vile to others with the excuse of fighting 'racists'. The road to evil is paved with good intentions.

If we ignored our differences between skin color, gender, religion etc we are the same thing: human.

 

[QI 541]

I'm not comparing the two. People who do compare the two are huge dipshits.

I'm just saying that "all lives matter" is a shitty response to "black lives matter".

Depends. How confident are you that the people chanting "black lives matter" care about all lives?

 

[Marvin]

Depends. How confident are you that the people chanting "black lives matter" care about all lives?

Its supporters being dumbasses doesn't affect the validity of the underlying argument.

 

[Von Clausewitz]

#BlackLivesMatter isn't a very good hashtag to bring the issue across. The natural response of a emphatic person to that is 'Wait, all lives matter!'. Most of the flak and shouting is because of this.

The #AllLivesMatter people don't understand, that some people might interpret this as an undermining of #BlackLivesMatter, and some of the #BlackLivesMatter are over-reacting to the #AllLivesMatter people.

In the end everybody is behaving like an idiot.

 

[AnOminous]

#BlackLivesMatter isn't a very good hashtag to bring the issue across. The natural response of a emphatic person to that is 'Wait, all lives matter!'. Most of the flak and shouting is because of this.

There's nothing objectively wrong with the hashtag itself.

It's mainly shitty at this point because it's been mainly used by shitty people who have associated it with shitty behavior to the point people reflexively roll their eyes at the slogan. It's the "Occupy" of race relations at this point.

 

[QI 541]

Its supporters being dumbasses doesn't affect the validity of the underlying argument.

A good idea that's been corrupted isn't really any better than a bad idea.

 

[Marvin]

A good idea that's been corrupted isn't really any better than a bad idea.

I don't think the idea's been corrupted. It's not like police brutality is just going to go away just because dumbasses co-opted the issue.

 

[Mrs Paul]

Perhaps it should've been, #BlacksLivesMatterToo? Would that work better?

 

[Wallace]

Perhaps it should've been, #BlacksLivesMatterToo? Would that work better?

That would more succinctly point towards the unequal treatment by the police, which is one of the main complaints of the movement.

Aside from that, there also needs to be some way to articulate a specific list of actionable demands. "End racism" is a lofty goal, but with no plan, it's not going to happen any time soon. "Make all policemen wear cameras" is better.

 

[Von Clausewitz]

There's nothing objectively wrong with the hashtag itself.

It's mainly shitty at this point because it's been mainly used by shitty people who have associated it with shitty behavior to the point people reflexively roll their eyes at the slogan. It's the "Occupy" of race relations at this point.

I think that is inherent to the matter.

Every new movement attracts nut-jobs, this is pretty much a law. People with extreme ideologies flock to every new popular movement, that they can abuse as a mouthpiece for their ideas. Start you own club that wants to make your neighborhood prettier and you get at least one of those "Greater Good" guys from Hot Fuzz. Take social media into the mix and this gets one hundred times worse, because now you got the power to instantly reach every antisocial idiot with a smartphone. (And these days you can't go without social media.)

And of course those extremists are the people who 'shout' the loudest. For every ten people tweeting or posting something you would expect from the 'normal range' of the mental and political spectrum, you got at least one idiot demanding to #KillAllX - tweeting it ten times a day. Also, these are the messages people tend to notice.

I don't think these movements work for normal people. Before you even know it, a cause can have thousands of people rallying around it and everyone has a different opinion about what this 'cause' is. You need to have a list of demands before you start a movement, so it is more concrete. But most of these things start out as #IDonTLikeThis, it catches on because other people also don't like it and when it has caught on, there are already a million of people out there claiming that hashtag for themselves. So it is usually more like '#SomethingSomethingRacism' or '#SomethingSomethingFemism' ... '#SomethingSomethingSomethingism'.

Of course, because you movement isn't very well defined it also becomes open to attacks from 'the other side'.
#MakeMyNeighborhoodNiceAgain? Too bad! You are a obviously garden gnome nazi, who wants to tell people how their front lawn has to look like.

Then comes the point where 'normal' people are so alienated with the entire thing, they just step away from it, leaving the stage to the nutjobs.

Look at #GamerGate for instance. Ask someone if he would like to have ethics in game journalism, the answer will be 'Yes'.
Ask that person if he is Pro-GG and the answer will be 'Uhm... well... aw... no.'

 

[Cuck Norris]

It's easier to beg the government for things than it is to work toward a goal, and we all know how black people feel about work.