[Maru]

Originally Posted by LeatherTrumpet

A demonstrator wearing the insignia of the New Black Panthers Party carries a shotgun during a protest against the shooting death of Alton Sterling ,near the headquarters of the Baton Rouge Police Department in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, U.S. July 9, 2016.

Reuters/Jonathan Bachman

Yeah our local one is Quannell X. I read his wikipedia last night because I didn't know his whole backstory (I was living in MD at the time). I'm sure the wikipedia leaves out some positives, but the quotes there are horrid...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quanell_X

"I say to Jewish America: Get ready … knuckle up, put your boots on, because we're ready and the war is going down. … The real deal is this: Black youth do not want a relationship with the Jewish community or the mainstream white community or the foot shuffling, head-bowing, knee bobbing black community. … All you Jews can go straight to hell."[5]

"[i]f you feel that you just got to mug somebody because of your hurt and your pain, go to River Oaks and mug you some good white folks. If you’re angry that our brother is put to death, don’t burn down your own community, give these white folks hell from the womb to the tomb."[7]

River Oaks is a high end community in W. Houston.

Originally Posted by Ammi

..it sounds, Geistkrieger as though you and your police force are a leading force of example to others, which is great to see those positives as well because as you say..so much reported by media tends to slant toward negatives as opposed to positives and doesn't show a good balance of any of these things...negative attracts I always think as well, so it grows and grows in how we view things...the vids with the activists taking part are interesting as well, for them to be seeing it from the perspective of the police officers also and the realisation of how little time is involved in loss of life..whether that be the police officers themselves or that person in front of them ...when we comment though, when we have these stories ...?...it tends to be more focusing on 'questionable' killings by officers..ones when it appears that weapons were drawn and fired without any threat being apparent...or even if someone already seems to be disabled of any threat and then shots were still fired....mind you, I can see from the vids that you posted, the extreme importance of compliance as is said in there because a small almost unnoticeable wriggling to us may indeed be a weapon being attempted to be pulled out and used...anyways, we must keep the balance of what police officers are faced with but we also must have questioning and accountability if procedures etc don't appear to have been followed as well...I also loved the vid of the officers playing basketball....and yeah, that balance is important to be actually seen by people, to build the trust as well, rather than building fear and mistrust...

....I also understand what you've said about citizens feeling needs to have weapons themselves ...but isn't that always going to create a 'need a bigger and more powerful one' situation for police to be effective and then weapons breeding more weapons and on and on...so the issue seems to many of us in the UK to be the gun laws themselves...

...anyways your insight has given me many thoughts but I've bolded the last bit because it's something that I particularly completely agree with...communication/listening as well as talking is everything for understanding..and the only real/accurate source of information is the source itself and talking to 'real' people with 'real' although discussions are always good and very much needed as well etc, they won't change anything ..only actions will ever do that... "Be the change you want to see!" is a great slogan and philosophy to have in life...

I've come to the conclusion that our local media can't ever be trusted to deliver news in a constructive manner. National stations/cable is about more about numbers than quality. That's why so many good shows get cancelled .

It's still good though some of these more negative/questionable cases and videos have come to light because clearly the conversation(s) because it will be relevant if the public decides that gun laws need to be changed (and actively vote for it)

I think a large part of the reason our media has gotten out of control really just comes down to our culture. I've read people in the UK think Americans are loud and boorish. It's really true if you watch the national media and watch how people debate important issues.

There are so many opportunities being missed by the public, the media and politicians to discuss the bigger issues but the American ego doesn't really allow for that conversation to happen without making one side submit and having the other dominate party regulate the conversation. Basically, calmly listening to other people's point of views opens you up to being schooled and it's more about yelling over each to get the other to submit... our culture is so overly competitive (to the extent of being boorish at times), even at the expense of having very necessary real conversations.

This video is a good representation of how I see most things handled... both sides are inherently flawed and you could easily school either but because it's 'murica, it's more about the perception of winning than actually being on the winning side... i.e who screams the loudest and schools the bestest

The BLM looks like the loser because he can't properly represent either side, but neither side is really trying to open each other's minds, it's more about screaming over each other trying to control the argument... the kids didn't have a tough opponent so they just let him talk himself into a deep hole. Most "debates" here don't go beyond the surface, it's more about finding the most embarrassing details about the other than to give their ideas any real thought... (not that this conversation has that potential )

Anyway, it is a funny video if you like watching someone debate poorly You can just as easily find one on Trump's side I'm sure

Edit: A typical BLM supporter here may get schooled in this way, but here it's more about staying on-message so they will just ignore the other side and pummel them with messaging until the other side submits, even if the other side is representing the public's side of how the issues need to be resolve... this is a majority of how our politics works sadly and why most of the people being elected now are more loud, boorish characters than calmer and intelligent ones...

Youtube video

[Ammi]

Originally Posted by Maru

Yeah our local one is Quannell X. I read his wikipedia last night because I didn't know his whole backstory (I was living in MD at the time). I'm sure the wikipedia leaves out some positives, but the quotes there are horrid...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quanell_X





River Oaks is a high end community in W. Houston.



I've come to the conclusion that our local media can't ever be trusted to deliver news in a constructive manner. National stations/cable is about more about numbers than quality. That's why so many good shows get cancelled .

It's still good though some of these more negative/questionable cases and videos have come to light because clearly the conversation(s) because it will be relevant if the public decides that gun laws need to be changed (and actively vote for it)

I think a large part of the reason our media has gotten out of control really just comes down to our culture. I've read people in the UK think Americans are loud and boorish. It's really true if you watch the national media and watch how people debate important issues.

There are so many opportunities being missed by the public, the media and politicians to discuss the bigger issues but the American ego doesn't really allow for that conversation to happen without making one side submit and having the other dominate party regulate the conversation. Basically, calmly listening to other people's point of views opens you up to being schooled and it's more about yelling over each to get the other to submit... our culture is so overly competitive (to the extent of being boorish at times), even at the expense of having very necessary real conversations.

This video is a good representation of how I see most things handled... both sides are inherently flawed and you could easily school either but because it's 'murica, it's more about the perception of winning than actually being on the winning side... i.e who screams the loudest and schools the bestest

The BLM looks like the loser because he can't properly represent either side, but neither side is really trying to open each other's minds, it's more about screaming over each other trying to control the argument... the kids didn't have a tough opponent so they just let him talk himself into a deep hole. Most "debates" here don't go beyond the surface, it's more about finding the most embarrassing details about the other than to give their ideas any real thought... (not that this conversation has that potential )

Anyway, it is a funny video if you like watching someone debate poorly You can just as easily find one on Trump's side I'm sure

Edit: A typical BLM supporter here may get schooled in this way, but here it's more about staying on-message so they will just ignore the other side and pummel them with messaging until the other side submits, even if the other side is representing the public's side of how the issues need to be resolve... this is a majority of how our politics works sadly and why most of the people being elected now are more loud, boorish characters than calmer and intelligent ones...

Youtube video

...it's that stereotype thing, isn't it Maru...I think that was created back in the day in movies and in the day when the world was much larger/people were far less travelled etc...the Americans so full of confidence as was often portrayed and the 'reserved' English stereotype also...for the most part those stereotypes have been broken because we meet and talk to people from all over the world, but for some they have remained, I think because stereotyping can often stay very fixed...but yeah, I agree in that so many discussions don't seem to be discussions at all because they're only a 'half discussion' really, of speaking but without the listening bit, which is of equal importance...I know it sounds naff but that part is the only way we can grow, by learning ..?...it's not about 'backing down', it's about being given opportunities to re-think and re-visit etc...and screaming opinions at each other is only going to alienate and stunt any communication from becoming possible...that whole thing in the vid ..(the 'debate'..)...was doomed from the off because the only communication was accusation, rather than questioning...and then the conclusion was that education and education and education was needed until we all have the same opinion and the same perspectives.....


...just sadly such a shame of a wasted opportunity in a peaceful protest..which happens all to often sadly...'well you're a racist/you support racism..'...'no, I don't..'...yes you do/no I don't etc...all playground stuff and alienating and nothing being achieved at all in the accusations and defensiveness...


..the last bit is very interesting from your perspective as well because I think that's what many of us have concluded in the UK in trying to understand and fathom Trumpmania...so much vision being shown by Bernie Sanders and yet his campaign did not play the media game, whereas Trump is all about media and all about showmanship...