Unrest in the USA at the moment

Well mass peaceful protest is good but it has to go further, has to disrupt society with civil disobedience, blockades, etc. Only then does it get more attention, sometimes with violent police response, but that´s whats works better than "allocated protests". When it descends into violence though it has the opposite effect and gives fuel to the other side.
But ultimately requires good leadership at all levels, lacking in the US at the moment. Demonising one side isn´t going to work.

 

These issues have been simmering for years, decades perhaps. Rampant racism, massive wealth gap, inequalities everywhere, widening divisions across the board - I mean what do you expect at some point it's gonna hit the fan?

What happened to that poor man is inexcusable, revolting and horrible - people are right to strongly protest this. We can only hope this will bring lasting change, but it seems rather unlikely. Just more divisions, more racism, inequalities, and another old white dude at the helm comes autumn.

Man, you could not pay me to live there.

 

Not much sympathy l'm afraid , sounds hard l know but with what l've learned about America itself and it's people over the last decade or so and much of it first hand , l dunno . l have a hard time finding much respect for the place at all on the most part.

 

Apparently he did survive although watching the video he looked dead, broken wrist, broken back etc. I've seen suicides and dead bodies in the flesh through work but seeing that guys body afterwards through the video was one of the most disgusting things I've seen.

 

I have lived in US too, it amazes me what the masses are fed and believe. I agree there will always be a divide, it will never change

 

This ultimately is kinda the problem. That's why there are these anarchic protests.

In here and most of the developed world, when there is a problem...we look into it and address it, not always successfully, but it is addressed. Look at NZ and Oz post massacres....France post terrorism, "closing the gap " policies here, heck - even the coronavirus response..

The responses aren't always effective but efforts are made to improve, and over time we generally head in a positive direction. It's by no means utopia but it does mean that everyone (more or less) gets access to a base level of education, healthcare and opportunities.

If you're poor in Oz, you can still go to uni, get that chronic disease looked at, get your children into childcare and a good public school. It will all be hard due to all the socioeconomic stuff that comes with being poor but it's much, MUCH better than the American model where your schools are essentially seperated along socioeconomic lines, it's impossible to get into uni (unless you're amazing at sport) and healthcare is something that has to be put off till tomorrow.

You combine this with systemic racism, a major pandemic and loose federal leadership and the fuse is well and truly lit.

 

6th night now

I would have thought they would have this under control by now

https://www.google.com.au/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/05/31/george-floyd-protests-live-updates/?outputType=amp

 

you need to separate the criminal activity from the actual issue. The violence, looting etc has nothing to do with the death of Floyd

I posted a link where intelligence have identified the agitators

 

We are number 5

I think we have slipped a tad, not complaining

https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/quality-of-life-rankings

 

Leadership, But the problem is only some-one born in the USA can be leader. The USA has had to import its brains, German war crimiinals but man on the moon, migrants built silicone valley. Australians developed the nuclear bomb. Should give power back to the British crown so laws can be enforced equally and better laws introduced, the american mindset is RS.Epogenetics at work. Worst thing the yanks done was kick the poms out. what a different world it would be . When I lived there what struck me was how you has to wear the big hat the big boots and swagger to be accepted. Acted tough but they were **** scared **** scared of everything, of what people though of them , they wouldnt travel with me because it was bad for their image to be seen in an old car, say dont go to that part of town because of the negro, so I walked down there to see why, and found the most welcoming friendly and broadminded people and more intelligent people. Then they were scared of the russians and gays. It is why those guys carry guns they are cowards scared of everything outside their bubble.

 

Floyd was the spark. What I described was the buildup of tinder and kindling....

 

... and COVID-19, unemployment, their President, etc were the jerrycans of petrol?

 

2020's going well

 

One wonders how much damage will this unrest cause to the USA economy which is already so fragile.

The people will be paying for all the damage, to cars, the roads, the buildings, the businesses, their stock, ...

 

To be honest the issue of race and policing in America is such a complicated issue I'm not sure where I stand on it at the moment. On the one hand the stats show that African Americans are over represented as victims of police brutality but things become much more complex when you have the ever present issue of poverty and a culture of crime in some minority neighborhoods which surely make violent incidents with law enforcement much more likely, and not always with an explicitly racist motive.

Ben Shapiro has made some good arguments that the police in the US are not institutionally racist, but I guess it only takes a few racist and/or heavy handed police to spoil that image. Some of these incidents for example might be down to a combination of poor training and heavy handed police officers who treat subjects with an unacceptable level of force regardless of race.

What I'm a lot more clear on is that America is a very unequal society with the cards too often stacked against the working and middle class, and too many African Americans are born into the disadvantaged bottom rungs of society than would otherwise be the case had the US not been a notoriously racist country for much of its existence.
Whether it's education, the judicial system, healthcare or economics, the system works well at perpetuating disadvantage. Take the judicial system- if you're a well connected banker in HSBC then it's ok, you're part of the priviliged class so won't have to answer for that Sinaloa cartel money you washed by the millions (just don't get caught dealing a couple of grams of the white lady on a street corner, you'll do serious time for that), or if you the CEO of Lehman Bros you're allowed to participate white collar crime on a massive scale, bankrupting and ruining the lives of millions of your countrymen, but hey, at least you weren't caught using a fake $20 bill at a convenience store.

 

From what has been said over the years, I strongly suspect you lived amongst the wealthy, white and privileged ... correct me if I'm wrong ... observing the downtrodden, disadvantaged and underbelly from the outside rather than engaging and this has lead to a blancmanged view.

Often those outside a situation can see a lot clearer than those with vested interests, or pre-conceived bias.

No one is born racist - it is taught

 

This is leadership:

https://7news.com.au/sunrise/on-the...5kaUqOyJM5znBjPx6EtvkKdSeIHPp9W_x8fR-TSHyfT_0 ...
Footage posted to social media shows the sheriff giving hugs, handshakes and pats on the back to protestors. “I want to make this a parade, not a protest,” Swanson can be heard saying on a video posted to social media.

https://nypost.com/2020/05/31/nypd-...fCmaYw82406o3qhcCgmjrIpWP7B6a1YuR9F3KLf2WNpWU ... NYPD officers in Queens took a knee beside demonstrators on Sunday, as civilians read the names of black people killed by cops

 

So if you live in a nice suburb in Australia you could never empathise or understand racism

That’s probably means most on this forum

 

This is a very powerful experiment ... a must watch for those who do not understand how non-whites feel