this post was submitted on 26 May 2024

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217

For a moment, George Floyd's murder changed everything. Those days are gone. (www.usatoday.com)

submitted 5 months ago by jeffw@lemmy.world to c/politics@lemmy.world

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[–] KevonLooney@lemm.ee 68 points 5 months ago (2 children)

George Floyd 100% did not deserve to die, and it wasn't a tragic mistake that killed him. That's why his death was so shocking.

As someone who used to deal with counterfeit currency, presenting a fake bill is not a crime. The average person has no idea whether a bill is counterfeit and cops definitely don't. There was literally no reason for Derek Chauvin (and the others) to arrest him, let alone choke him to death.

That's why people went nuts. He was killed for no other reason than being a black man. It's as simple as that: some people are totally fine with killing black people because they don't see them as human.

[–] madcaesar@lemmy.world 25 points 5 months ago

That part of it was just a distraction. I don't care if he had a counterfeit printer at home churning out 20s, no-one deserves to be chocked to death for non violent crimes.

Now if you are running around with knife/gun all bets are off and you might get killed in the process of being restrained.

But again, once you are restrained you should not have a fucker standing on your neck.

[–] Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world 12 points 5 months ago (1 children)

As someone who used to deal with counterfeit currency, presenting a fake bill is not a crime.

Did we ever even find out if the bill in question was actually counterfeit?

[–] KevonLooney@lemm.ee 7 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

It doesn't matter. It's only a crime if you know the bill is fake; and the average person doesn't know that. Running a red light is a worse offense.

[–] Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world -3 points 5 months ago

I'd say it matters if the people who cast "summon murderpig" did so on false pretenses.

[–] fox2263@lemmy.world 35 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (2 children)

There was a random right wing Floyd vid on TikTok. The comments were trash and usual right wing talking points and fake news.

I commented “even if he was Hitler, he has the right to trial and not be murdered slowly on the street” and my post was removed.

Great.

[–] Doomsider@lemmy.world 15 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

The right wing censors everything that is not lockstep with whatever the current message is. They carefully curate their message boards while decrying when others do it.

I used to use Reddit a lot and I talked a lot of shit over the years. The only time I got a temp ban was for posting that the GOP should take out Ron Desantis like the dirty diaper he is on a Pro-Trump discussion.

When I pointed out my comment was rather tame compared to the others ones on the post the mods claimed I was harassing them and tried to get my account banned. It was insane but I learned an important lesson.

[–] PPQ@lemmy.world 3 points 5 months ago

Reddit mods are insane. I pointed out the hypocrisy of the the r/news mods in that they would delete any story that didn't suck of Israel, while keeping the pro Israel post open and unlocked, they fuckin banned me. Then when I complained to the reddit admins they permabanned me. Reddit is a cesspool and I hope they go broke.

[–] Gradually_Adjusting@lemmy.world 6 points 5 months ago (1 children)

We are ruled by depraved monsters (mods)

[–] BigFatNips@sh.itjust.works 2 points 5 months ago

That's because mods is actually an acronym

Monsters Of Depraved Sadism

[–] hark@lemmy.world 18 points 5 months ago (1 children)

There was an opportunity to change things, in fact there is still plenty of opportunity to change things, but that would upset the current power structure so you're supposed to be satisfied with this empty gesture instead:

[–] anticolonialist@lemmy.world 13 points 5 months ago

That's all they ever give, hollow empty platitudes.

The white man will try to satisfy us with symbolic victories rather than economic equity and real justice.

Malcolm X.

[–] Semi-Hemi-Demigod@kbin.social 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

For a moment Rodney King's beating changed everyting, too.

The USA is a racist country. It was founded on racism, built with racism, and now thrives on racism. That's never gonna change, and it deserves to perish in fire.

[–] StinkyOnions@lemmy.world 7 points 5 months ago (1 children)

The USA is a racist country. It was founded on racism, built with racism, and now thrives on racism.

Like every other country ever.

That's never gonna change, and it deserves to perish in fire.

Careful you're going to cut yourself with all that edge.

[–] DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social -1 points 5 months ago

Lmao, liberals

[–] Maggoty@lemmy.world -1 points 5 months ago

Your semi weekly reminder that Biden's response to the police brutalizing peaceful protestors was to proudly give them more funding.

[+] NocturnalMorning@lemmy.world -16 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

Arr you seriously suggesting that George Floyd's murder was justified? As for your other examples, people were angry about that as well.

[+] Jax@sh.itjust.works -22 points 5 months ago (1 children)

For one thing, you can reply directly to the comment.

For another, in no way did I suggest George Floyd deserved to die.

Crazy how it's playing out exactly how I thought, cherrypicking because you're too stupid to read.

[–] NocturnalMorning@lemmy.world -5 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Nice of you to insult my intelligence right out the gate. I'm surprised you're monitoring the thread so closely that you replied to me even though I didn't reply to your comment (which I didn't realize until you pointed it out)

[+] Jax@sh.itjust.works -70 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (2 children)

TL;DR: BLACK LIVES MATTER and the people who rioted after George Floyd's murder have set civil rights back by decades. Reactionary politics are cancer.

This is what happens when you prop up a career criminal as a martyr.

George Floyd was a bad man. Is anyone actually surprised that nothing good came from the riots following his death?

Breonna Taylor's murder comes to mind. That woman was an innocent and upstanding member of society. She was a fucking EMT and the reaction to her being murdered by cops blindfiring through her window after a no-knock breach was fucking mute compared to the rabidity that people showed after George Floyd was murdered. This was two and a half months before Floyd's murder.

Where were the riots following her death? Oh, right, it didn't happen for another two fucking months because it was largely unnoticed outside of Louisiana until CNN released s story about it. Even then they weren't as bad as what happened after Floyd's death.

The wild disparity between the two events can be summed up quite simply - Floyd's murder was recorded and shown immediately, Breonna's murder was not.

Reactionary politics are cancerous. Of course things have only gotten worse - the idiots responsible for the riots provided conservatives with all the talking points they needed to make the other side look fucking rabid.

That's not even mentioning the bad actors who jumped on the event to cause havoc. Yes I'm talking about the white people dressed all in black throwing molotovs and chanting "black lives matter".

I don't even know why I'm writing this, I guarantee I'll get responses that completely ignore the points I'm making and cherrypick. Let's see.

Edit: what a surprise, reactionaries reacting. Crazy.

[–] DABDA@lemm.ee 26 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I don't care about the particular person being targeted, the police aren't supposed to murder someone just because they feel like it. If they're a first time offender or a "career criminal" they shouldn't be killed unless there's no feasible alternatives.

Do you honestly think there would have been meaningful lasting change if people propped up Breonna as a martyr instead? Why hasn't that happened for any of the other well-publicized deaths of upstanding citizens? Why haven't things like consent decrees and civilian oversight boards been enough to curb police violence and rights abuse, especially against minority groups?

The police didn't even bother pretending they were sorry and would pinkie-swear to reform, they flat out demanded that they be allowed to act with impunity and then just decided they didn't want to enforce the law at all anymore if the public was going to be angry with them. Are there instances of the police stating they want to improve their perception and relationship with the public and "the reactionaries" just deciding to riot instead? It should never have come to the point that a large amount of people (across the country) felt rioting was the most appropriate move, but since it did I think the failing was just that it didn't go far enough. There's plenty of evidence to conclude that the police and their enablers will not voluntarily reform and will need be forced against their will.

And as far as providing conservatives with talking points, there's literally no situation where they won't just use whatever narrative they want; even if it involves space lasers or child trafficking in a pizzeria basement.

[+] Jax@sh.itjust.works -33 points 5 months ago (4 children)

There it is again, reading comprehension is a dying concept I swear to god.

In no way did I suggest Floyd should have been killed. I pointed out that the person people rioted over was a genuinely bad person. Anyone who threatens to kill a pregnant woman at gun point is a bad person. Period, I don't care how hard their lives might have been or what led to that point, that is not a man you should make into a martyr.

I absolutely think that who you're fighting for matters. Yes, conservatives will spin things however they can. That doesn't change the fact that the same reactionaries responsible for the riots as a result of George Floyd's murder were completely unaware of something worse that happened. I remember seeing Breonna Taylor's murder pop up in my feed within a few days if it happening. It's not like they didn't have the same tools to see exactly what I did, and yet the dumb motherfuckers did nothing for two months.

Now there's the added bonus of the irrefutable fact that George Floyd was a bad person. When you give conservatives something real to use as ammunition it only bolsters their ability to twist the truth and push their racist agenda.

You can be mad at me all you want, I'm right. Was what happened to both of them a perfect display of the festering cancer within police forces across the United States? Not only that, but a display of how wrong minorities are treated by those forces? Absolutely, as I've never once stated or believed that Floyd should have been murdered.

He's just not a man worth fighting for.

[–] DABDA@lemm.ee 22 points 5 months ago

In no way did I suggest Floyd should have been killed.

But you insist on going out of your way to bloviate about how he was such a terrible person. That's the entire crux of your argument and it just doesn't matter. The whole point of having human rights and rule of law is not to pick and choose when they apply. Everyone should care when anyone is needlessly killed or abused, regardless of their past or personality. It's possible to want a person to die but still insist that others don't kill them.

And please chill with your moaning about everyone's reading comprehension and intelligence. It's not conducive to polite discussion and might give people the impression you're just trolling.

[–] be_gt@lemmy.world 13 points 5 months ago

While I can't dive into the specifics about George Floyd's character, as I don't know enough about him. But I do really disagree with you about that any persons murder, especially by the police, is not worth fighting for. In my opinion they all are, even the worst ones. Not fighting or causing a huge reaction protest is how we end up with a police that acts with impunity. But just as you write the police forces and their abusive officers are the genuine problem in this area..

[–] whostosay@lemmy.world 12 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

So what did you do when you read about Ms. Taylor's murder?

Also, you've missed the entire point if you think this movement is about a single person. This movement is about police being overtly violent with impunity.

[–] Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world 4 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

In no way did I suggest Floyd should have been killed.

Then I'll come right out and directly ask: should the man you're demonizing have been killed by the police?

[–] IcePee@lemmy.beru.co 9 points 5 months ago

I think the difference be between Briana's and George's killing and why one got the limelight was two fold. One could have maybe explained away as an honest mistake or a bad situation. The other was pretty blatant malice. George being the latter. Outrage takes time to build and can dissipate quickly. It maybe the public had just reached a tipping point after months and years of unlawful killing by police of black people, mostly male, mostly young.

I think the offense people took with your reply is due to the historic "he was no Angel" excuse. As a way to justify the inexcusable, cold blooded murder.