• Melvin_Ferd@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    How so? What changed?

    I found after those protests, what people are left with is the impression that the BLM organization is corrupt since the right wing media brought heavy attention to the leadership and the way they stole funds from the organization. It lead to arrests and charges to the officers which is great but shouldn’t require a global effort.

    “Gained Political traction” is measured how though and I’m being honest here not trying to just shove things back at you. In my mind “bringing attention to…” falls so short of the amount of effort mobilized to this cause. I don’t believe anything happened. And this is my point

    Protesters showed up to poorly organized events. The effort and planning that went into this was organizers making facebook ads and putting up posters then hoping for the best. And the cops out maneuvered them at all angles. I watched city after city allow themselves to be corralled into streets where police were set up 24 hours earlier. It was so sad to watch that in our modern era that event organizers were just winging it given the access to technology we have. Any counter measures deployed were from other countries were the people attending these events do put effort and planning into it. Egypt and Japan and Asia where people figured out how to neutralize tactics that police would use.

    Think about the scale. Think about all the people in all the cities globally who showed up to these protests and then consider what change and tell me that modern protesters are effective because I don’t see how you can honestly say that.

    Modern protesters are missing something. I don’t know what it is. I don’t know if its purposeful or naive or what but they are not effective. Its as if people just show up, wait for a beating and go home and that’s enough for them because the can throw a patch on their backpack and tell stories around the quad about how they imagine so many people saw them get punched and now are on their side.

    In the opposite direction, the republicans and conservative parties in North America forced the federal government to take action with a fraction of the man power and effort just by thinking ahead and doing something outside the box. It wasn’t luck. It wasn’t just showing up and hoping things work out. They had logistics figured out. They had used social media to build support. They anticipated police action and found ways to neutralize them. As I get older and older I keep seeing this play out. The left are not as smart as they keep acting like they are. And every time I see a bunch of them fall for shit I can’t help but distance myself from the causes they say they’re gaining support for by being beat in the head over and over again. My point isn’t that the clownvoy accomplished their goals and were nothing but success. But I am saying what they did was better than showing up with your bags packed and a phone number on your wrist because you’re just waiting to get arrested and charged. The use of vehicles to create a convoy that everyone can join or honk at and stand on over passes was some incredible PR for them, a show of support. I still see these fucking people on overpasses years after. I still see handfuls of cars with their stickers every time I leave the house. They overwhelmed the ability of the police to process them. They made the protest into a tail gaiting event drawing in the public. It was different and should give people a wake up to how we’ve been doing it wrong.

    Its like Toronto Maple leafs. Sure they have fans that keep showing up and those fans are die hard fans. But how the fuck are you going to claim you’re a good team if you can’t secure Stanley cup in the past 50 years and if you can’t be honest about that then you lose credibility and if you lose credibility how will anyone respect what you stand for.

    • spujb@lemmy.cafe
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      8 months ago

      Okay I’m really close to TLDRing you and just blocking but here’s one last shot in case you are literally just this ill informed. Please take this to heart as I am exhausted of having to explain this.

      BLM the corrupt organization =/= BLM the decentralized movement. This disconnect is well knowing among BLM protesters and if you had payed any attention you would know this.

      “Shouldn’t require global effort” bad faith and what the hell. I gave you an example, now you provide a successful populist movement that didn’t do organized protests?

      “How so? What Changed? I don’t believe anything happened.” Literally intentional blindness. Some examples of police reform initiatives that gained traction following the Black Lives Matter protests include:

      1. Ban on chokeholds and neck restraints: Several cities and states implemented bans or restrictions on the use of chokeholds and neck restraints by law enforcement officers.

      2. Use of body cameras: Many police departments expanded the use of body-worn cameras to increase transparency and accountability in police interactions with the public.

      3. De-escalation training: There has been a push for increased training for police officers in de-escalation techniques to reduce the use of force in encounters with civilians.

      4. Community policing initiatives: Some cities have invested in community policing programs aimed at building trust and collaboration between law enforcement agencies and the communities they serve.

      5. Civilian oversight boards: There have been efforts to establish civilian oversight boards or review panels to provide independent oversight of police departments and investigate complaints of misconduct.

      6. Ending or reforming qualified immunity: There have been calls to reform or abolish qualified immunity, which shields government officials, including police officers, from being held personally liable for constitutional violations.

      Was it enough, problem solved? Fuck no. But “I don’t think anything happened” is such a fucking disingenuous take it’s kind of sickening.

      And honestly I don’t know that you even have a point for the rest of the comment. You’re chirping on and comparing an insurrection where people died to nonviolent protests to … sports for some reason? Absurd parallels to draw. Go and read about the methods of MLK era demonstrations I’m done with this.

      • Melvin_Ferd@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        Okay I’m really close to TLDRing you and just blocking but here’s one last shot in case you are literally just this ill informed. Please take this to heart as I am exhausted of having to explain this.

        Its a dismissive start and a trend I don’t enjoy seeing on forums and sites where communication is the backbone of it. I guess the intention is to disparage and put you above myself. Something I saw a lot on reddit. Something I was hoping didn’t trend over here.

        BLM the corrupt organization =/= BLM the decentralized movement. This disconnect is well knowing among BLM protesters and if you had payed any attention you would know this.

        And this is where protestors and the left in general shit the bed. They ignore how social all of this is.

        Perception is reality.

        One of the biggest fails on all modern protesters part is perception. Perception is reality and they often allow the other side to shape the narrative. That is what I am saying in all of this. This is such a basic concept it goes all the way back to Plato and the allegory of the cave. The fact it happened is proof of what I am saying. These causes are driven by unorganized, ineffective people who do not plan leading to ineffective actions that harm the cause they are fighting for. For the past decade I have watched this play out over and over and over again. Stuff like this was common.

        And for the progress you described. We still see that its extremely rare anyone that police are held accountable cops are still doing what they do and in another 10 years we’ll see the same shit with police vs the public. But look at the scale. It was a world wide mobilization and the result was a bunch of half measures like “training” and “looked into setting up new committees” all the while the police budgets have ballooned. Just a few weeks ago there was two cops firing pistols after one was hit by an acorn. Police still find ways to turn body cameras off.