"when politicians condoned publicly looting and robbery and violence and abolishing police"
AOC on looting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzlRVUJLOwo
Seattle council member on looting of stores: "Colleagues, I hope we’re all saying we understand why that destruction happened and we understand why people are upset", and "I don't want to hear is for our constituents to be told to be civil, not to be reactionary, to be told looting doesn't solve anything."
Minneapolis council woman supports "dismantle" police: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idw83kGmwzw
And didn't Don Lemon, the warrior of our justice warriors publicly called democrats to stop rioting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kp7oPgIwpZ8? To be fair, being silent does not mean supporting rioting. I guess that the Portland government letting "protesters" destruct federal court building for 5 months is not condoning either. But hey, it is the righteous people who told us "silence is violence, not me.
> because the police in your community are perfect doesn't mean real problems don't exist elsewhere.
Of course not. But following the same logic, we should "abolish" or "dismantle" police for a few bad apples?
What is being said is that the police shouldn't be the instance to handle incidents where what is really needed is counseling, or social working. We're talking about shifting funds to those and let police do what they have been trained for.
On that, as an aside... I will say that as black-belt in Aikido, I remain flabbergasted that police officers are not taught simple techniques to subdue or disable people/threats without resorting to deadly force.
To your original post I will also say that owning a gun does not make you and your family impervious to crime! You cannot protect your family with a gun, it doesn't give your family a bullet proof shield. On the contrary you will likely escalate a situation.
Why make such an obviously false claim? It already has in the past.
> it doesn't give your family a bullet proof shield
Non-sequitur.
I wish that's the discussion, but I failed to see that's what actually happened. I'm aware that many people argue that "defund police" means allocating fund for better use, but it sounds revisionism. The word "defund" means stop funding, simple and clear. BLM/ANTIFA's demand is clear too: abolish police. The word "abolish" does not mean restructuring, nor does it mean improving. The Minneapolis council woman was specifically asked for her view about "dismantling police", and I don't see how the word "dismantling" can be interpreted as routing fund to a better org.
So, no, the left populists did ask for reallocating funds to "handle incidents where what is really needed is counseling". They were asking for dismantling police. People may take "defund" as "reallocate fund", but that's interpretation that is not supported by facts.
It seems nothing I can say will have you reflect on your viewpoint, so I won't. Take care.
> BLM/ANTIFA's demand is clear too: abolish police.
Because that sentence is literally correct.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/12/opinion/sunday/floyd-abol...
https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2020/07/17/black-lives-matte...
https://blacklivesmatter.ca/defund-the-police/
https://www.foxnews.com/us/black-lives-matter-philadelphia-l...
https://facebook.com/sometimesantisocialalwaysantifascist/po...
You know that the aphorism is "a few bad apples spoils the bunch", right? The underlying metaphor is that you have to get rid of the entire group because the infection has spread to all of them even if it's not immediately visible from the outside.
> It frustrates me to no end that people will hear one boogeyman then start talking about the end of civilization.
It also frustrates me to no end that people will see one police brutality case, which was later challenged with tons of video evidence, then start talking about all cops are bad, there is this and that evil systemically, and then start rioting and looting with all righteousness.
https://battlepenguin.com/politics/why-i-no-longer-hate-the-...
A number of jurisdictions adopted steep police budget cuts in recent months (including e.g. Seattle and Portland - home to multi-month violent riots), and Minneapolis literally dismantled their police department. So I challenge this assertion.
I also don't get how cutting LE budgets is supposed to improve policing.
In a near-zero-sum municipal budget, funding increased homelessness assistance, increased staffing for mental health response, increased investment in lower income/higher crime areas would necessitate funds being reduced elsewhere; many suggest reducing police funding in places where those new services would step up.
If cops stop responding to certain kinds of emergency calls, is it not reasonable the funding for that capacity get shifted to the group that does respond? If cops were fighting fires and then a fire department was created, wouldn't you shift some of the firefighting budget to the new crew?
From https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/seattle-c...:
"The Police Department reductions passed Monday represent only about $3 million in 2020 savings; the department was allocated $409 million this year — more than the city spends annual on parks and social services."
Quote: "Though the council’s bills were expected to immediately slice only about $3 million from the Police Department’s $400-plus million annual budget — nowhere close to the 50% that seven council members in July vowed to extract — the council members described the trims as a crucial “down payment” on more sweeping changes to come."
Dig a little deeper next time. Don't fall for fake news.
https://battlepenguin.video/videos/watch/9f81cd38-3ee9-4f26-...
I'm in contact with people in Seattle frequently. I'm still really shocked at how bad things have gotten. I knew police officers and defense attorneys there too. This defunding thing is not going to end well.
Is it because 1. I didn't state facts? I double checked videos 2. I took what politicians' words out of context? Again, I double checked the context. 3. I should not use a gun whatsoever? But then how do I protect myself, assuming escaping is not an option (of course I'll try to run first). 4. This is advocating violence? Then what's a better alternative?