Head Tale

“Fuck The Police” – NWA

Here’s a few other random thoughts about what’s happening in the US the past few days after the murder of unarmed black man, George Floyd, by a group of Minneapolis Police Officers.

* I honestly thought that the US was on the verge of something ugly (uglier?) because of COVID-19 and the already existing divisions and growing inequality within society, the surging unemployment, the lack of any real government support.  What I didn’t expect was that it would be *another* killing of an unarmed black man by brazen, militarized, barely accountable police.  But that actually seems like the most likely match for the tinder when you think about it.

* Canada isn’t blameless or immune from racist incidents but man, it’s *such* a different world here than in the US…thankfully.

* With regards to “bad” cops, my take is that there are bad apples in any profession you can name.  But bad apples are a lot more dangerous in a profession where much of their role is about maintaining the status quo (via laws they enforce) as well as protecting capital and existing power structures as an extension of enforcing those laws.  Add in the ability to use lethal force, a stressful job with shift work and great possible personal risk plus a macho culture, and that’s a recipe for trouble. But my own feeling is that in any job, your *ultimate* responsibility is to do the right thing (er, pun intended) but that often police (again, exponentially moreso in the States) don’t do this since they’re more focused on power – those above them and the power over others that they themselves have.

* It’s wild that these mass protests are happening during the pandemic and I’m torn between worrying about the risk of outbreaks and being glad that protestors have a legitimate reason to wear masks to help hide their identities!  (And yes, though I do believe in protests and agree with their cause, I do think there’s some merit from the conservative complaint that “You won’t let us go to the park with our kids without risk of a fine but if there’s a protest that you agree with, you’re not enforcing social distancing rules?”)

* It’s also telling how these mass protests have wiped Covid-19 completely off the 24-hour news channels who have covered *nothing* but the pandemic for three months and that’s a *very* good lesson in how media creates and controls narratives.  Covid has not gone away but if you tuned into to CNN a week ago and again tonight, you’d think it was.

* It’s frustrating to see how many people seem more worried about the damage to property from the looting or are trying to “police” the behaviour of the protestors instead of focusing on the underlying issue of unchecked police brutality and the historic inequality of American society.

* It’s also scary to see how many people are acting like some of the fascist demonstrations by police and senior government officials will be “fixed” simply by people voting in November.  Personally, given what I’ve seen from Trump since he was elected and even before, I’m not convinced there *will* be an election in November.  But yeah, tell me more about how voting is the solution, Mr. Obama?

* How bad could it get?  *If* this continues into a second civil war (unlikely but in 2020, who the fuck knows?) I really worry that “my” side – the educated, the progressives, the ones more likely to care for disadvantaged and marginalized in society instead of being threatened by them – don’t stand a chance.  I worry this because the other side are the ones that are more likely to have spent years immersing themselves in dangerous conspiracy theories, hoarding guns, and are the type of person who will say or do anything to “win” (try to convince a right-winger there is *no* legitimate reason to own an AK-47 sometime and see if reason prevails!), 

* Journalists are being directly targeted and there’s no doubt that Trump’s “Enemy of the People” rhetoric gives police “permission” to do this in a way they haven’t in similar situations in the past and I put a fairly large part of the blame for our current situation on journalists who normalized Trump’s behaviour, the behaviour of his MAGAt followers, and Trump’s tight circle of acolytes in government.

* There’s so many black & white (er, no pun intended) hot takes on the US situation and what got us to this point.  “It’s this group!” or “It’s that group!” when the reality is that there are a bunch of things in a blender that are all playing a part in what’s happening (part of this list stolen from MetaFilter):  

1. Some anarchists looking to start shit ideologically
2. Some boogalooers looking to start shit cynically
3. Some undercover cops looking to start shit provocatively
4. Some straight up criminals looking to steal things opportunistically
5. Lots and lots of disenfranchised black folks raging out despairing
6. Lots and lots of frustrated white folks howling dismayingly.

*  The MetaFilter thread on this situation creates an unofficial timeline of major developments and has lots of insightful comments including many from people living in the communities where the protests are happening.