Author Topic: Police shootings of unarmed people.  (Read 5802 times)

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Offline Kobuk

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Police shootings of unarmed people.
« on: March 10, 2015, 09:49:12 pm »
In the last several months, I've read numerous news reports of police shooting at and/or killing of unarmed civilians, mainly African Americans. The frequency of such shootings seems to be escalating. Just recently, a 19 year old unarmed African American was shot and killed in Madison, Wis.
What the heck is going on across our country?  :o Ferguson, Missouri. Madison, Wis., and so many others. What the hell is happening to Police Depts' across the country? Are they turning corrupt or what? What can be done to stop these shootings by police? Is more training needed?

What can be done? What should be done?

Offline Foxpup

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Re: Police shootings of unarmed people.
« Reply #1 on: March 11, 2015, 12:09:53 am »
Oh, dear. There's no easy way for me to say this, so I'm just going to say it the hard way.

What the heck is going on across our country?
A bloody revolution. And I don't mean "bloody" in the expletive sense, I mean it in the sense that there will be a lot more bloodshed in the near future.

A revolution? That sounds a bit extreme... <.<
You think I was joking about the U.S. Dollar going the way of Zimbabwe? I never joke about such things. I do believe that the Eurozone and U.S. economies are likely to totally collapse almost simultaneously sometime within the next few years. The 2008 global financial crisis will look like a market fluctuation by comparison. I really hope I'm wrong, but if I'm not, a revolution is the least extreme possible outcome.
I posted that over two years ago, and here we are a "few years" later. The economic situation in Europe is deteriorating rapidly, there's no signs of improvement in the U.S., and now this. I don't see any alternative.

What can be done? What should be done?
I'd say get the Hell out of Dodge, but Dodge was a bloodless war, and I don't think this one will be. So, anyone who can should just get the Hell out, period.

You may think I'm exaggerating or overreacting or conspiracy theorising. I'm not. I really think it's going to get a lot worse before it gets any better. :(

Offline Alsek

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Re: Police shootings of unarmed people.
« Reply #2 on: March 11, 2015, 11:08:16 am »
It's horrible but actually nothing new.   You can easily find videos on YouTube of literal public executions by police of unarmed civilians who aren't even moving dating back over a decade.   It isn't just African Americans either.  It's people of every race and age,  every gender and even pregnant women.   Just look up police brutality.

My guess is this is just new technology exposing something that's probably always existed in some form.  There were 461,000 cops in the States back in 2008.  You're bound to have a few egomaniacs and other people you should never give power in the lot.
« Last Edit: March 24, 2015, 12:41:22 am by Alsek »

Offline Yip

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Re: Police shootings of unarmed people.
« Reply #3 on: March 11, 2015, 11:46:39 am »
You may think I'm exaggerating or overreacting or conspiracy theorising. I'm not.
Yes, I do. And by the way, those who do use conspiracy theorizing NEVER see what they are doing as such. So your assertion that it's not means nothing.
A conspiracy theory usually always has bits of truth here and there. The thing that makes them faulty is the claimed connection between those facts. The jumps of logic they have to do and the unsupported assumptions they have to make in order to make those connections. Another hallmark of such thinking is that is it highly susceptible to confirmation bias.

For example, you claim that there is no sign of improvement in the U.S., but the data in this article (http://www.businessinsider.com/wells-fargo-economic-outlook-2015-2014-12) and others like it seems to disagree. The data in the article points to improvement in the U.S. and therefore would be a "sign". Now I'm not saying it's absolutely correct, but for you to hold your position you'd have to ignore such data or you'd have to claim that it's absolutely wrong.  Also, while it may be anecdotal, the economy does seem better from my perspective, and I live in the US. and according to your profile you don't.
« Last Edit: March 11, 2015, 11:54:23 am by Yip »

Offline Yip

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Re: Police shootings of unarmed people.
« Reply #4 on: March 11, 2015, 12:03:11 pm »
As for the topic...

I'm not convinced that such incidents are becoming more common. The world is becoming increasing connected by communication media such that communication from citizens themselves have a much broader range than they used to, and therefore even if the number of such incidents remained the same, it could still easily seem like they are increasing. It's likely just that you don't hear about it much of the time.

Of course, that doesn't mean nothing should be done about it.

Offline Jackie

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Re: Police shootings of unarmed people.
« Reply #5 on: March 11, 2015, 12:45:50 pm »
Also, while it may be anecdotal, the economy does seem better from my perspective, and I live in the US. and according to your profile you don't.

It would seem our economy in the U.K. is recoding slowly but surely also, not worsening. o.o

And i agre with Yip on the topic, the world sems so horrific these days because thanks to modern technology we are the first to be constantly connected with every going on in the rest of the world, things have always been bad, we are able to actually witness more of it today though.

I'd hope that would have a better impact and help change in the world, when the world can see it's atrocities and achievemnts more openly, I'm not sure if it has though.
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Offline Old Rabbit

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Re: Police shootings of unarmed people.
« Reply #6 on: March 11, 2015, 01:20:17 pm »
I think the police feel more at risk than they did in the past. So they shoot almost anyone who defies their
commands or acts aggressive. Since the 9-11 attack the government has offered more equipment and training
for police. Perhaps it's the concern about terrorist or just a training change. I can't say. I know if it was me
facing a policeman I wouldn't argue with them. In fact I used to call the police and thank them for checking the
doors on my buisness. I think putting all the local police in squad cars was a mistake. When the policeman walked
a beat he knew everyone in the neighborhood and had the respect of most.

I think there has always been crazy people who take pot shots at first responders, firemen or police. Seems more
common these days. Perhaps its due to the fact that the population as increased so much, and the social media
along with the commercial media is telling us all about these things.

Perhaps it's partly due to how the world is today. But when I was young we had the Vietnam War, Hippies, Racial issues.
Not counting the 'Cold War" which threatened to kill us all with H bombs. This threat is still with us of course. Just not
talked about as much. Stress affects us all, some a lot more than others unfortunately.

I remember several years ago after the S.W.A.T. and firemen paramedics showed up on TV. They started showing
up accross the country a few years later. I supposed they existed in the cities at the time, but that seemed to mark a
change. At least to a guy like me in a rual area.
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Offline Kobuk

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Re: Police shootings of unarmed people.
« Reply #7 on: March 11, 2015, 01:49:16 pm »
If you guys want to discuss conspiracy theories, then I made a thread here:
http://forums.furtopia.org/general-non-furry-discussion/conspiracy-theories-49626/
..........Otherwise, let's try not to jump on that bandwagon in my thread here, ok?

Offline Foxpup

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Re: Police shootings of unarmed people.
« Reply #8 on: March 11, 2015, 11:23:56 pm »
A conspiracy theory usually always has bits of truth here and there. The thing that makes them faulty is the claimed connection between those facts. The jumps of logic they have to do and the unsupported assumptions they have to make in order to make those connections. Another hallmark of such thinking is that is it highly susceptible to confirmation bias.
All true; it's just that everything that seems to be happening does seem to fit with my earlier predictions, which is the ultimate test of any theory. Though admittedly I can't rule out the null hypothesis at this stage. I guess I should probably be less alarmist until I can.

For example, you claim that there is no sign of improvement in the U.S., but the data in this article (http://www.businessinsider.com/wells-fargo-economic-outlook-2015-2014-12) and others like it seems to disagree. The data in the article points to improvement in the U.S. and therefore would be a "sign". Now I'm not saying it's absolutely correct, but for you to hold your position you'd have to ignore such data or you'd have to claim that it's absolutely wrong.  Also, while it may be anecdotal, the economy does seem better from my perspective, and I live in the US. and according to your profile you don't.
All I know is what I read in the news. Which is, itself, biased; this whole thing could just be increased reporting of stuff that's always been happening, I haven't ignored that possibility. One thing I can't ignore, however, is the CPI, according to which the U.S. economy is currently in deflation. Now I've often said that deflation, by itself, is not a bad thing. But it's not by itself. The Fed has aggressively tried to maintain high inflation with low interest rates and quantitative easing. Deflation simply shouldn't happen with such a policy, and historically it has never happened in the U.S. outside of a recession. That suggests to me that all is not well in the U.S. economy.

If indeed all is not well, there's going to be more crime, more tension between citizens and police, and more innocent people are going to be killed. And that is exactly what appears to be happening.

Offline Avor

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Re: Police shootings of unarmed people.
« Reply #9 on: April 01, 2015, 08:51:37 pm »
Just a couple of nots of police shootings in general.

- Number of cops in a a car, more the better.

Like in the army, nobody is on their own. You have your fireteam partner all the time. to watch your back, hold your weapon while take crap, and keep yo in check. Police are told a trained to shoot first, even if they just feel or suspect danger. They've seen to many of thos videos of things like a lone female offcer getting beat to death at normal traffic stop. If cops were in pairs they wouldn't feel so vulnerable they woun't be so quick to use violence.

Ex-army Police

To many PDs are hireing on Iraq war vets. They're mostly good people. but they're in a whole different mind set. The training and experinces they have means they approach conflict resoluton in a very comnative and agressive way that run against the public preference of de-sscalation. A good example was in ferguson. a cops shouting death threats and pointing his M-16 at peaceful protesters.