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Ferguson

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The number of people I've seen say something equivalent to "if people just did this one thing, everything would be fine" is astounding to me.  Time and again I find the people I consider to be my more intelligent friends fail to, or are simply unwilling to, view these events in the context of anything but whatever is trending on the news that day.

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The Baltimore cops involved in the murder are being charged with murder by the way. Which is a triumph in that the legal system is giving this a chance, but it's still not a conviction for murder.

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And the local police union is protesting that the prosecuting attorney needs to recuse herself because of conflicts of interest....which is probably one of the most audacious things I've seen a police union claim in a long line of audacious bullshit by police unions. 

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Well, if you ask me these sorts of trials should be held in another state anyway.

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"Conflict of interest!"

"On what grounds?"

"She disagrees with us!"

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So if any of you missed it, a white supremacist shot up a church the other day. It was a historically important African-American church; the shooter was reported by friends as saying things like "blacks were taking over the world" and that "someone needed to do something about it for the white race," and by victims as saying “I have to do it. You rape our women and you’re taking over our country. And you have to go;” and his Facebook page has him showing off the Confederate flag plates on his car and the patches for the flags of apartheid-era South Africa and the Republic of Rhodesia that he had sewn onto his jacket; but don't worry...

 

Fox News is here with the facts.

 

 

 

 

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Seriously, are there like zero journalistic standards in the US? This is low, even for Fox. I expected a lot of the usual "that pastor was no angel" and "he was such a nice boy, you'd never expect this from him," but this is maybe the most reprehensible misrepresentation of the facts those guys have ever sunk to, and I really feel like they shouldn't be allowed to call themselves a news show.

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This video contains content from Viacom, who has blocked it on copyright grounds.

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Seriously, are there like zero journalistic standards in the US? This is low, even for Fox. I expected a lot of the usual "that pastor was no angel" and "he was such a nice boy, you'd never expect this from him," but this is maybe the most reprehensible misrepresentation of the facts those guys have ever sunk to, and I really feel like they shouldn't be allowed to call themselves a news show.

Wasn't there a local journalist asking questions like, the black community is notoriously against snitching -- do you expect this to get in the way of apprehending the person responsible?

So no, there are no journalistic standards in America.

And wapo has the expected sympathetic bio piece already. Disgusting.

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A word about the Daily Show monologue for anyone who didn't watch the full episode or doesn't usually watch the show: usually Stewart will do about fifteen minutes of punditry and satire, making quips about the news, showing segments with other members of the staff doing interviews, etc. before finally moving on and devoting the last five minutes or so of the show to doing an interview with a celebrity, an author, a political figure, etc. Yesterday, he wasn't kidding about not having any jokes. That sobering monologue was the entire non-interview portion of the show, which I believe is the first time he's ever done that. I get the impression that he wouldn't have even done the interview if it were a lesser guest like an actor pitching their new movie or something.

I'm interested in seeing what he'll inevitably have to say about the media coverage of the event after the weekend.

 

 

There's just so much about this whole thing that's making me angry.

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Fox is basically tying itself into knots trying to deny the shooting had anything to do with race. This seems odd, and quite frankly is, until you look back at how Fox has handled most racially charged issues in recent years. Baltimore, Ferguson, you name it whenever and issue crops up where race comes into play they usually spend most of the time blaming the liberal media (read: anyone but them) for inflaming racial tensions where they weren't before. They love to suggest the problems are just made up, and to be honest that plays to a certain crowd. It's basically become their catchphrase for these types of situations, and an event like this just shatters that narrative. It is easily the most frustrating thing in US news media.

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Fox has basically spent the last 10 years stoking racial animosity, as the entertainment wing of the republican base it's basically their political platform. A racist notion of "moochers", "thugs", "not angels" when that's all just codes. All white people (of which I am one) are to some degree complicit in this. 

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Fox has basically spent the last 10 years stoking racial animosity, as the entertainment wing of the republican base it's basically their political platform. A racist notion of "moochers", "thugs", "not angels" when that's all just codes. All white people (of which I am one) are to some degree complicit in this.

To be fair, the most infamous "he's no angel" was the New York Times talking about Michael Brown. Fox has HUGE issues and that definitely needs to be addressed, but they're just the most egregious example of an entire media apparatus with major issues in the ways it approaches and talks about race.

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So the KKK has been dropping flyers in Topeka, Kan., this week, apparently, which is something that no one can remember happening before. 

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A year later, nothing has changed. Riot gear. Tanks. The whole thing.

 

As the interim police chief - a black man by the way that the local government decided to use as a token as if it'd make everything okay - was giving an interview about why the cops were out in a show of force and that they were exhibiting patience, he is interrupted by the police opening fire. On who and why and where, who the hell knows. But the crowd freaked out, as they should, and went running.

 

The cops are claiming they were fired on. Over their Twitter feed they made no mention of a suspect, instead choosing to post pictures of a couple cars that got his by bullets. There's a lot of video right now of the guy as he lays there bleeding out and the cops aren't even calling for EMS. There's no verification of the cops' claims of being fired on, and for the amount of gunfire that happened from the cops it doesn't seem like it was all about the one guy. They were likely trying to make a scene. And on that note, they have officers deployed with video cameras, likely an effort for propaganda creation.

 

Going to bed in tears tonight because our country sucks ass and just sits down letting this happen.

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They're arresting peaceful protestors, and leaders of the Black Lives Matter movement, in Ferguson.

Netta. DeRay. Cornell. Don't know who else, but it's all just so... obviously specifically targeting leaders. In a county now under a state of emergency.

America has got to change.

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Governor Nixon:

 

"Those who terrorize communities with gunfire and commit violence...are criminals, and their reprehensible acts must not be allowed to silence the voices of peace and progress," Nixon said.

 

Oh, wait, no, read that wrong:

 

"Those who terrorize communities with gunfire and commit violence against police officers are criminals, and their reprehensible acts must not be allowed to silence the voices of peace and progress," Nixon said.

 

That's right, state sanctioned violence is fine.

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They're arresting peaceful protestors, and leaders of the Black Lives Matter movement, in Ferguson.

 

Netta. DeRay. Cornell. Don't know who else, but it's all just so... obviously specifically targeting leaders.

 

All three were arrested as part of a group of nearly 60 who refused to disperse after climbing over a barricade onto federal property. Not only was this a reasonable reaction from the police, it was apparently expectedFrom the article:

 

They said that in this act of civil disobedience we will fill the city jail

 

I don't know how you can possibly call that specifically targeting leaders.

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All three were arrested as part of a group of nearly 60 who refused to disperse after climbing over a barricade onto federal property. Not only was this a reasonable reaction from the police, it was apparently expectedFrom the article:

 

 

I don't know how you can possibly call that specifically targeting leaders.

 

Please don't post in this thread, at least not if it's challenging people like this. You've made it clear in other places that your views go against the majority of people here and it has led to debates. That's fine. But this topic is a huge deal and is not to be taken lightly. Regardless of how you say it, correcting things or pointing out contrary stuff to people is partly antagonistic and will turn this thread to debate which is honestly not what people have generally used this thread for.

 

I don't want this to read as if I'm saying that you can't have opinions or you're not allowed to voice them here. I'd just really like if you could consider deeply whether they're really worthwhile for this particular thread and maybe conclude that wanting to say something isn't always a good enough reason to say it.

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