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ck4829

(34,977 posts)
Sun Aug 30, 2020, 06:28 PM Aug 2020

The Executive Branch all the way down to local police departments DO have a hand in all this

They are direct and indirect instigators of violence and let it happen.

This is what happens when you have a government that handles white nationalist terrorists with kid gloves. We see a segment of the population rationalized away as "playful scamps". It's not subtle, not subtle at all, I think every other group with ideas for violence can look at this say "Why not us too? Can we get the government to handle US with kid gloves?"

This is what happens you "other" violent people instead of telling people to look in the mirror. When people are "mentally ill" you don't have to change anything about society, it's "just a disaffected individual". When a "terrorist" is some scary Muslim instead of Billy "the 'misunderstood kid' from down the street", you don't have to change anything about your neighborhood or how you see the world, esp. with people who look just like you. The government has created a culture that pretty much says "I'm not violent because I'm not the other, I'm not mentally ill!" and "My actions can't be terrorism, I'm not a Muslim, I'm not some foreigner!"

This is what happens when you take white shooters out to get Burger King.

This is what happens everything is a "war on something"... "war on terror", "war on drugs", "culture wars", "clash of civilizations", hey, if you say "Happy Holidays", then you are waging a "war on Christmas". We have over-militarized our culture and anyone else is the enemy for anyone at any time.

This is what happens when you don't have good education and public mental health. There has been a socially constructed world of frightening binaries and polar opposites created because our culture abhors nuance and deliberation. Someone can't even say "Black Lives Matter" without being told "Well actually, all lives matter". Your Patriot Prayer groups, your Back the Blue groups, they wouldn't exist without protesters. They need an enemy, they got it.

This is what happens you see violence as a force of cleansing, as some sort of "return to innocence". The "coming storm" that will wipe away all the "Satanic Cabal members". Looting as the "transition to freedom" according to Donald Rumsfeld.

This is what happens when you rely on "out of sight, out of mind" and "running out the clock" as ways of dealing with issues. We've got a potus who was elected by people who hope the rapture will be their ticket out of any problems they create. Going on down, we've got the blue wall of silence that blocks discussion of police brutality and corruption. Things aren't subtle, things aren't hidden anymore. We all know that the first thing the government from top to bottom wants is not to "end or reduce police brutality and systemic racism" but to "end or reduce *DISCUSSION OF* police brutality and systemic racism"

Every broken window, every smashed business, it has the government's fingerprints all over them.

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The Executive Branch all the way down to local police departments DO have a hand in all this (Original Post) ck4829 Aug 2020 OP
A good summation of what ails..... magicarpet Aug 2020 #1
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