To think that the looters should be ashamed of themselves

[clipclop5]

I think that the protests are fully justified, and support them, but imo looting is ridiculous. Using the horrific death of someone as an excuse to steal?? This is not what George Floyd would have wanted. Probably quite the opposite.

People are dying from police brutality. Peaceful protestors are being shot and gassed and pepper sprayed, but you want to use racial slurs and talk about looting, but you are totes not a racist.
Cool story, bro.

Add I asked my BAME friends and they told me it was cool

@TehBewilderness Give me some examples of my ‘racial slurs’? I haven’t said any.

@StopMurderingUs

Add I asked my BAME friends and they told me it was cool

@StopMurderingUs What is wrong with this? According to you am I not allowed to ask for their opinions?

When someone says something you are saying to me is hurtful, the typical response of most human beings is to apologise and not insist on using that language or term.

It's really no different from people saying it's okay to use the n-word because my black friend said so., or that you have the right to use that word because it is just a word.

Once you are aware something is pejorative or a slur or has racial undertones and you insist on using it you are choosing to be hurtful, actively deciding to do so because you have decided it shouldn't be. Ignorance is not an excuse but a much better look- you dont have that excuse anymore.

If your specifically black (not BAME) friends said it was okay to use the n-word would you continue despite knowing it was a slur?

Same goes for "thugs"

in fairness you never see people looting for baby milk, nappies and clothes, its never the pharmacy being looted for life saving medicine. its always tech and sportswear, Therefore its not unreasonable acknowledge its opportunistic and organised criminals largely doing this.

@TehBewilderness

@StopMurderingUs

From an islamaphobic perspective and the use of language, I give you this

It seems clear that the looters are a mixed group of people, and some of them are just being opportunistic.

However, while the US has shown that it can endure looting and riots, it's not clear whether it can endure Trump.

As explained above, in liberal democracies, maintenance of law and order depends on maintenance of the social contract - the belief that we should obey the police because the police and courts will protect us and treat us fairly. Trump has made it very clear, particularly in the last few days, that the only kind of power he understands is through force.

He now seems to be doing his best to show that he doesn't care about anyone's rights.

This shows reporters for what seems to be the Australian equivalent of Good Morning Britain being attacked by police so that Trump could do his upside down bible photo op.

And when I say the 'US can endure', I mean survive in is present form if Trump is re-elected.

It's pretty clear that the social contract has never existed for many.

I haven't read much of this thread, however -

Every single black person knows what "thug" means.

Every single black person apart from one of Britain's most prominent black politicians it would appear;

David Lammy
Oct 28, 2019
Boris Johnson is a thug in a suit with a posh accent

It's ridiculous to say that posters on a UK forum cannot use the word 'thug' for fear of being called a racist - the Extinction Rebellion protesters who dug up the college lawn in Cambridge were described as 'thugs', the Leave voters who burnt EU flags were described as 'thugs', the fox hunting supporters who attacked hunt saboteurs were described as 'thugs'...

It's ridiculous to say that posters on a UK forum cannot use the word 'thug' for fear of being called a racist - the Extinction Rebellion protesters who dug up the college lawn in Cambridge were described as 'thugs

Precisely. It's interesting, isn't it? This attempt to redefine the meaning of words. It's the Newspeak dictionary. And its architects deliberately deploy it. This thread is about looting. There are people on this thread who are apologists for looters.

Five years ago, April 2015;

Obama calls Baltimore rioters ‘criminals and thugs’ -

"President Obama on Tuesday [April 2015] urged Americans to “do some soul-searching” and work harder to end what he called the “slow-rolling crisis” of deaths of black men at the hands of police officers as he addressed the riots in Baltimore." ...

"Still, the president lashed into the rioters who torched buildings and looted businesses in Baltimore a day earlier, calling them “criminals and thugs” who were destroying their own communities."

“That is not a protest. It is not a statement. It’s people, a handful of people, taking advantage of a situation for their own purposes—and they need to be treated as criminals,” Obama said from the White House."

nypost.com/2015/04/28/obama-calls-baltimore-rioters-criminals-and-thugs/

Still, the president lashed into the rioters who torched buildings and looted businesses in Baltimore a day earlier, calling them “criminals and thugs” who were destroying their own communities

Yet the response if Trump called rioters criminals and thugs? Obama nailed it. Looters are chucking petrol bombs at cop cars, kicking in the windows of Gucci and Chanel. They are thugs and criminals. Many of them are white, Antifa thugs. Those who excuse, justify or defend their behaviour? They are contemptible. They are also so ignorant and Manichean in their thinking, they don't understand that their are black victims of this looting who are seeing their livelihoods destroyed.

Coming to a country near you, very soon.

Yet the response if Trump called rioters criminals and thugs?

Trump has done far worse.

Obama was criticised and apologised for his use of the word thug. It is in the article I linked previously if any of you bothered to read it.

Yes Aridane very interesting and telling isn't it

Obama was criticised and apologised for his use of the word thug. It is in the article I linked previously if any of you bothered to read it.

Which article are you referring to? I haven't read much of the thread.
When did Obama apologise?

USA Today 2015 -
"Obama stands by the term 'thugs,' White House says."

"President Obama doesn't regret using the term "thug" in describing the violent rioters in Baltimore this week [April 2015] spokesman Josh Earnest said Wednesday."

"Whether it's arson or, you know, the looting of a liquor store...those were thuggish acts," Earnest said."

"In discussing the riots Tuesday, Obama assailed the "criminals and thugs who tore up the place," and described them as a distraction from the real issues of police brutality."

eu.usatoday.com/story/theoval/2015/04/29/obama-white-house-baltimore-stephanie-rawlings-blake/26585143/

"Whether it's arson or, you know, the looting of a liquor store ... those were thuggish acts," Earnest said.In discussing the riots Tuesday, Obama assailed the "criminals and thugs who tore up the place," and described them as a distraction from the real issues of police brutality. Some critics ascribe racial connotations to the word "thug" Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake walked back the term earlier this week but Obama doesn't agree, officials said

Obama didn't apologise for describing looters as thugs. @StopMurderingUs. Provide a link.

When someone says something you are saying to me is hurtful, the typical response of most human beings is to apologise and not insist on using that language or term.

No, you do not have the right to police British language. I am sorry if the same word in America means something different, but that is the way the world is. Would you believe that a common girls' first name in the Low Countries is "Joke"? Think of it as a foreign language term. Believe me, there are several Americanisms that Brits do not like either, but we are demanding that you abandon them not seriously anyway, nor learn how to spell properly.

The term comes from an Indian sect actually, worshippers of Kali. It has nothing to do with black Americans. What next, policing the term "Vandal", which has a similar etymological history, and similar long usage in Britain, if someone in America uses that to describe a black person one day?

we are not demanding that you abandon them! On most days at least.

Sorry I misrembered and misquoted the Obama apology confusing that with something else.

Thank you for the correction.

Despite that I still stand by everything I said earlier. And he was rightfully criticised for his comment

So many apologists for thieves! The old saying that two wrongs don't make a right would be a good one to learn.

So many apologists for systemic racism. Perhaps it's time for you accept the depth of your unconscious(?) racism @mrsBtheparker and deal with that instead of trotting out tired cliches. Next thing you'll be telling us All Lives Matter.

I'd rather be an apologist for thieves than an apologist for racially motivated murder by someone acting on behalf of the state.

Their motto is protect and serve I believe.

Ffs stop with the nonsense. Of course looting is wrong.