They've achieved many, though far from all, of their goals in various municipalities.
Why do you believe that a PR campaign is the only protest of value?
> The way you phrased it, the protests are nothing more than tantrums by oversized children.
That is in no way implied from how I phrased it. Pain and weariness from racialized murders and intimidation by cops is not a childish tantrum and I hope you never have to endure that pain yourself. I do hope that you find the empathy to consider their position.
You say the protests have achieved their goals. To me, that means they are an organized campaign of some sort.
The fact is, BLM is a national organization with nearly universal name recognition at this point. They have funding. They have PR teams. They are directing messaging.
And the fact remains that I think "Defund the Police" is terrible messaging.
> Please treat them like people.
As I said at the beginning, I think we're talking past each other.
I never meant to dehumanize the protesters.
The main point I am trying to make is that as someone with no horse in this race (i.e. I am neither pro-BLM nor pro-police) if I were forced to pick a side on the issue based on my current view of what is and has happened over the past couple months, I would come down on the side of the police. I'd rather just stay out of it.
All this said, as much as I think our politics differ, I really do respect the way you've responded to people in this thread, and I hope there are more people like you among the protesters because then maybe you've got an actual shot at achieving your goals.
> You say the protests have achieved their goals. To me, that means they are an organized campaign of some sort.
As in there are various demands by various groups and you can identify the core where they overlap.
> The fact is, BLM is a national organization with nearly universal name recognition at this point. They have funding. They have PR teams. They are directing messaging.
BLM is decentralized. They don't have most of that.
> And the fact remains that I think "Defund the Police" is terrible messaging.
Okay. But it's not PR. It's not some campaign crafted by an overpaid consultant. It's a decentralized protest movement. I don't want it to be that, either. That's part of the problem in politics - caring far too much about this kind of thing. Focus on the realities, the people dying. The violent and aggressive and frequently racist police.
> > Please treat them like people.
> As I said at the beginning, I think we're talking past each other.
I think the attempt to infantilize was nearly dehumanizing.
> I never meant to dehumanize the protesters.
Then stop calling protests in response to murders by police a tantrum by oversized children.
> The main point I am trying to make is that as someone with no horse in this race (i.e. I am neither pro-BLM nor pro-police)
We all have a horse in this race. We live together in a society that has some level of control over things like policing, equity, violence, crime, poverty. The "neutral" position is implicit support for the status quo, much as being a "moderate" in politics indicates the same.
> if I were forced to pick a side on the issue based on my current view of what is and has happened over the past couple months, I would come down on the side of the police. I'd rather just stay out of it.
As I said before, ha.
> All this said, as much as I think our politics differ, I really do respect the way you've responded to people in this thread, and I hope there are more people like you among the protesters because then maybe you've got an actual shot at achieving your goals.
The vast majority of people in the protests are like me. You should go to one.
Then they are utterly useless.
The way you phrased it, the protests are nothing more than tantrums by oversized children.
Tantrums should not be rewarded.