11-14-2019, 02:36 PM
I love when people have and express opinions. Unfortunately, I don't always love the sound of everyone's voices -- but at least they're talking.
My gripe is like Rivernotch's, and centers around this sentence, especially the coloured text (which removes your asides and narrow example).
the bare phrase “black lives matter” is an assertion that lives of black people matter less to those it accuses than those similarly situated.
And yes, that is exactly what it asserts. However, I suspect you aren't able to read into the minds of all those who it accuse, so I can't accept your claim that it false (in any all-encompassing way). I can accept that it is insulting, because it is meant to be. The phrase, in its sociopolitical context, is not meant to assert that all non-blacks feel black lives matter less, but it does assert (or at least, what I've interpreted it to mean, in context) that they are targeted by law enforcement and given less benefit of the doubt by the justice system.
I won't comment on if this is generally true or false, however, because I cannot claim knowledge in a field I have no experience in. I've not worked in law enforcement or the justice system. I can say that the police officers I've known have not shown any tendency toward racism, but I've watched plenty of body camera footage showing police officers who do, so I suspect it is neither an entirely true or false assertion.
Statistics, surveys, news articles, and other evidence to support any one of many sides are abundant, and none of them are ever really fair at all. But none of those actually matter to me, because I don't feel like any of these phrases or bumper stickers are attacking me personally, and I don't believe in drawing political lines in the sand on whenever a wave washes up.
My gripe is like Rivernotch's, and centers around this sentence, especially the coloured text (which removes your asides and narrow example).
(11-14-2019, 11:14 AM)dukealien Wrote: As you know, while the bare phrase “black lives matter” is a near tautology (as is “white lives matter”) - if anything matters, it’s human lives - its meaning, in context, is an assertion that lives of black people matter less to those it accuses than those of (for example) white people similarly situated.Simply,
the bare phrase “black lives matter” is an assertion that lives of black people matter less to those it accuses than those similarly situated.
And yes, that is exactly what it asserts. However, I suspect you aren't able to read into the minds of all those who it accuse, so I can't accept your claim that it false (in any all-encompassing way). I can accept that it is insulting, because it is meant to be. The phrase, in its sociopolitical context, is not meant to assert that all non-blacks feel black lives matter less, but it does assert (or at least, what I've interpreted it to mean, in context) that they are targeted by law enforcement and given less benefit of the doubt by the justice system.
I won't comment on if this is generally true or false, however, because I cannot claim knowledge in a field I have no experience in. I've not worked in law enforcement or the justice system. I can say that the police officers I've known have not shown any tendency toward racism, but I've watched plenty of body camera footage showing police officers who do, so I suspect it is neither an entirely true or false assertion.
Statistics, surveys, news articles, and other evidence to support any one of many sides are abundant, and none of them are ever really fair at all. But none of those actually matter to me, because I don't feel like any of these phrases or bumper stickers are attacking me personally, and I don't believe in drawing political lines in the sand on whenever a wave washes up.
If you're the smartest person in the room, you're in the wrong room.
"Or, if a poet writes a poem, then immediately commits suicide (as any decent poet should)..." -- Erthona
"Or, if a poet writes a poem, then immediately commits suicide (as any decent poet should)..." -- Erthona