Every issue has two sides. On one side you have reasonable people expecting reasonable ideals from a reasonable society. We call these people liberals or progressives. On the other side you have ignorance, fear, hate and blind stupidity wrapped in the veil of moral superiority and patriotism. We call those people conservatives, or sheep for the billionaires they idolize.
It’s these people who can take a simple meme or infographic that shows something like, oh, say, the disproportionate number of blacks killed by police officers, and turn it around with such obvious idiocy that you just want find them and smack the sh*t out of them.
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Here’s a perfect example: This screen capture from CNN shows the number of people killed by police in a year and their races. The first thing that’s noticeable is that white people are in first place:
(Image courtesy of CNN via Facebook)
The next thing a reasonable person might notice is that blacks and Hispanics combined add up to almost as many as whites. What’s so lopsided about that? America is 77 percent white. It’s not rocket science. If white people and black people were treated the same by police, the number of blacks killed by police would be closer to 80. If you’re speaking in terms of unarmed people killed by police, blacks made up almost 70 percent of those executed.
Those are simple numbers, and indisputable proof that there is something very wrong. Simple and indisputable, that is, unless you belong to the right. On the right, those numbers are far more simple, and mean only one thing: More white people were killed than black people. Statistics, demographics, the U.S. census — none of that matters to the modern conservative. Four-hundred-eleven is larger than 233, therefore there is no issue.
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This is evident in where I found this meme posted. A Facebook page called “President Obama is the Worst and the Most Wasteful President In history” [sic] decided that this was all the evidence they needed to discredit the entire #BlackLivesMatter movement. Fans of the page, immediately blinded by the ignorance that must happen the moment they hit the page, couldn’t agree more.
Hold onto yourself, there’s some truly facepalm-worthy moments coming your way:
This person is just there to be mad at something. Did she bother to read the infographic or did she just see “congressman” and feel the need to rant? It’s not lies and BS from a congressman, stupid, it’s a congressman who could actually understand the meaning of this screenshot voicing his opinion, which happens to fall in line with the facts.
It’s more likely that you can’t comprehend. Reading is fairly simple, but understanding what you’re reading, especially if it’s at a second grade level, is a near-impossible task for the wingnuts of the right.
Hmmm… That may be the dumbest thing I’ve heard all day. Not only do you not understand common core, you also don’t understand that it’s not quite that simple. It must be difficult to think in terms of anything other than simple, but please, give it a shot.
This guy. Yeah, there’s a conspiracy in the mainstream media to keep information like this, information that no matter how you look at it supports the plight of the #BlackLivesMatter movement, hidden from the public. The narrative that the news would never tell the truth about something like this is kind of destroyed by the fact that the picture the guy is commenting on is a screenshot from CNN. You know… The Cable News Network:
(Image courtesy of CNN via Facebook)
Is it unbelievable? Not really. Not anymore. This kind of insanity has become commonplace. There was one commenter on the page who put the whole thing into perspective when he said:
OK, geniuses. Let’s break this down so maybe your thick skulls will understand:
414 out of 247,863,000 vs 233 out of 42,108,000. Should I call in a common core teacher or do you need me to explain lowest common denominators and simple division? By these numbers blacks are 12 times more likely to be killed than whites. When you add the number of “unreported race” at the same percentages, that number almost doubles.
So, you idiots, it’s not as simple as 414 being larger than 233, it’s seventh grade math, which is clearly above your pay grades.
You make me want to weep for America.
And there you have it. Simple logic versus an entire party of stupid. That entire page is just filled with it. Should you feel the need to spank the silly out of a conservative, I recommend a visit.
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Featured image via wiki commons
Screw you! Race pimps
Your ignorance of US history is showing.
Before the turn of the 20th century, the Republicans were the ideologically liberal party and the Democrats were the ideologically conservative party.
Trying to explain to the modern day conservative that the parties have ALWAYS been divided by Northern Progressives vs Southern Regressives is pointless. They think Lincoln was one of them . Dr. King registered as a Republican because in Georgia when he registered it was the only option. His family has repeatedly affirmed that not once did he identify as Republican.
Dr. King’s niece, Alveda King, used to be the Right’s point person for the “Dr. King is a Republican” talking point. Within the past few years, she has come out and said that she was mistaken. Funny that the people who try to connect Dr. King to today’s Republicans seemed to have missed the memo.
Yes…..
You win! Dumbest thing I’ve seen on the internet all week! Congratulations! Pick up your prize when your mom sends you out of her basement to get more milk.
Absolutely and totally true. However, not one of those pictured Republicans would be signing on to the current “Republican platform.” Some time in the mid-20th century, the party of Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, and even Dwight D. Eisenhower did a complete 180 on the issues that were important to those leaders and more or less swapped places with the Democrats. And then got even more conservative.
Not only would all of them be Democrats today, this moron would be calling them Socialist Race Pimps on top of it. The stupid runs deep with racists. That’s why they’re racists.
Blacks commit crimes at a higher rate than whites.
So you’re ready to use that extremely flawed data that you couldn’t possibly understand to explain why 2/3rds of the unarmed people killed by police so far this year have been black?
White crime comes with a cell and a whopper, black crime comes with a ride to the morgue, and you’re OK with that because you don’t understand the socioeconomic isolation of the black community for 150 years, the hiring of a white police force in 90% of black communities who are told to be suspicious of everyone and the incarceration rates, especially in states where the prisons are privatized, that see twice the number of blacks put in jail in the same cases where whites get probation?
Unarmed blacks get shot more because of how they behave. Michael Brown is Exhibit A.
Michael Brown was a kid who literally just graduated high school & was due to start college in 2 days.
The only trustworthy eyewitness (read: not the guy with financial ties to the KKK or who was fired from his last job for being a violent racist) says that he & Brown were trying to get away from the gun-waving lunatic.
Now, whose word are you going to trust, the murderer’s or the victim’s?
You live in a fantasy world.
You’re an idiot.
Be careful, Otto is the Klan’s secret anti-troll weapon. They finally found a Klansman who can pass a basic spelling and grammar test. He is a veritable legend in his own mind.
Black people are incarcerated and prosecuted at a higher rate than white people. That doesn’t mean that the crime rates differ, just the arrest and prosecution rates.
Blacks are incarcerated and prosecuted at higher rates because they commit crimes at higher rates. You can verify this fact with Obama’s Dept. of Justice.
Actually, a number of studies have shown that whites commit more crimes than black folks do, they just are not as aggressively policed, nor as aggressively prosecuted.
Actually, you are completely wrong.
I am never wrong, even when I am imprecise.
You just were wrong, maybe for the first time, though I doubt it.
Do you think whites are getting away with thousands of murders every year and no one has noticed it’s going on? Maybe you are that dumb.
This is technically true. The reality, of course, is that poor people commit more crime than rich people (at least of the violent variety, ya know, the kinds that get prosecuted), and, due to economic realities dating back to the Civil War, a higher percentage of blacks are poor. THAT is called “context”.
Explain how being poor causes one to rape.
The fact you want to fight over ethnicity of who the police kill more of is ridiculous. In some countries we get angry when 1 person is killed by police. murikkka home if the perpetually dumb.
in 2013 blacks were responsible for 52.2% of murders.
Since you have all the statistics, what percentage of financial crimes were committed by blacks? What percentage of mass murders did they commit? While you are at it, what percentage of child molesters are black? Also, where did you get the 52.2% number from?
The FBI.
The same kind of number you are using were used to justify prejudice against Italian and Irish immigrants in the 19th century. There is more crime in poor neighborhoods. Duh.
I’m providing context.
Flawed context that does nothing but expose your racism.
Nothing “flawed” about it.
Oh, poor Otto. If that is your worldview, that’s just tragic. You are in my prayers, you poor, dear fellow child of the creator.
My views are based on reality. Tell your imaginary friend “hi” for me.
Oh, I suspect the only imaginary element in this equation is you.
It has been open season on Americans…According to the Guardian website 725 people have either been killed by police or died in police custody this year. Of those 725, 190 have been black. People keep making this a black issue when it really is an American issue. But of course it is the fault of the police, not those committing the crimes, resisting arrest, shooting at police, trying to run them over or running from them. Before you say it, you’re right, many of these crimes are not worthy of a death sentence. However, we ask police to protect and serve and they have to do that without the benefit of time. Time to watch video, break down video interview witnesses, etc. They have to make split second decisions or they may be the ones who don’t get to go home at night. How do you fix it? No one seems to know as they would rather point fingers and say “stop killing us.” How about first, stop breaking the law; second, make body cameras mandatory (and I think this is going to prove a lot more cops innocent than guilty); third, comply when approached by an officer. Simple solutions to a big problem.
There’s one factor you forgot to mention. There is a difference in police officers being trained as police-to PROTECT and SERVE-and not as an invading force whose mission is to establish control as soon as possible by whatever means necessary.
A police officer who stops a guy on a bicycle off-road because “it’s nighttime and the bike does not have a taillight, just a reflector” and then escalates the stop to the point that backup has to be called and the guy and the original cop end up dead-isn’t protecting and serving, he’s establishing control. In fact, state law is happy with the reflector as long as the bicycle isn’t on a highway, so the stop was illegal from the git-go. Since they’re both dead, nobody knows for sure who fired the first shot.
Now that nearly everyone has a cell phone with video capability and dashcams and body cams are in use, it’s more likely that we’ll see more and more of those situations where no law was broken or a very minor infraction incurred and then the officer escalated the situation until someone got hurt. Perhaps part of the problem is training. Perhaps part of the problem is the huge quantity of military-surplus equipment donated to police departments, introducing a “military” ambiance. Perhaps part of the problem is the huge number of military veterans who go into police work without being re-oriented to civilian life.
Incidentally, in this state every citizen has the right to resist an unlawful arrest up to and including using deadly force. Few people do, but we do have that right. Advising people to give up their rights is seldom good advice.
If Charles Topher was not so preoccupied with derogatory and inflammatory remarks about conservatives he may actually look in a mirror and see what a hypocrite he is.
Cherry picking stories that dumb people do on both sides only proves who is divisive and , intolerant
IQ predicts both poverty and criminal behavior, and blacks have lower average IQs.
Well, I guess if you’re going to be a racist, you might as well go “all in”. You are scum. You are human filth. Your ignorance is appalling and makes me weep for my country. Hopefully, your children (if you have any) learn to think for themselves and your worldview will die with you. I hope you believe in God as the image of you being turned away at the Pearly Gates for your hate-filled life makes me smile. Good day, Otto. I’m done trying to talk to you. Enjoy being a minority in a few years.
That’s not racism, that’s science.
Actually, it’s completely discredited junk science only believed by awful people who need to believe that they’re better than others…even though they obviously aren’t. Like you!
No, it’s mainstream science.
Those statistics are true. The point is we shouldn’t discuss crime and crime policies without recognizing the reality of crime.