Lallapalalable
New Member
Hey, long time no see. Not sure where exactly to post this, here or in Philosophy, but I'll let the mods worry about that.
I guess I'll start by clarifying that I support the core objectives of the movement: Reform in use of excessive force by the police, rooting out the racist members of the judicial system (police, judges, etc.), and holding offending parties accountable for their actions. The BLM movement is justified in its existence, but I feel like the lack of organized leadership inherent in an ideological hashtag movement negates the effectiveness it can ultimately have. On one hand, you have many protests going well without instance, and most people seem to be on the same page, but on the other you have individuals killing people while flying the same banner, with other followers praising their actions.
It's almost akin to Islam at this point: The vast majority are moderate and peaceful, but a few evil individuals acting in their name are hurting the cause, bringing hate upon the group as a whole. Their opponents are going to latch on to every instance of some rogue individual slaying police officers while waving the BLM flag with the masses cheering them on as an example of what they're really all about. It's detrimental to the cause, and to fully buffer themselves from any future incidents of violence, a new platform needs to be built to filter out those that aren't acting in the movement's best interests.
This goes beyond the violent radicals, though, and has a lot to do with their peaceful tactics as well. One of the common methods of protest I've been seeing lately is a group of people will block traffic on a major highway and trap people there for hours at a time. This sounds like a good idea, because you're broadcasting your message to the public in a way that's hard to ignore, but there are a few major problems I see. First, this affects emergency services such as fire and EMS, and there have been a few cases where it's been an issue. There was a child that needed to get to the hospital stuck in traffic, and paramedics almost couldn't get there because of the protesters. Another time they intentionally and repeatedly blocked an ambulance from getting through an intersection. This movement is supposed to be based on the value of life, yet they're willfully risking those of innocent bystanders, and that is something I cannot tolerate. I used to work in EMS, so maybe I've got an emotional bias, but whenever I hear about stuff like this happening I'm furious, and I don't see how anyone couldn't be.
The second problem with this form of protest is that it's just not that effective in earning new followers, and more suited for awareness of smaller campaigns. All you're doing when you hold up traffic is pissing everybody off, and if anything I think it nets a loss in support. Plus, everybody is aware of BLM and why they exist, so attention seeking events like this aren't moving things forward. It's simply making a fuss for the sake of making a fuss, and does nothing for the cause.
I realize, again, that all of this probably does not reflect the mentality of most people rallying under BLM, but that's kind of the problem, and it shows me that without proper leadership BLM basically a large mob with only one specific thing in common. Anybody can organize a protest, anybody can join in, and anybody can act in the name of BLM, so what's to stop any of this, or worse, from happening again? Without a central figure to condemn certain actions and organize more intelligent POAs, then I believe that the movement will stagnate, at best, and at worst fall apart over internal conflict.
I'm not saying #BlackLivesMatter should cease to exist, it deserves to exist and couldn't be stopped anyway, but I think it's reached its limit on being an effective platform, and is starting to turn in the other direction. It's an ideology, a loose one at that, and I simply don't think it's up to the task of carrying this out solo. What I'm saying is another group, or groups, need to rise out from the ranks of the mob and put some thought into their efforts. Instead of holding up traffic on an arbitrary highway, why not occupy the Capitol building? Perhaps once Obama leaves office he can become a vocal figurehead, outline what is and isn't in the best interest of the movement, and publicly condemn anything that falls out of line with their philosophy. If there's anybody in the US that can effectively rally this cause, I believe it's him.
I may be wrong, there could be an easier solution that keeps the movement unified (and that's the only hesitation I have on all of this, that we'll get a million different groups all fighting each other), but the gist is that, as far as I can tell, the group is too divided and unorganized as it is to effectively instill the changes we want from society, and a clearer message needs to be formulated. Thanks for hearing me out, let me know what you think.
P.S. - Because I'm sure somebody will ask: I am white, however not all of my family is. I have a branch in my family tree that's mostly Mexican, and another that's partially African American. Mexican family lives in Arizona, right on the freaking border, so they deal with immigration racists. Black family lives in North Charleston, SC, and there we have the classic flavor of racism. One of the police shootings last year happened blocks from where my one cousin lives, and I constantly worry about something happening to one of them. So yeah, I'm a white guy, but I think I understand and care a little more about all this than people would assume, so I'm putting it out there.
I guess I'll start by clarifying that I support the core objectives of the movement: Reform in use of excessive force by the police, rooting out the racist members of the judicial system (police, judges, etc.), and holding offending parties accountable for their actions. The BLM movement is justified in its existence, but I feel like the lack of organized leadership inherent in an ideological hashtag movement negates the effectiveness it can ultimately have. On one hand, you have many protests going well without instance, and most people seem to be on the same page, but on the other you have individuals killing people while flying the same banner, with other followers praising their actions.
It's almost akin to Islam at this point: The vast majority are moderate and peaceful, but a few evil individuals acting in their name are hurting the cause, bringing hate upon the group as a whole. Their opponents are going to latch on to every instance of some rogue individual slaying police officers while waving the BLM flag with the masses cheering them on as an example of what they're really all about. It's detrimental to the cause, and to fully buffer themselves from any future incidents of violence, a new platform needs to be built to filter out those that aren't acting in the movement's best interests.
This goes beyond the violent radicals, though, and has a lot to do with their peaceful tactics as well. One of the common methods of protest I've been seeing lately is a group of people will block traffic on a major highway and trap people there for hours at a time. This sounds like a good idea, because you're broadcasting your message to the public in a way that's hard to ignore, but there are a few major problems I see. First, this affects emergency services such as fire and EMS, and there have been a few cases where it's been an issue. There was a child that needed to get to the hospital stuck in traffic, and paramedics almost couldn't get there because of the protesters. Another time they intentionally and repeatedly blocked an ambulance from getting through an intersection. This movement is supposed to be based on the value of life, yet they're willfully risking those of innocent bystanders, and that is something I cannot tolerate. I used to work in EMS, so maybe I've got an emotional bias, but whenever I hear about stuff like this happening I'm furious, and I don't see how anyone couldn't be.
The second problem with this form of protest is that it's just not that effective in earning new followers, and more suited for awareness of smaller campaigns. All you're doing when you hold up traffic is pissing everybody off, and if anything I think it nets a loss in support. Plus, everybody is aware of BLM and why they exist, so attention seeking events like this aren't moving things forward. It's simply making a fuss for the sake of making a fuss, and does nothing for the cause.
I realize, again, that all of this probably does not reflect the mentality of most people rallying under BLM, but that's kind of the problem, and it shows me that without proper leadership BLM basically a large mob with only one specific thing in common. Anybody can organize a protest, anybody can join in, and anybody can act in the name of BLM, so what's to stop any of this, or worse, from happening again? Without a central figure to condemn certain actions and organize more intelligent POAs, then I believe that the movement will stagnate, at best, and at worst fall apart over internal conflict.
I'm not saying #BlackLivesMatter should cease to exist, it deserves to exist and couldn't be stopped anyway, but I think it's reached its limit on being an effective platform, and is starting to turn in the other direction. It's an ideology, a loose one at that, and I simply don't think it's up to the task of carrying this out solo. What I'm saying is another group, or groups, need to rise out from the ranks of the mob and put some thought into their efforts. Instead of holding up traffic on an arbitrary highway, why not occupy the Capitol building? Perhaps once Obama leaves office he can become a vocal figurehead, outline what is and isn't in the best interest of the movement, and publicly condemn anything that falls out of line with their philosophy. If there's anybody in the US that can effectively rally this cause, I believe it's him.
I may be wrong, there could be an easier solution that keeps the movement unified (and that's the only hesitation I have on all of this, that we'll get a million different groups all fighting each other), but the gist is that, as far as I can tell, the group is too divided and unorganized as it is to effectively instill the changes we want from society, and a clearer message needs to be formulated. Thanks for hearing me out, let me know what you think.
P.S. - Because I'm sure somebody will ask: I am white, however not all of my family is. I have a branch in my family tree that's mostly Mexican, and another that's partially African American. Mexican family lives in Arizona, right on the freaking border, so they deal with immigration racists. Black family lives in North Charleston, SC, and there we have the classic flavor of racism. One of the police shootings last year happened blocks from where my one cousin lives, and I constantly worry about something happening to one of them. So yeah, I'm a white guy, but I think I understand and care a little more about all this than people would assume, so I'm putting it out there.
