Underlining or even mentioning "peaceful" plays into the hand of people separating the "good" protesters from the "bad" protesters. The definition of "peaceful" is highly subjective, and in a country that disproportionately kill unarmed black men as they are seen as more threatening simply because of the color of their skin, it quickly adopts racist undertones. This rhetoric also explains why there are far-right agitators in protests, including off-duty/retired police officers, ready to break, arson and assault in an attempt to move a "peaceful" protest to a "riot" and trigger a deadly response by the police.
But even with riotous protesters, the police isn't supposed to assault and murder. They aren't supposed to assault and murder, full stop. Admitting any exception leads the way of every assault and murder being shoehorned into that exception. "I thought he reached for a gun", "he grabbed my gun" and "he lunged forward" are the three most prominent lies the police successfully use to exonerate their officers of racist murders. Police murders are so little prosecuted that we... show more
Underlining or even mentioning "peaceful" plays into the hand of people separating the "good" protesters from the "bad" protesters. The definition of "peaceful" is highly subjective, and in a country that disproportionately kill unarmed black men as they are seen as more threatening simply because of the color of their skin, it quickly adopts racist undertones. This rhetoric also explains why there are far-right agitators in protests, including off-duty/retired police officers, ready to break, arson and assault in an attempt to move a "peaceful" protest to a "riot" and trigger a deadly response by the police.
But even with riotous protesters, the police isn't supposed to assault and murder. They aren't supposed to assault and murder, full stop. Admitting any exception leads the way of every assault and murder being shoehorned into that exception. "I thought he reached for a gun", "he grabbed my gun" and "he lunged forward" are the three most prominent lies the police successfully use to exonerate their officers of racist murders. Police murders are so little prosecuted that we've come to expect being gratuitously assaulted by the police during protests.
it was just meant to point out how much hypocrisy there is in conservatives claiming to be about upholding things like the 1st amendment yet they seem to bust a nut when the police beat the shit out of protesters.
I feel like having it say 'peaceful protesters' checkmates the attempt for a conservative to reply with something like 'they aren't all peaceful'.
Again, I agree with all you said - but this meme is about pointing out conservative hypocrisy as it exists.
It isn't hypocrisy, for conservatives the Constitution has always been meant to apply to white settlers in defiance of the British Crown. They do not believe it should apply to Natives, immigrants, black people, criminals, etc... and routinely and publicly show it.
From what I understand, conservatives believe win-win situations don't exist, so there necessarily should be a struggle for power between groups of people. It must necessarily be "us vs them" and so the priority should always be "us" and humanity be damned, since they expect the exact same treatment from people they deem "them".
So BLM/antifa protesters, peaceful or not, black or not, are deemed "them", which justifies everything that's been done to them up to murder that they will regularly carry themselves. The Constitution is just a prop in the "us vs them" struggle, supreme when it serves their purpose, a nuisance when it doesn't. They like the symbol more than the text itself.
Pointing out "contradictions" does nothing to assuage this. It's seen as just another "liberal trick" in the "us vs them"... show more
It isn't hypocrisy, for conservatives the Constitution has always been meant to apply to white settlers in defiance of the British Crown. They do not believe it should apply to Natives, immigrants, black people, criminals, etc... and routinely and publicly show it.
From what I understand, conservatives believe win-win situations don't exist, so there necessarily should be a struggle for power between groups of people. It must necessarily be "us vs them" and so the priority should always be "us" and humanity be damned, since they expect the exact same treatment from people they deem "them".
So BLM/antifa protesters, peaceful or not, black or not, are deemed "them", which justifies everything that's been done to them up to murder that they will regularly carry themselves. The Constitution is just a prop in the "us vs them" struggle, supreme when it serves their purpose, a nuisance when it doesn't. They like the symbol more than the text itself.
Pointing out "contradictions" does nothing to assuage this. It's seen as just another "liberal trick" in the "us vs them" struggle. It's the reason why conservatives copy progressive's symbol's likeness without regard for any actual meaning. "Blue Lives Matter" is a nonsensical tit for tat against "Black Lives Matter", because they saw the popularity of the latter, and tried to emulate it with their own, except the words themselves isn't what made it popular.
In the conservative playbook, the end justifies the means, no blow is too low against identified enemies, and they expect progressives to do the same to them. This is why you have false report of "Antifa bussing protesters" because conservative movements have actually been carrying astroturf protests. This is why you have false flag attack accusations while conservative agitators broke windows and arsoned shops and Boogaloo gunmen killed a police officer hopefully under the cover of a BLM protest. This is why you have constant false accusations of media lying while they keep lying themselves.
So this image isn't wrong, it just isn't very effective, it's progressive feel-good art at best. It's good on its own, but it won't change any conservative mind.
You're really putting a lot more on this than necessary. I just made a meme dude. You even said it would be perfect if I changed it...and I did. It really doesn't merit this critical of an analysis. I didn't intend it to blow anyone's third eye open or anything, haha
I wrote a lot but I arrived at the same conclusion: it is just a meme and it is perfect as it now is. There was no "checkmate" though for the reasons I explained, but it isn't that important in the context of this image, especially not anymore.
It's all good, thank you for acting on my feedback!
Hypolite Petovan
But even with riotous protesters, the police isn't supposed to assault and murder. They aren't supposed to assault and murder, full stop. Admitting any exception leads the way of every assault and murder being shoehorned into that exception. "I thought he reached for a gun", "he grabbed my gun" and "he lunged forward" are the three most prominent lies the police successfully use to exonerate their officers of racist murders. Police murders are so little prosecuted that we... show more
But even with riotous protesters, the police isn't supposed to assault and murder. They aren't supposed to assault and murder, full stop. Admitting any exception leads the way of every assault and murder being shoehorned into that exception. "I thought he reached for a gun", "he grabbed my gun" and "he lunged forward" are the three most prominent lies the police successfully use to exonerate their officers of racist murders. Police murders are so little prosecuted that we've come to expect being gratuitously assaulted by the police during protests.
Adam Gaskins
Did the meme not convey that? haha
Hypolite Petovan
Adam Gaskins
I feel like having it say 'peaceful protesters' checkmates the attempt for a conservative to reply with something like 'they aren't all peaceful'.
Again, I agree with all you said - but this meme is about pointing out conservative hypocrisy as it exists.
Hypolite Petovan
From what I understand, conservatives believe win-win situations don't exist, so there necessarily should be a struggle for power between groups of people. It must necessarily be "us vs them" and so the priority should always be "us" and humanity be damned, since they expect the exact same treatment from people they deem "them".
So BLM/antifa protesters, peaceful or not, black or not, are deemed "them", which justifies everything that's been done to them up to murder that they will regularly carry themselves. The Constitution is just a prop in the "us vs them" struggle, supreme when it serves their purpose, a nuisance when it doesn't. They like the symbol more than the text itself.
Pointing out "contradictions" does nothing to assuage this. It's seen as just another "liberal trick" in the "us vs them"... show more
From what I understand, conservatives believe win-win situations don't exist, so there necessarily should be a struggle for power between groups of people. It must necessarily be "us vs them" and so the priority should always be "us" and humanity be damned, since they expect the exact same treatment from people they deem "them".
So BLM/antifa protesters, peaceful or not, black or not, are deemed "them", which justifies everything that's been done to them up to murder that they will regularly carry themselves. The Constitution is just a prop in the "us vs them" struggle, supreme when it serves their purpose, a nuisance when it doesn't. They like the symbol more than the text itself.
Pointing out "contradictions" does nothing to assuage this. It's seen as just another "liberal trick" in the "us vs them" struggle. It's the reason why conservatives copy progressive's symbol's likeness without regard for any actual meaning. "Blue Lives Matter" is a nonsensical tit for tat against "Black Lives Matter", because they saw the popularity of the latter, and tried to emulate it with their own, except the words themselves isn't what made it popular.
In the conservative playbook, the end justifies the means, no blow is too low against identified enemies, and they expect progressives to do the same to them. This is why you have false report of "Antifa bussing protesters" because conservative movements have actually been carrying astroturf protests. This is why you have false flag attack accusations while conservative agitators broke windows and arsoned shops and Boogaloo gunmen killed a police officer hopefully under the cover of a BLM protest. This is why you have constant false accusations of media lying while they keep lying themselves.
So this image isn't wrong, it just isn't very effective, it's progressive feel-good art at best. It's good on its own, but it won't change any conservative mind.
Adam Gaskins
Hypolite Petovan
It's all good, thank you for acting on my feedback!