Here we go again… (Jason Stockley trial and riots)

Apparently, there has been another acquittal of a White guy who killed a Black guy—and another riot…

This ties in with several of my previous posts, including my recent thoughts around Charlottesville controversy and my (considerably older) observations around the Zimmerman—Martin-tragedy.

What is deplorable here is not the killing or the acquittal (see excursion below), but the utter disregard for the rights of others, for the justice system, and (in a bigger picture) democratic processes that is demonstrated again, and again, and again by certain (at least partially overlapping) groups, including parts of the Black movements, factions of Democrat supporters, and Leftist extremists (including self-appointed anti-fascists, notably various Antifa organizations, who are regularly worse fascists than the people they verbally and physically attack).

Looking at the U.S. alone, we have atrocious examples like the reactions around the Michael Brown and Treyvon Martin shootings, trials, and verdicts (followed by racially motivated or even racist outrage by large parts of the Black community) or the post-election protests against Donald Trump* (he is elected by a democratic process the one day; starting the next day, long before he even assumed office, there are protesters taking the streets to condemn him as if he was Hitler reincarnate). Of course, there is a more than fair chance that the Charlottesville riots (cf. link above) partially, even largely, fall into this category—here Trump is perfectly correct.

*Can or should we be disappointed, even distraught, when we feel that an important election has gone horribly wrong? Certainly: I would have felt horrible had Hillary Clinton won. (While I could live with Obama.) Would I have taken to the streets and tried to circumvent the democratic processes (had I been in the U.S.)? Hell no! When an election is over, it is over. (Barring election fraud and “hanging chad”-style issues.) Feel free to criticize poor decisions, make alternate suggestions to policy, attack abuse of power or Nixon-/Clintonesque behavior in office, whatnot—but respect the election result!

In Sweden and Germany (cf. the Charlottesville post), it is par for the course for any “right-wing” demonstration to be physically attacked by fanatical Leftists. Or consider the treatment of SD in Sweden. Or consider how, in Germany, immense efforts are taken to destroy the nationalist NPD, while a just as extreme and even more hare-brained descendant of the SED actually sits in parliament, and the far more extreme MLPD, openly calling for a communist revolution, is left in peace… Or take the methods of e.g. feminists* that I have written about so often, where dissenters are arbitrarily censored, unfairly maligned, shouted down, have their opinions grossly distorted, … In fact, at least in Germany, many Leftists seem to think that the way to change peoples’ mind is to make as much noise as possible—with no effort put into forming a coherent argument or presenting actual facts. To take the streets with banners, drums, and empty catch phrases far away from the politicians seems to be the only thing some of them are able to do.

*The old claim family that “If you want to anger a [member of a non-Leftist group], tell him a lie; if you want to anger a [member of a Leftist group] tell him the truth.” may be an exaggeration and over-generalization, but there remains a lot of truth to it. When applied to some sub-groups (notably feminists, the extreme Left, the likes of Antifa, …) it comes very close to being the literal truth. They walk through their lives with a pre-conceived opinion in their heads, blinders on their eyes, and simply cannot handle it, when some piece of contrary information manages to sneak into their restricted field of view.

There is a massive, truly massive, problem with large parts of the Left and its attitude that “if we don’t like it, it must be destroyed by whatever means necessary”—no matter the law, civic rights, democratic values, …

This insanity must be stopped!

Please respect freedom of speech!

Please respect democratic processes!

Please understand how “presumed innocent” and “beyond reasonable doubt” work in a court!

Please look at the actual facts of a matter before exploding in rage!

Please save the riots for true abominations—and direct them solely at the authorities*!

Etc.

*A common thread of (even politically motivated) riots is that they hit innocent third parties worse than the presumed enemies of the rioters, having more in common with random vandalism and violence that with political protest.

Excursion on the acquittal: As I gather from online sources, e.g. [1], [2] the killer was a police officer at the end of a car chase of the deceased, who was a known criminal* on probation—and who had heroin in his car. The exact events at and around the end of the car chase are not entirely clear, but applying, as we must and should, “reasonable doubt”, it is clear that there was nowhere near enough evidence for a conviction for the raised “first-degree murder” charge—even had the police officer been guilty (which we do not know and, basing an opinion on news reports, we do not even have a strong reason to suspect). Under absolutely no circumstance can we arbitrarily apply different standards of proof to different types of crimes (including sex crimes!), to different types of suspects, or based on our personal involvement or pet issues. To boot, we must understand that while e.g. a jury can contain members who have preconceived opinions and personal sym- or antipathies, who fall for peer or press pressure, who are deeply stupid, whatnot, the jury members will usually know far more about the evidence situation than even knowledgeable observers—let alone random disgruntled citizens: If they see things differently than the disgruntled citizen, then the explanation will very often be that they know what they are talking about and that he does not. (As can be seen quite clearly with the Zimmerman trial. Cf. earlier link.)

*An interesting observation is that all or almost all similar cases I have seen, have had a victim or “victim” (depending on the situation) that was not only Black, but also had a criminal history, albeit sometimes petty. This includes Anthony Lamar Smith, Michael Brown, Treyvon Martin, …—even Rodney King, who set his car chase in motion when he tried to hide a parole violation… (Which is not in anyway to defend the excessive violence used and unnecessary cruelty shown by the police in that case.) This is important: These cases have not occurred because of random harassment or (at least exclusive) “racial profiling”—these are current or former criminals, many which actually were engaging in criminal behavior during or immediately prior to the events.

There is a problem here, but it is certainly not the acquittal and almost certainly not the behavior of this specific police officer. Neither is there reason to believe that the killing was racially motivated. Neither is there reason to believe that an innocent man was killed (as might or might not have been the case with Treyvon Martin)—this was a criminal being killed while perpetrating crimes and trying to avoid arrest*. No, the problem is the general thinking within the U.S. justice system that guns are a reasonable early recourse and that it is better to shot first than to be shot. (This could in turn be necessitated by the surrounding society or the attitudes of the criminals, but moving beyond “motivated” is conjectural from my point of view.) Possibly**, use of tranquilizer guns might be a viable option. Possibly**, a rule that guns must only be used against a criminal/suspect himself with a drawn gun could work. Possibly**, a directive makes sense that an attempt must first be made to take someone out by other means*** before a likely lethal shot is allowed to be attempted. Either which way: If that would have been a legitimate cause for a riot, it should have taken place after the actual shooting—in 2011.

*He might not have deserved to die for these crimes—even criminal lives matter. However, there is a world of difference between killing an innocent, or even a hardened criminal, just walking down the street, and killing someone who has just recklessly tried to outrun the police in a car chase. If in doubt, he would almost certainly not have been killed, had he surrendered peacefully in the first place. Notably, without the heroin (and possible other objects) that he criminally possessed, he would have had no obvious reason to run.

**I am too far away and lack relevant experience to make more than very tentative suggestions, and I make no guarantee that any of the mentioned examples would prove tenable.

***Depending on the situation, this could include a tasering, a tackle, a (mostly non-lethal) leg or gun-arm shot, …; possibly, in combination with waiting for an opportunity for a reasonable amount of time. (In this specific case, e.g. that the suspect leaves the car.)

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