
Police Riot - ashtonkem
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police_riot
======
dang
Ok, between this one and
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23395852](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23395852),
wikipedia submissions to HN have jumped the shark and we need to go back to
penalizing them on HN. Generic repetition of the hottest topics is the
opposite of what makes a good HN submission.

Other recent posts about Wikipedia on HN:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23249978](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23249978)

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23117614](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23117614)

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23239405](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23239405)

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22990237](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22990237)

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23089041](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23089041)

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23274898](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23274898)

~~~
ChrisGranger
I often click through to read posted Wikipedia articles, but I really wish the
OP would also comment _why_ they're posting a particular article and what
their thoughts are on the subject. Basically, what makes this interesting?

~~~
ashtonkem
I believe what we’re seeing in some cities constitutes a police riot, with
cops instigating or creating violent clashes out of peaceful protests.

~~~
dang
I think that's perfectly good logic. It's just that the general theme has
already had major discussion on HN, including on the front page when you
posted this. The distinction between "police brutality" and "police riot" is
without a difference; the internet does not do subtlety.

------
rz2k
The 1992 police riot in New York associated with resistance to community
review boards and Giuliani's mayoral ambitions[1] should probably be on that
list.

[1] [https://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/rudys-racist-
ra...](https://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/rudys-racist-rants-nypd-
history-lesson)

------
jameoblameo
The issue is, when its the police who determine whether someone is acting
correctly, it's trivial for them to do this, as they can just rule that they
were right and the protesters were wrong. The video from the Seattle protest
yesterday was a great example of this. Fuck the police.

~~~
jsf01
What video is that? What took place?

~~~
wdbbdw
[https://www.reddit.com/r/Seattle/comments/gv0ru3/this_is_the...](https://www.reddit.com/r/Seattle/comments/gv0ru3/this_is_the_moment_it_all_happened/)

~~~
readhn
Thanks for sharing! This is insane.

------
bluedays
The psychology for police brutality lately seems to be pretty simple.

1.) Accuse someone of acting inappropriately, and use "corrective force". If
that action is real or not, is irrelevant.

2.) Should your victim react negatively then accuse the victim of resisting.
Once the accusation is made, more than likely everyone begins to believe this
narrative as the truth.

3.) Once the victim and other bystanders begin to react negatively treat them
as hostile targets. These hostile civilians are now rioters.

4.) You have justification to violently shut down the riot. Now that
protestors are acting with hostility they are no longer peacefully protesting.
They are now rioting.

5.) Ruthlessly use force to ensure that all rioters are apprehended and shut
down without question.

6.) Congratulate yourselves for shutting down a riot.

------
readhn
June Fourth Incident :
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989_Tiananmen_Square_protests](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989_Tiananmen_Square_protests)

Date: April 15 – June 4, 1989 (1 month, 2 weeks and 6 days) Location: 400
cities nationwide

~~~
jedieaston
Link redirects to:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989_Tiananmen_Square_protests](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989_Tiananmen_Square_protests)

> Please submit the canonical URL. Avoid link shorteners.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html)

~~~
aspenmayer
Supplying an alternate link to circumvent a paywall or network routing issue
is well within the rules of HN. You’re being pedantic. Who was harmed by the
URL specifically? It was clearly and unambiguously labeled.

------
gotoeleven
We're not the rioters you're the rioters!

------
readme
It's certainly true that police instigate some of these riots, but how do you
explain arson?

Without listing the numerous acts of arson that have occurred, I think we
could agree that it's farfetched to say that police have instigated those acts
of arson. Even if they did, it would still not be correct to exact the revenge
against the completely uninvolved property owners.

There are bad police and there are bad protestors, good and evil are not
evenly distributed across the two opposing sides. You might say the bad guys
aren't really protestors, they're rioters. I'd also say that the bad cops
aren't really cops, they're criminals.

Please maintain an unbiased and neutral attitude when you think about the
police. Not all of them are bad. It's really unfortunate that enough of them
are that things like this happen.

With that said the escalation of this conflict is almost 100% the fault of
Trump.

~~~
gotoeleven
Wait was the escalation when rioters started looting and burning stuff? or was
it when they shot cops and bystanders? or maybe it was when they started
having pallets of bricks deployed to protest areas? Nah, it was when trump
sent in the national guard that governors requested.

~~~
readme
Trump sending in the national guard was not what escalated this. What
escalated this was his usual politicizing of every event. By popping off on
twitter with his now famous "when you start looting, we start shooting" tweet.

The national guard could have been sent in without Trump, the governor of each
state is in charge of the national guard of that state.

Trump is just trying to take credit for what governors could and would have
done unilaterally.

(Oh hey, remember coronavirus? Same thing. Everything that happened was up to
governors, his contribution was a net negative. Well, maybe not everything.
There is what Mike Pence did, remember, he was "in charge" of everything!)

~~~
readme
Much like he's trying to politicize the response by putting GEN Milley "in
charge"

The Pentagon's official response was (paraphrasing) "GEN Milley's
responsibilities have not changed; he will continue to advise the Sec Def and
President"

EDIT:

I should also add, that he tricked GEN Milley into walking into a photo op in
front of St. John's church.

The military tries very hard to remain apolitical, and he duped the man into
being part of a prop piece.

~~~
ashtonkem
Miley’s excuse doesn’t hold water. Is he in the habit of wearing BDUs every
single day? He commands no troops, a suit or dress uniform is what he would
wear at his job. Why change into BDUs if not for a photo op?

I think he’s using a flimsy excuse to walk it back once he got serious public
and private blowback over what he was doing.

~~~
readme
Everyone in the Army wears that uniform every single day, even to work in an
office. That is what he wears to work daily.

Also as the chief of staff he is actually in command of the entire Army.

It's kind of stupid, until you consider that the alternative is wearing a much
more annoying dress uniform.

100% he was tricked into it, there's enough out there in the news to figure it
out.

The deputy sec def just resigned because Mark Esper wouldn't push back. BTW
remember what happened to the last Sec Def, Mattis? Resigned because Trump
wouldn't listen to him.

If you haven't noticed yet, Trump surrounds himself with yes men. If they
don't go along with it, they are fired.

~~~
ashtonkem
Staff officers do not wear BDUs every day. He has an office job, not a combat
role. Look at any non-emergency meeting of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; you’ll
see a lot of dress uniforms, not a lot of BDUs

As the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff he is prohibited _by law_ from
exercising any authority over troops. His only responsibility is advising the
president, and working with the Secretary of Defense, who does actually
command troops.

