{"id":402,"date":"2015-08-17T03:59:33","date_gmt":"2015-08-17T03:59:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mrbiggs.net\/ron\/?p=402"},"modified":"2017-01-05T20:22:27","modified_gmt":"2017-01-05T20:22:27","slug":"appropriating-blacklivesmatter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mrbiggs.net\/ron\/?p=402","title":{"rendered":"Appropriating #BlackLivesMatter"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;ll be honest. \u00a0Cultural appropriation and #BlackLivesMatter\u00a0are two issues that, taken separately, I couldn&#8217;t care less about, or I at least can&#8217;t be bothered to debate on. \u00a0Both are issues that have nothing to do with me.<\/p>\n<p>But a video crossed my feed that raised my eyebrows, as it was an interesting intersection of the two, and quite honestly, it marks the prime reason I got out of politics. \u00a0It was this latest video of a &#8220;harsh arrest&#8221; at the Ferguson protests (action starts around 0:32):<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"625\" height=\"352\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ga0VL_4bWHo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Now, let&#8217;s review. \u00a0It starts as an ordinary civil disobedience. \u00a0The cops uneventfully usher the kids off the freeway. \u00a0But a white kid breaks loose and runs around,\u00a0provoking the cops. \u00a0By not following the cops&#8217; orders, they now have to use force. \u00a0He gets body-slammed.<\/p>\n<p>And the video gets passed around the internet as an example of police brutality.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m sorry, but exactly what is #BlackLivesMatter about here? \u00a0Is it about how you want cops to be nice to you when you provoke them? \u00a0Because I&#8217;ve seen quite a few videos trying to show police brutality, and they generally start with some kind of obvious provocation.<\/p>\n<p>Because I can tell you, no. \u00a0No it is not.<\/p>\n<p>#BlackLivesMatter , at least if it&#8217;s an issue that is anything serious, is about how black people face a different standard for cops than other people do. \u00a0I mean, if this is what it&#8217;s about, good luck. \u00a0But I think I&#8217;ve seen enough statements from well-spoken people like Kareem Abdul Jabbar that it&#8217;s about the racial divide. \u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/VFHpvPwq2i8?t=430\">Dave Chappelle<\/a> also explains it really well.<\/p>\n<p>And this is where cultural appropriation takes place. \u00a0You&#8217;ve got white kids running around acting out their anarchist fantasies and trying to speak for others. \u00a0You&#8217;ve got media channels picking up on these kinds of provocations like that&#8217;s what it&#8217;s about.<\/p>\n<p>Well, is it?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve written about this issue before in my <a href=\"http:\/\/mrbiggs.net\/ron\/?p=376\">gut review of 99 Homes<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Like I said, in the end I don&#8217;t really care about either of these issues. \u00a0So I&#8217;m not interested in a debate. \u00a0I just want to point out how this #BlackLivesMatter issue is going to be framed. \u00a0If it&#8217;s to be an issue where some people get treated much more roughly than others based on the color of their skin, great. \u00a0That&#8217;s an issue people could get behind.<\/p>\n<p>But if this is an issue about wanting the cops to be nice to you when you provoke them? \u00a0Most of us, myself (and Chappelle) included, like the cops. \u00a0We think they fulfill a necessary function. \u00a0And if they get a pass, it&#8217;s because we know how rough a job they have dealing with punks like you. \u00a0In the end, people will take that video and enjoy watching you get bodyslammed on repeat.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"625\" height=\"352\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/OaiEqpMo09w?start=143&#038;feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>And then it&#8217;s not just the pigs who are your enemy, but all mainstream society, blacks included. \u00a0So good luck with that, I&#8217;ll go get the popcorn.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;ll be honest. \u00a0Cultural appropriation and #BlackLivesMatter\u00a0are two issues that, taken separately, I couldn&#8217;t care less about, or I at least can&#8217;t be bothered to debate on. \u00a0Both are issues that have nothing to do with me. But a video crossed my feed that raised my eyebrows, as it was an interesting intersection of the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7,358],"tags":[261,256,258,259,257,260,232],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mrbiggs.net\/ron\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mrbiggs.net\/ron\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mrbiggs.net\/ron\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mrbiggs.net\/ron\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mrbiggs.net\/ron\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=402"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mrbiggs.net\/ron\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":404,"href":"https:\/\/mrbiggs.net\/ron\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402\/revisions\/404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mrbiggs.net\/ron\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mrbiggs.net\/ron\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mrbiggs.net\/ron\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}