There Goes the Neighbourhood
Further to this comment here, Laurie Penny wants us to know that she knows more than the Ferguson jury:
Meanwhile, Gateway Pundit has coverage of the ongoing violence.
As you can see, nothing says “we are righteous and entitled to deference” like smashing and looting a local woman’s cake shop. And smashing and looting the mini-market that Michael Brown robbed and then running away laughing, and looting the local phone shop, and burning down the local pharmacy, and burning down the local auto spares business, and the local pizza restaurant, and the local beautician’s, and then shooting at the firemen who are trying to put those fires out before other people lose their livelihoods too. You know, for “social justice.”
Other locals, however, have taken the high road – by bragging on Facebook about those lovely new shoes that were sourced somewhat mysteriously during the commotion. Note the new owner’s chosen hashtags: #NoJustice. #GotMine. Here’s a fellow protestor expressing his grief via the classic medium of big screen TV theft. And when words alone can’t express the woe, there’s always the option of carjacking the elderly and then running them over.
Here’s an innovation by our betters on the left. Disapproval of “riot-shaming” is now a thing, apparently, and we mustn’t tut at people behaving like savages. Gawker’s Matt Bruenig, who writes about “economic justice,” goes further and says riots are a good thing, a way to chastise the police, and therefore we need more of them. Presumably, Mr Bruenig doesn’t expect himself ever to be on the receiving end of the violence and looting he endorses. Similar sentiments are aired by budding intellectual Laurie Penny, who reminds us that we mustn’t “condemn the violence of citizens hungry for justice.” So what to do? Well, fear not, Ms Penny and her chums are having a huge meeting about “what happens next.”
Again, it’s worth noting that Laurie’s “huge meeting” and much of the protesting is based on the assumption that those doing the meeting and protesting know better than a jury that spent months studying the evidence and then made a decision according to the law. To assume one knows better than the jury – based on less information – is both begging the question and an act of hubris that’s hard to top. And yet many of the people doing it imagine themselves as righteous, even heroic.
Updated via the comments, which, as so often, is where the action is.
To be fair, she thinks she knows more than most of us about everything.
“thinks” is too generous.
This Tweet from the Gateway Pundit link above seems to be a rather more eloquent summary of the reaction:
Natalie DuBose after #Ferguson looters attacked her cake store to get justice for Michael Brown.
Well, nothing says “we are righteous and entitled to deference” like smashing and looting a local woman’s cake shop. And smashing and looting the mini-market that Michael Brown robbed and then running away laughing, and looting the local phone shop, and burning down the local pharmacy, and burning down the local auto spares business, and the local pizza restaurant, and the local beauticians, and then shooting at the firemen who are trying to put those fires out before other people lose their livelihoods too.
You know, for “social justice.”
Of course Laurie Penny is hardly alone in her presumption. She’s conforming quite nicely.
In Laurie Penny world, when Black men steal cakes from a black woman; is this law or justice?
Bad Penny on the side of an ugly mob. Shocker.
Liberal magic. Right there in the jury room.
If the Grand Jury had chosen to indict it would have been an affirmation of the people standing up to a corrupt black-murdering hegemony, and Penny (and her ilk) would have praised their clear-thinking social progressive intelligence and humanity.
Instead, they are magically transformed into a bunch of black-hating racists – especially the three black jury members. Apparently they make themselves sit at the back of the bus, the swine.
Remember black folks: White liberals know better than you!
Just shows that leftists are completely impervious to facts.
The political vandals and arsonists in the White House, and their mouthpieces in the MSM (including the likes of Ms Penny), have been agitating for this since day one.
They have now helped to achieve exactly what they wanted.
Here’s some of that sympathetic protesting we hear so much about. These high-minded young people, filmed in Portland, merrily wish death on “all the cops,” or, as they put it, “neoliberal fascist pigs.”
And here we see what I assume is the same group of ‘protestors’ finding themselves at odds with a black chap. Watch them argue. See who they are.
“I’m not local”
That’s okay. We’ll take deep thinkers from anywhere.
I suppose we should not be surprised by the reaction of Ms. Penny and her ilk. Law is objective. “Justice” when disconnected from law is purely subjective, bears no relation to facts and exists only to serve a narrative. It is the typical Leftist view of reality.
Liberal magic…
There is no way to win against such powerful sorcery.
Imagine this scenario…A white man steals from a corner shop after swaggering in and bullying the owner with his thuggish cohorts. A black police officer tracks him down to a god-forsaken neighbourhood known for gang violence, drugs and shooting.
The black policeman trails the suspect and is punched in the face twice and has his car door forcibly shut on him during the pursuit.
He calls for backup and tries to persuade the suspect to come quietly.
Instead, the suspect charges towards the officer. The black officer fears he is going to take a possibly fatal beating so, as a last resort, opens fire. The suspect keeps charging through the bullets, despite being hit 11 times, drawing ever closer. The officer pops him one more time through the head, killing him.
The black police officer is later found guilty of unlawful killing by the Grand Jury, is declared the victim of racism by Jesse Jackson, Gary Younge and Laurie Penny and anarchy breaks out on the streets of Ferguson. Left wing pundits start ending their tweets with #DarrenWilsonisinnocent.
Watch them argue. See who they are.
So that’s what crossing the Farce Horizon looks like.
Here’s a local protestor bragging on Facebook about her new shoes, which she ‘acquired’ during the smashing, burning and general commotion. Note her chosen hashtags. #NoJustice. #GotMine.
Here’s a fellow protestor expressing his grief via the medium of big screen TV theft.
And nothing says “social justice” like carjacking the elderly and then running them over.
Ed Driscoll has more. The TV juxtapositions may amuse those with a rather grim sense of humour.
President Obama –
“We need to accept that this decision was the grand jury’s to make. There are Americans who agree with it and there are Americans who are deeply disappointed, even angry. It’s an understandable reaction.”
So, then : Permission to riot?
“Nothing proves that you live in abject terror of being killed by cops like torching a Little Caesars on your way to stealing a flat screen.”
https://twitter.com/stephenkruiser/status/537121509848780800
Incidentally, key documents from the jury proceedings, including forensic evidence, medical reports and interviews are available here.
So, then : Permission to riot?
Rather like his ill-advised If I had a son, he would look like Trayvon remarks.
So, then: Permission to riot?
Definitely! However, the die was cast long before Obama got up and did his community organizer schtick last night with riots on the other half of the split-screen. The local authorities, from Missouri Gov Jay Nixon to St Louis Mayor Francis Slay to the heads of the various Police enitities have been pandering to the Ferguson lynch mob non-stop since August. Anyone with an ounce of common sense could see where this was headed…and yet the authorities were completely unprepared for what went down last night.
Why it’s ok to ignore the grand jury’s decision.
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/11/24/3596621/in-powerful-video-legal-experts-explain-why-the-grand-jury-in-ferguson-was-set-up-for-failure/
Speaking of those sympathetic protestors in other cities, here’s a group of leading intellectuals photographed in Seattle. Apparently, whatever the grievance is on any given day, they must never miss an opportunity to blame the Jews.
Oh, and the left-leaning Salon, home of “fearless political journalism and cultural analysis,” tweets: “Last night’s ruling affirmed what we already knew: America is a white supremacist state.”
It’s like a tsunami of stupid.
Very much in keeping with the general tone that’s been coming out of this White House over the last six and a half years.
No doubt the race hustlers will be moving on to the next cause (probably the 12 year old with the replica gun) before the ashes in Ferguson have even cooled…
@Julia
And blithely stepping over the many, many, bodies of tragically killed black victims of black perpetrators.
Some human lives lost, apparently, aren’t worth mentioning.
Leftists are delighted in the flames of Ferguson (do note that Democrat Gov. Nixon mobilized the National Guard last week then refused to deploy them into Ferguson last night).
All those signs “Black lives count”
Sure they do, as fodder.
At last count, 25 local businesses, many of which were owned and run by black residents, have been torched, and more vandalised. As those businesses are local employers, I’m sure the economic future of Ferguson is looking brighter by the minute. After all, who wouldn’t want to invest there?
After all, who wouldn’t want to invest there?
You can never have enough Detroits.
Interesting to see if this goes up or down…
http://www.jammiewf.com/2014/shock-poll-lawless-president-falls-below-40-approval/
Oh geez, the Juicebox Mafia at Vox are whining that the Grand Jury had “too much evidence.”
I really want to slap someone.
I really want to slap someone.
Maybe you could vent your anger on the young Mr Friedfeld. He seems very forgiving.
Here in Salt Lake City, an unarmed white kid was killed by a non-white cop last August.
That cop’s not being prosecuted, either.
Oh look at the riots and fires. Look, look.
:: crickets ::
Apparently, we mustn’t “condemn the violence of citizens hungry for justice.” But fear not, Laurie and her chums are having a huge meeting about “what happens next.”
But fear not, Laurie and her chums are having a huge meeting about “what happens next.”
At the Harvard Law School…well that ought to solve it then.
No doubt, with their brilliant minds and collective social justice credentials, they’ll be able to put all the problems in Ferguson right. If anyone can do it – it must be Laurie and chums.
Perhaps they will be inspired by the Harvard Law School alumnus ( currently in the Oval Office ) who won the Nobel Peace Prize –
for doing absolutely nothing.
I love the way they think “what happens next” is in their hands.
But fear not, Laurie and her chums are having a huge meeting about “what happens next.”
Bizarrely, I almost want to be a fly on the wall at that particular meeting just to see how accurate (or otherwise) my predictions of the likely proceedings would turn out to be.
If only there was someone there with some kind of discrete handheld video recording device and a YouTube account …
@Nik
if only…
One assumes serious vetting takes place, and only recognizable cult members are permitted entrance.
Alas.
The political vandals and arsonists in the White House, and their mouthpieces in the MSM (including the likes of Ms Penny), have been agitating for this since day one.
They have now helped to achieve exactly what they wanted.
. . . . . Ehn!?!?!!!?
Do explain, instead of—as Penny does—reciting rote dogma.
In and of itself your statement certainly made no sense whatsoever . . . .
President Obama –
“We need to accept that this decision was the grand jury’s to make. There are Americans who agree with it and there are Americans who are deeply disappointed, even angry. It’s an understandable reaction.”
Ah yes, quite reasonable, that . . .
So, then: Permission to riot?
Definitely! However, the die was cast long before Obama got up and . . . . . .
And that didn’t make any sense either . . .
Certainly, let us look at rioters:
and also see . . .
And even more . . .
For the full article that the above are quoted from, there is of course the basic fact that truly stupid idiots have nothing to do with color or ancestry . . . . and truly stupid idiots will decide to randomly rampage, and destroy property just because, and go running out of Foot Locker and thiefin’ shoes . . .
Oh, and if for some reason you still have some surreal fantasy of attempting to get someone to go along with trying to blame Obama or anyone else but the idiots in the riots, that last link there refers to the England riots of the summer of 2011, and the exact same behavior and reasoning . . . . .
And after all, as RY does remind us, the easiest way to win the Nobel Peace Prize is indeed to provide the solution to all the previous problems just by getting elected to be the President Of The United States . . . . !
Oh, and if for some reason you still have some surreal fantasy of attempting to get someone to go along with trying to blame Obama or anyone else but the idiots in the riots
Obama could have defused the situation LONG before that verdict was handed down. He made sure he gave his mealy mouthed speech after the rioting had already started, when it couldn’t do any good.
It is true that some rioting happens quite without any prodding from Obama.
It is also true that Obama and his ilk fantasize about widespread race riots throughout the country. REVOLUTION, dontcha know, instrumental to bringing about Fundamental Transformation.
Frances Fox Piven admired the Watts riots in 1968 and prescribed more, for the Cause. She’s totes down with the cause to this day.
The fact that other riots occur that are utterly unconnected to anything Obama might do is utterly irrelevant. That doesn’t stop him and his comrades from stirring things up every time there’s a white cop vs black kid incident on which to impose Teh Narrative.
The riots were not the result of The People of Ferguson™ expressing spontaneous outrage; the riots were fomented and stoked and detonated by groups like the Black Panthers, OWS leftovers, and other professional rabble-rousers, who gathered in Ferguson like flies on manure, poised to bust stuff up and burn it down.
Word on the street is that Obama called took some of of the rabble-rousing leaders aside and advised them to stay the course.
Chaos favors the tyrant. What with releasing illegal alien criminals from the jails, inviting children up from CentAm, arbitrarily changing Obamacare, and issuing Imperial Immigration Commands — I gotta ask you: if he were trying to provoke chaos to his own benefit, what would he do different?
Ed Driscoll reminds us that the New York Times saw fit to publish Officer Wilson’s home address, just in case anyone needed to know where it is, while the left-leaning Slate published a photograph of the man’s home. Just to be helpful.
The word, I think, is doxing.
Two more, via Ace.
Carol Anderson, an associate professor of African American studies at Emory University, tells us that the cause of the Ferguson riots is actually ““white rage,” a term she uses six times.
While MSNBC’s Lisa Bloom wants us to know that “charging” is a “racially tinged and offensive word.”
But fear not, Laurie and her chums are having a huge meeting about “what happens next.”
What’s the betting that includes some OWS-style acting out?
What’s the betting that includes some OWS-style acting out?
Well, something that involves unrealism, hyperbole and immense self-flattery. That’s basically what she does wherever possible.
It’s worth noting that Laurie’s “huge meeting” and much of protesting is based on the assumption that those doing the meeting and protesting know better than a jury that spent months studying the evidence and then made a decision according to the law. To assume one knows better than the jury – based on less information – is both begging the question and an act of hubris that’s hard to top. And yet many of the people doing it, including so-called intellectuals, imagine themselves as righteous, even heroic.
From yesterday’s Channel 4 News, UK (extracts):
Jon Snow [in the studio]: Good evening! As if to underline America’s unfinished business with race, once again a town rises in protest over a decision not to proceed in a case involving a white a policeman and a black teenager.
Kylie Morris [In Ferguson, MO]: Once that decision was made that Darren Wilson should not be charged, there was not enough evidence for him to face a criminal trial […]
Not only is it a matter of racial politics here that this 18 year-old teenager, Michael Brown, an unarmed man, from a very well thought-of family in the black community was killed by Darren Wilson his body allowed to lay in the street for four and a half hours police say due to the necessity for a criminal investigation but obviously that really raised passions here [ … ] Ultimately, for Ferguson because here Michael Brown’s death is not only a matter of racial politics, It’s something that’s taken very personally.
Many in the crowd hoped it might be possible that the jury would send the white officer to trial [ … ]
The epicenter of violence directly outside Ferguson police station where officer Darren Wilson once worked. It is his version of events, combined with the physical evidence, which seems to have persuaded the grand jury he didn’t commit a crime despite shooting an unarmed teenager six times.
Photos released by prosecutors show minor bruising from the struggle he says which happened when Michael Brown lunged for his gun.
He described the face of the teenager in the terms ‘It was like a demon’
The 6’2″ police officer portrayed himself as a five year-old wrestling Hulk Hogan.
Incidentally, Morris neglects to mention that Brown was a 6′ 4″ 250 Ibs male nor that other 18 year-olds are thought to be old enough to be capable of serving in frontline combat units in war zones, so repeatedly calling him a teenager seems a tad disingenuous.
There is a reason why it takes at least two and often three or more large policeman to overpower a single individual without causing harm to anyone involved.
The implication that as an adult male of 6’2″ Wilson somehow should have been able to easily face down someone of considerable size and strength is completely implausible. The further implication that this was therefore a struggle between a man and a child is obscene.
As to the question of race … how would these events have been any different had Wilson been a black officer? From what I understand of the events (and admittedly I’ve not read everything there is to read on the matter), none whatsoever.
Nik,
As with the Occupy saga, it’s one of those events that reveals how unreliable – and often simply mendacious – the mainstream media is.
I was listening to Clive Stafford-Smith (British very leftwing anti-death penalty lawyer who worked in the US) talking about how he’d be defending someone and the jury had “lynch-mob ties”.
If things really are still as bad as he says then you can understand why these places become powder kegs.
But I think the crux is this: when you talk to a Guardian-reader about this they will will watch the video and STILL side with the people attacking others, looting and destroying businesses. And I’ve seen the videos – it was an orgy of violence, definitely not a protest.
Your leftwing-person-with-a-conscience will frown piously and say, “there are some very angry people there” – implying that historical (and perhaps present-day) racism somehow justify extreme brutality.
What galls is when the same person would turn on me for simply being a white male, denouncing me for my privilege. So just about getting by in life as a white man is unforgivable – beating the sh*t out of people as a US black is ok because they’re “angry”.
Its the most blatantly obvious double-standard. I don’t kwno how it could be more clear, but they still can’t see it.
Because the best way to protest the shooting of a young black man is to go out and shoot another young black man.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/11/25/man-shot-burned-amid-ferguson-violence/70096226/
And the way to prove that black men are unfairly suspected of being involved in crime is for hundreds of black men to get involved in crime.