Comment by throwaway201103 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by throwaway201103 | Hacker News Reader

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throwaway201103

> They've proven to be more than happy to bait the mob when they think they can use it to consolidate their own power.

But both sides are doing it.

Kamala Harris, speaking on protests and rioting after the death of George Floyd: "They’re not going to stop. They’re not going to stop. This is a movement, I’m telling you. They’re not gonna stop. And everyone beware because they’re not gonna stop. They’re not gonna stop before Election Day and they’re not going to stop after Election Day. And everyone should take note of that. They’re not gonna let up and they should not."

I see a pretty big difference between protests against police violence and protests against an election result.

There’s also a huge difference between people standing in the street shouting that they don’t like you and breaking down the doors to a restricted federal building after saying they were going to kill you and/or shut down a civic proceeding.

There police protests included riots, arson, looting, and murders. Harris didn't condemn this until months later when specifically pressed on the point. Just as Trump has always condemned violence when specifically asked.

Quote mining is such a magical thing.

https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-factcheck-kamala-harris-l...

She was talking about BLM protests, whose goal was not violence:

> "I know there are protests still happening in major cities across the United States, I'm just not seeing the reporting on it that I had for the first few weeks," Colbert said.

> "That's right," Harris replied. "But they're not gonna stop. They're not gonna stop, and this is a movement, I'm telling you."

* https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2020/09/01/fac...

See also Biden on violence:

* https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2021/01/07/fac...

Meanwhile, the rioters at the US Capital:

> “This is not America,” a woman said to a small group, her voice shaking. She was crying, hysterical. “They’re shooting at us. They’re supposed to shoot BLM, but they’re shooting the patriots.”

* https://archive.is/tZVFs (paywall)

* https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/capitol-trump-ins...

> She was talking about BLM protests, whose goal was not violence:

Maybe that wasn't the goal, as it also wasn't the goal of most of the Trump protestors. But there was nevertheless plenty of violence.

Just seven months ago, dozens of Secret Service agents were hospitalized after being attacked by BLM protestors attempting to storm the White House.

https://www.newsmax.com/us/white-house-secret-service/2020/0...

Recent events have really, really opened my eyes as to how the media covers events that it supports versus events it does not support.

> Maybe that wasn't the goal, as it also wasn't the goal of most of the Trump protestors.

People were talking about storming Congress months ago:

> “Will you and several hundred more go with me to DC and fight our way into the Congress and arrest every Democrat who has participated in the coup?” Holland posted on Friday. “We may have to shoot and kill many of the Communist BLM and ANTIFA Democrat foot soldiers to accomplish this!!!”

* https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/11/11/cops-n11.html

> One of Lang Holland’s posts reflected Donald Trump’s baseless allegations that the presidential election he lost to Joe Biden was stolen, and said: “Death to all Marxist Democrats.”

> Holland, who led the police department in Marshall, Arkansas, also wrote “take no prisoners” and “leave no survivors”.

* https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/nov/09/local-arkans...

> In a popular thread referencing a Trump tweet promoting the debunked conspiracy theory of election fraud, one user asked, "what if Congress ignores the evidence?"

> "Storm the Capitol," was a popular reply.

> Five days later, on January 6, as pro-Trump militia proceeded to do exactly that, the mood on thedonald.win switched to jubilation and outright defiance of police, with thousands joining "watching party" message threads.

> "This is what Trump told us to do!" a top post in one of these threads read.

* https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2021-01-08/us-capitol-st...

Yes, no doubt some people were talking about it. Some people participating in BLM were talking about killing all the cops. Neither one of these is a representative view of most the protesters. Indeed in the Trump case, apparently some of the violence was protestors fighting protestors to stop them from getting into the Capitol.

The claim for 50 secret service agents being hospitalized comes from one unnamed source in the trump administration; and both fox news and newsmax have a strong right-leaning bias, so it's hard for me to believe it's true at all.

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