Bad Boys II

[Dill]

(05-31-2020, 12:58 PM)hollodero Wrote:

Finally, 5) implies America finds the murder of Floyd "ok", which literally no one does.

I consider it somewhat (not fully) similar to those Trump defenses/non-defenses. Focusing on the motives of those that are opposed, that is.

Let's think about the meaning of "ok" for a moment.

Some would give the police officers a thumbs up on their treatment of Floyd. Granted most Americans would not. 

But many Americans, including famously the president, found Kaepernick's kneeling NOT ok, and many many more found it inappropriate on a football field. That suggests that the phenomenon of police violence--the object of K's protest--was either invisible or unconcerning to them, less important than decorum at an entertainment venue.

Pence is a special target here. His memes are thus "pre-framed" by his response to Kaepernick long before the Minneapolis riots.

And even if they emphatically do not approve, a lot of Americans still don't see anything systemic about the callous knee on the guy's neck while bystanders are yelling at the police to let him breath. And if they don't see that, they are not going to support, much less demand, that this systemic problem be addressed.  In that sense, the police violence arguably IS ok, in the sense of ok enough not to motivate political action, even the minimal act of voting for candidates who might address the problem. 

And we are heading into territory worked over back in the 50s and 60s, where people were forced to decide which was worse--segregation or the protests/riots it generated.  The current police violence issue does not at all equal the violation of segregation, but the terms in which civil rights protests are advanced or resisted seem to retain the same form--side A granting that segregation was "of course" bad but accusing side B of precipitating "unnecessary" violence and side B accusing side A of not listening and valuing order above justice.  It's the latter point, especially, that the memes in question are making.