03-23-2024, 01:24 PM
(03-23-2024, 12:45 PM)hollodero Wrote: That might be understandable enough, call them fanatical, but the issue I have with it is that they are not fanatical about Democrats specifically. You, imho, can not count them as firmly in their side's camp as you have to put the Capitol stormers into Trump's camp. The BLM protesters, fanatic and violent or not, would not listen to any democrat as devoutly as all the Capitol folks would have listened to Trump. I'd even argue most of them merely see democrats as the lesser evil of the two alternatives around, that this is the whole basis of any real party affiliation. Which imho is why a BLM protest does not look like a democrat party event, unlike the Capitol storm that quite visibly was 100% in Trump's name.
They certainly aren't loyal followers in the same sense, but there aren't many (any?) GOP voters among them.
Quote:I can't go with "both sides suck", not that I want to disagree in principle, as the only viable answer, for one because in any comparison like that, it sure inherently matters to me if the equivalency is fair or who is actually worse. And when it comes to that, imho it's not that black and white, there's still different variations of grey. I most certainly don't call all democrats blameless, but the most influential liberal politicians did not endorse violence, most certainly the presidential candidate did not. While the other candidate, the one that dominates his party, "loves" the capitol rioters, calls them incredible patriots and whatnot. And as long as there's no important democrat (not just some isolated backbencher) calling a stone-throwing, car-burning BLM rioter something akin to that, I feel the comparison falls flat already. And that's not even considering the whole coup aspect.
There are other areas where they don't compare that aren't nearly as flattering. For one, sheer numbers, of both incidents and violence. The Capitol, as awful as it was, was one single event. The only death was a protestor. Contrast that with the multiple fatalities at BLM riots, coupled with hundreds of millions of dollars in property damage. The most common estimate I've seen is $2 billion. I also have to disagree with your characterization of only "back benchers" in the Dem party supporting them. Harris actively raised bail money for people arrested during the riots. There are entire compilations off prominent Dems failing to condemn the riots, and arguably encouraging them. Hell, the mayor of Seattle actively encouraged the creation of the CHAZ/CHOP area, calling it a "summer of love".
https://www.fox13seattle.com/news/chop-seattle-mayor-walks-back-summer-of-love-comment
Multiple murders were subsequently committed in that area, btw.
Quote:Oh sure, and I would agree that there's a lot of downplaying around that seems uncalled for, indeed on both sides. But that can not be the basis to declare democrats equally at fault for BLM riots as Trump is for the Capitol storm. That, to me, is just as much of an unreasonable simplification as claiming one side is totally spotless would be.
Equally at fault? No, I'd agree with you there. And, no, there isn't a direct comparison. But there doesn't need to be to acknowledge the role both parties played in these incidents. Nor does the inability to draw a direct comparison exonerate the Dems responsible, both by action and inaction, for what occurred in those riots. As I said, there is no moral high ground for the Dems to seize here. We both agree they should all be condemned, nor does one exculpate the other.
