Update, yes there are snipers:

  • conditional_soup@lemm.ee
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    7 months ago

    We’re so different from those godless immoral Chinese communists, something like Tianenman Square would never happen here.

    Lol.

    Lmao, even.

      • conditional_soup@lemm.ee
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        7 months ago

        Uh, okay. I see what you’re playing at here, yeah, Tianenman Square happened, but that doesn’t mean that the US is then free and clear. We have a similar spirit of authoritarianism with a strong national myth about how it’s okay for us because we’re the “good guys” (spoiler alert).

        More to the point, we have a militarized police force that aggressively puts down any meaningful protest. Our police regularly kill, maim, and brutalize people for no other reason than to put them in their place. My point isn’t China good, my point is making fun of all the people who hand-wring about China and communism while we already live under a not-so-different dumbfuck authoritarianism ourselves.

        • stevedidwhat_infosec@infosec.pub
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          7 months ago

          I definitely agree, I’m all for ACAB. I was just making the express observation (prior to my comment being deleted by the owner) that, this is not one of those cases.

          If we aren’t fair, reasonable, and dead honest on these points in our protests, they won’t be taken seriously. And when protests aren’t take seriously things get dangerous, and I don’t want to see legitimate protest against the police state turn into damnation or terrorism charges, more than they already are.

          Thanks for being civil and having a conversation about this

      • FeeshyFish@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        Translation: Threats of violence are fine for a government to regularly make as long as no one has died.

        Not authoritarian at all

        • stevedidwhat_infosec@infosec.pub
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          7 months ago

          But they have these at football games and other major events including political events and so on too? Why is this any different, especially when considering it’s related to the Middle East and considering what happens w/ suicide bombers?

          These spotters are different from the police shootings in the Kent State incident, no?

          • JJROKCZ@lemmy.world
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            7 months ago

            So because the students are protesting about something happening in the Middle East, you jump straight to worrying about suicide bombers? Not all Arabs are ISIS my dude, your bias is showing

            • stevedidwhat_infosec@infosec.pub
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              7 months ago

              This has nothing to do with bias, and everything to do with prior incidents (9/11, namely… but also the '93 bombing, the 2009 fort hood shooting the 2013 Boston marthon bombing, the 2015 san bernardino attack and the 2016 orlando nightclub shooting)

              Further, I’m not super thrilled about you accusing me of being a racist because I’m concerned about a prevalent concern/non-zero likelihood risk or threat. Don’t assume maliciousness where ignorance may suffice. Flies. Vinegar. Honey.

      • conditional_soup@lemm.ee
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        7 months ago

        If your basis for ethical governance is splitting hairs about relative body count, stop, go back, you fucked up. But also: give them a minute. It’s the cops we’re talking about here. They might be a little slow, but they’ll get the job done eventually.

          • conditional_soup@lemm.ee
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            7 months ago

            Emphasis “relative”. The US govt and agents thereof (read: police) murder and brutalize often enough, and even get quite upset when people get upset over their doing it. That’s why I say it’s splitting hairs.

          • metaldream@sopuli.xyz
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            7 months ago

            Bro we can all tell you’re just looking for excuses to justify government violence when it suits you.

            You can pull the mask off now, we know what you are.

        • tocopherol@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          7 months ago

          Many police department don’t report the deaths of people due to their actions or in their custody to any sort of national database as well, so estimates are likely undercounting. Corruption is rampant in departments as well, there have been cases of people dying and being buried by police without informing the family or anyone else.

          So it’s likely much worse than we realize. Many murders are unsolved, there are many missing people cases also unsolved. In 2020, there were dozens of people reported missing that were involved in protests that were never found.

    • stevedidwhat_infosec@infosec.pub
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      7 months ago

      Let’s try this again without the Tiananmen Square Massacre copy pasta, at the explicit request of “seahorse” the Midwest social owner:

      The difference between the two is that there was no weapon here. You can’t even make out what’s in front of the dude in black but most everyone here took a Twitter post as fact.

      The Tiananmen Square massacre, on the other hand, did happen and did kill people. That’s the difference here.

      • conditional_soup@lemm.ee
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        7 months ago

        I responded to the comment with the copypasta. Anyway, the point isn’t China good, the point is making fun of all the people in the US that screech about Chinese authoritarianism like we haven’t been captured by our own stupid fucking brand of authoritarianism.

        • stevedidwhat_infosec@infosec.pub
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          7 months ago

          We can keep that chain here one sec [edited]

          I definitely agree, I’m all for ACAB. I was just making the express observation (prior to my comment being deleted by the owner) that, this is not one of those cases.

          If we aren’t fair, reasonable, and dead honest on these points in our protests, they won’t be taken seriously. And when protests aren’t take seriously things get dangerous, and I don’t want to see legitimate protest against the police state turn into damnation or terrorism charges, more than they already are.

          Thanks for being civil and having a conversation about this

      • Jordan_U
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        7 months ago

        “The difference between the two is that there was no weapon here.”

        • stevedidwhat_infosec@infosec.pub
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          7 months ago

          Source?

          Edit: downvoting someone for asking to provide source for your claim. Guess we’re cool with making stuff up. To those interested: look into how Russia was caught with their Facebook farms setup in Africa to sow disinformation ahead of the 2016 election season.

          I won’t feel bad for asking for legitimate source information.

          • whotookkarl@lemmy.world
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            7 months ago

            https://www.snopes.com/news/2024/04/26/snipers-college-protests-gaza/

            Nothing conclusive I can see yet from AP etc, but it is a bit suspicious the universities and police are not responding/stonewalling requests for information from journalists, if they had no snipers how hard would it be to say there were no snipers?

            Also a healthy skepticism isn’t afraid of questioning sources I wouldn’t apologize for it either, but it can also be a rhetorical tactic that sometimes is difficult to tell if it’s genuine or not. Not an excuse just an observation.

            • stevedidwhat_infosec@infosec.pub
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              7 months ago

              I appreciate your candor and civility, it’s much easier for us to talk and correct any miscommunications when we’re at the same level. Thank you.

              I totally agree, the whole thing screams PR/scrambling to quench any flames, rather than to just come forth with the raw, uncensored/stretched truth. We deserve to have that from our government at the very fucking least.

            • stevedidwhat_infosec@infosec.pub
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              7 months ago

              Agreed, but I still want to know what the source is.

              I’ve also come to learn about marksman which are basically cops setup at major events with lots of people to prevent suicide bombers

              Now that’s a double edged sword, especially because of, well all that the police have been doing since, well the beginning it would seem. I can’t trust a cop to do a routine traffic stop without shooting someone, I certainly would be concerned about one with a sniper at a high-stress/high movement event like this.

              I can definitely see this being real now, but I’m not sure if I agree with it or not - I agree that a terrorist attack at an event like this would be devastating and I wouldn’t want that to happen either, but I don’t trust that the police are being trained appropriately or being audited/actioned on appropriately.

              Ultimately my shitty initial tone and attitude were what bit me in the ass in this thread, despite just trying to get confirmation on the information from an appropriate source, so I’m just going to leave well enough alone now.

    • Harbinger01173430@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      To hell with your christofacist state. Worshipping a god of wrath like the abrahamic god is even worse than worshipping your own megalomaniac self