[FRIAM] Thoughts on the Floyd protests

[glen∈ℂ]

Well, that was part of Jochen's point, that fear is part of why the cops are so aggressive. Whether or not their rationalizations of being in fear for their own lives, while e.g. shooting someone in the back as they run away, are true or not, fear is a fundamental part of the story. It's written into our laws, policies, and procedures. But there's credible evidence that white officers (perhaps even white people, in general) are conditioned to be afraid of black men.

But I agree that guns are tangential. They are merely a material cause, not an efficient cause. But material causes are causes, despite what the gun nuts claim. If the guns are there, the guns kill people.

On 6/11/20 7:09 AM, Marcus Daniels wrote:
> I think the program posted by Eric is not available outside the United States.  But it shows several examples where that it is not a plausible explanation.
> 
> A friend of mine who is a gun enthusiast pointed out that police come after the fact and clean things up.  They don’t prevent crime.  That is his reason for being armed.
> My reason for not bothering is that crime is rare, esp. violent crime, even here in the United States.  It is fear that is high.  That was the point of my previous e-mail.