George Floyd and the emergent momentum of revolutionary masses

[zlemflolia]

16 hours ago, very honest said:

the cop was charged and people are chilling out. but thanks for trying to heighten unrest in my country, zeff. wtf man

where'd you find this shit you're amplifying?

what country do you live in again?

The cop was charged, you think that's enough?  One cop in one precinct charged with one event?  This cop was involved in multiple deaths over the course of his career, and on THIS one he gets charged just because it was publicized more?  You think it's solved?  What about the rest of the cops, what about the rest of the events?

My love for America is evidently greater than yours, because you can't see that its institutions need to be burnt to the fucking ground to protect the people of America, people who you don't empathize with and don't give a FUCK about

“The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions, that I wish it to be always kept alive.”

Thomas Jefferson, to Abigail Smith Adams, February 22, 1787

Shedding light on reality is not "amplifying" anything.  Go to these protests yourself and you will fucking see the police brutality!  You will see them assault peaceful protestors, don't listen to what mainstream media is telling you about these events because they will never televise everything that happens, because of both the impracticality, and their pathetic slavery to capital

[Candiru]

Y’all a bunch of centrist establishment Mensheviks but fear not, my reluctant brothers and sisters, your liberation awaits as well. Maybe spend a few cold winters in Siberia, North Dakota to get yo head right. 

[dingformung]

ooof

[Nebraska]

17 hours ago, very honest said:

the cop was charged and people are chilling out.

btw: seeing a CNN reporter arrested for covering the protests brought joy to some people's hearts, and i was curious whether the same treatment works with conservative news organizations given that both sides pretty much do the same important work.

 

[marf]

White people are afraid of Black people in America. That is the core problem. Black men specifically. Don't believe me drive to a back neighborhood in a large city. Look around for white people

[zlemflolia]

https://www.twitter.com/pgarapon/status/1266885414016688134

 

[sweepstakes]

7 minutes ago, marf said:

White people are afraid of Black people in America. That is the core problem. Black men specifically. Don't believe me drive to a back neighborhood in a large city. Look around for white people

Many Black men are afraid of white people (especially cops) too, except in that case there's plenty of empirical evidence that they should be concerned for their safety. Add in economic disparity, disproportionately negative media coverage of Black people, and a whole bunch of other systemic racism and you got a big old shitty feedback loop.

[may be rude]

3 hours ago, Nebraska said:

btw: seeing a CNN reporter arrested for covering the protests brought joy to some people's hearts, and i was curious whether the same treatment works with conservative news organizations given that both sides pretty much do the same important work.

 

i have a special loathing for fox news, though i acknowledge that's a generalization, and i will appreciate good coverage where it exists. i totally disapprove of violent protest, though. peaceful protest has its place and can be a great thing, but i think any ass acting a fool needs to be swiftly brought back in-line by those around him.

 

and, actually, i think that protesting in general is quite over-rated, in the modern age. these people could be online messaging and getting thousands of impressions on detailed, controlled, interactive, out-linking content. actually, if all these protesters were online formulating and sharing content, instead, odds are much of it would go viral, meaning millions of impressions of new, insightful, creative content. it would actually move the needle in terms of how informed people are, and how enlightened on some issues. instead they're walking around, setting the stage for agent provocateurs to come escalate the situation into a police state. 

[luke viia]

13 minutes ago, Zeffolia said:

https://www.twitter.com/pgarapon/status/1266885414016688134

 

holy fucking shit WTF

[Candiru]

Yeah, you can look forward to more videos, I'm sure. We just need a better approach to getting the things we want. Going out and provoking police won't end well no matter what your intent is. Use social media to get support to do what actually needs to be done. This whole time, people could have been using our incredible resources to give regular people some real political clout, but we've been easily distracted.

 

 

[auxien]

^lot of black people online not happy with that killer mike speech. i'm white as fuck so i ain't trying to speak for no one but me, but 'try to be polite don't burn down your community and vote' isn't bad advice in general of course, but i think maybe it's not speaking to the pain and rage a lot of people are feeling right now? 

also fuck you for making me post in a Zeff thread. these are the worst. 

[ignatius]

getting a lot of overlap w/the "How does the world view america" thread. 

i sense a merge coming. 

[zlemflolia]

18 minutes ago, very honest said:

i have a special loathing for fox news, though i acknowledge that's a generalization, and i will appreciate good coverage where it exists. i totally disapprove of violent protest, though. peaceful protest has its place and can be a great thing, but i think any ass acting a fool needs to be swiftly brought back in-line by those around him.

 

and, actually, i think that protesting in general is quite over-rated, in the modern age. these people could be online messaging and getting thousands of impressions on detailed, controlled, interactive, out-linking content. actually, if all these protesters were online formulating and sharing content, instead, odds are much of it would go viral, meaning millions of impressions of new, insightful, creative content. it would actually move the needle in terms of how informed people are, and how enlightened on some issues. instead they're walking around, setting the stage for agent provocateurs to come escalate the situation into a police state. 

"protestors should all go home and post on the capitalist controlled internet instead"

R E A C T I O N A R Y

[ignatius]

17 minutes ago, luke viia said:

holy fucking shit WTF

alternate angle

 

[may be rude]

6 minutes ago, Zeffolia said:

"protestors should all go home and post on the capitalist controlled internet instead"

R E A C T I O N A R Y

zeffo i'm still waiting for you to tell me where you get your info, what country you're from, and if you're coordinating with the other foreign entities stoking unrest in the states

[zlemflolia]

3 minutes ago, very honest said:

zeffo i'm still waiting for you to tell me where you get your info, what country you're from, and if you're coordinating with the other foreign entities stoking unrest in the states

"people who disagree with me are foreign agents stoking unrest in the states" lmao what the fuck? go to your nearest protest and see this shit for yourself, see it with your own fucking eyes what the cops are doing to peaceful protestors.  are you just not paying attention dude? is this all news to you?

every single avenue of social media is inundated with raw documentary footage of what is going on right now and you are unable to find this type of info for yourself?

[may be rude]

5 minutes ago, Zeffolia said:

10 minutes ago, very honest said:

zeffo i'm still waiting for you to tell me where you get your info, what country you're from, and if you're coordinating with the other foreign entities stoking unrest in the states

"people who disagree with me are foreign agents stoking unrest in the states" lmao what the fuck? go to your nearest protest and see this shit for yourself, see it with your own fucking eyes what the cops are doing to peaceful protestors.  are you just not paying attention dude? is this all news to you?

every single avenue of social media is inundated with raw documentary footage of what is going on right now and you are unable to find this type of info for yourself?

avoiding my questions...

nice strawman. i know racist police brutality is a real problem. that does not mean foreign entities aren't stoking unrest in the states. 

Quote

WASHINGTON — The Russian government has stepped up efforts to inflame racial tensions in the United States as part of its bid to influence November’s presidential election, including trying to incite violence by white supremacist groups and to stoke anger among African-Americans, according to seven American officials briefed on recent intelligence.

Russia’s lead intelligence agency, the S.V.R., has apparently gone beyond 2016 methods of interference, when operatives tried to stoke racial animosity by creating fake Black Lives Matter groups and spreading disinformation to depress black voter turnout. Now, Russia is also trying to influence white supremacist groups, the officials said; they gave few details, but one official said federal investigators are examining how at least one neo-Nazi organization with ties to Russia is funded.

Other Russian efforts, which American intelligence agencies have tracked, involve simply prodding white nationalists to more aggressively spread hate messages and amplifying their invective. Russian operatives are also trying to push black extremist groups toward violence, according to multiple officials, though they did not detail how.

Russia’s more public influence operations, like state-backed news organizations, have continued to push divisive racial narratives, including stories emphasizing allegations of police abuse in the United States and highlighting racism against African-Americans within the military.

And as social media companies more vigilantly monitor for foreign activity than they did in 2016, Russia has also adjusted its methods to evade detection. Rather than disseminate messages as widely as possible, as in 2016, Russian operatives are using private Facebook groups, posts on the online message board 4chan and closed chat rooms that are more difficult to monitor, according to intelligence officials.

Russia’s primary goal, according to several officials briefed on the intelligence who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive information, is to foster a sense of chaos in the United States, though its motivations are under debate and difficult to decipher in the absence of high-level intelligence sources inside Moscow.

The direct effect of its interference on presidential politics is less clear, though some American officials said that Russia believed that acts of violence could bolster President Trump’s re-election bid if he could argue that a response to such an episode demanded continuity and that he represented a law-and-order approach.

The F.B.I. and other intelligence agencies declined to comment on specific Russian activities.

“We see Russia is willing to conduct more brazen and disruptive influence operations because of how it perceives its conflict with the West,” David Porter, a top agent on the F.B.I.’s Foreign Influence Task Force, said last month at an election security conference in Washington.

He added, “To put it simply, in this space, Russia wants to watch us tear ourselves apart.”

Because Russia is trying to amplify the messaging of existing groups, its interference is difficult for American officials to combat given First Amendment protections for speech. The government does have the legal authority to stop hate speech that explicitly advocates violence, and social media companies continue to take down accounts linked to Russian intelligence or disinformation groups.

Attempts to exacerbate racial divisions are only one strand of Russia’s influence operations in 2020; Moscow’s intelligence agencies promote a variety of narratives and divisive issues. But perhaps no more difficult issue exists in the United States than racial justice and privilege, and officials expressed worry that amplifying divisions among races could do the most damage to the country’s social fabric.

The Russian intelligence services took note of the divisive nature of the 2017 white supremacist march in Charlottesville, Va., which led to the death of a counterprotester, and concluded that promoting hate groups was the most effective method of sowing discord in the United States, according to American intelligence reports described by the officials.

Some American officials believe that Russia is trying to undermine American democracy and the nation’s standing in the world by driving debate to the extremes.

“One of Russia’s goals is weakening institutions and the weaponization of race is a way they can do that,” said Laura Rosenberger, the director of the Alliance for Securing Democracy. “A divided America is a weaker America. When we are unable to solve our challenges together, Russia is more able to flex its power around the world.”

American officials are divided about whether Russia is provoking racial division to influence the presidential election. Some officials think the effort is separate from any Kremlin effort to favor Mr. Trump. But others argue that Russian intelligence officials believe their efforts could help turn out more of Mr. Trump’s core voters, though their understanding of American electoral politics is unclear.

American officials are also examining ties between Russian intelligence and some white supremacist groups, according to an intelligence official.

The F.B.I. is scrutinizing any ties between Russian intelligence or its proxies and Rinaldo Nazzaro, an American citizen who founded a neo-Nazi group, the Base, according to former American officials. He lives in St. Petersburg, Russia, and is married to a Russian national, according to former government officials. The Guardian first reported his identity.

Going by the aliases Norman Spear and Roman Wolf, Mr. Nazzaro has said publicly that he and members of his group put less emphasis on campaigns to influence the public and more on developing military and survival skills.

Mr. Nazzaro bought property in Washington State in December 2018, a transaction that has come to the attention of the F.B.I. as part of its investigation into the Base. A left-wing anti-fascist group has said the Base intended to set up a training camp on the land.

The F.B.I. arrested three Base members in January ahead of a pro-gun rights rally in Richmond, Va. Three others in Georgia with ties to the hate group and another in Wisconsin were also arrested as part of the bureau’s attempt to blunt its activities.

Russia or Russian oligarchs are already funding far-right groups in Europe, according to current and former officials. The Night Wolves motorcycle club has received support from Russians and has worked to sow chaos in Eastern Europe. The Russian Imperial Movement, another right-wing group with the implicit backing of Moscow, has sent fighters to eastern Ukraine, and other Russian organizations have offered weapons training to far-right groups in Europe.

The tactics date at least to the Cold War, when the Soviet Union tried to exacerbate racial tensions in the United States. “The most successful efforts in these kinds of interference activities are those that exploit real division,” Ms. Rosenberger said. “Race is certainly one in the United States.”

Independent researchers continue to identify social media accounts with Russian links. Race was among the top issues that such accounts tried to foster division over, said Young Mie Kim, a University of Wisconsin professor who studies political communication online. Others included nationalism, immigration, gun control and gay rights.

Ms. Kim tracked posts on Instagram last fall that used tactics similar to Russian operatives’ 2016 efforts and confirmed that more than two dozen were Russia-linked. Facebook, which owns Instagram, subsequently took them offline.

“Russia’s trolls pretended to be American people, including political groups and candidates,” Ms. Kim wrote in a post for the Brennan Center for Justice. “They tried to sow division by targeting both the left and right with posts to foment outrage, fear and hostility. Much of their activity seemed designed to discourage certain people from voting. And they focused on swing states.”

In addition to the social media posts, Russian-backed news organizations have also emphasized racially divisive themes, as have Russian government Twitter feeds, though it is only a small portion of their overall postings.

Russia Today, the television station controlled by the Kremlin, has fanned division on both sides. Last week, RT ran a story about a video of New York police arresting a black man that sparked outrage. The organization has also posted tweets aimed at stirring white animosity, publishing an article in January accusing The New York Times of hating white people and criticizing Hank Azaria for quitting as the voice of Apu on “The Simpsons” because of its stereotyping of South Asians.

 

[ambermonk]

What a god damn mess.

[zlemflolia]

14 minutes ago, very honest said:

avoiding my questions...

nice strawman. i know racist police brutality is a real problem. that does not mean foreign entities aren't stoking unrest in the states. 

 

ok so you think i'm a secret russian agent who has been infiltrating watmm for years to sew unrest here? get a life dude lmfao, im out

[sweepstakes]

16 hours ago, Soloman Tump said:

Before the shit REALLY hits the fan, please can you let my delivery from Crank Sturgeon through the wall, I wanna experiment with my new microphone and switch controller.

 

Thanks.

Yes, shipping gods, please bring my new 0-coast and 0-ctrl to my door in one piece.

[may be rude]

15 hours ago, Zeffolia said:

ok so you think i'm a secret russian agent who has been infiltrating watmm for years to sew unrest here? get a life dude lmfao, im out

russians were working for $1-2k USD/month at the IRA troll farm in saint petersburg as of a couple years ago, and i understand they're outsourcing a lot of that work to SE asia, now. hardly a "secret russian agent." another strawman, i don't think you're a secret russian agent, zeff. for all i know someone fed you lore about borking america and you think you're doing god's work.

i asked where you get your info, what country you're from, and if you're coordinating with others. seems like you should be able to answer those. did someone somewhere suggest to you to spread this messaging that you're posting here? telling americans to go out and fight the cops?

[cruising for burgers]

Does this mean covid 19 was a fad? 

[Nebraska]

Quote

George Floyd autopsy shows no signs of traumatic asphyxia or strangulation, attributes death to 'being restrained, his underlying health conditions, and any potential intoxicants in his system'

https://www.insider.com/george-floyd-non-responsive-before-officer-took-knee-off-neck-2020-5

hrm... 

[may be rude]

28 minutes ago, Tim_J said:

Does this mean covid 19 was a fad? 

no. it means the US is even more fucked. deaths are still at 1,000+/day. memorial day/reopenning bump is in the mail. and now there will be a spike from these protests, shortly after that. what i worry about is the fall and the election. we don't know what to expect from covid in the fall. maybe immunity will be up. or maybe it will be seeded everywhere and there will be a bad wave. trump and the gop are about as 1930s nazis as it gets. of course it's different. the national level gop are corrupt af and often hapless. they just want to keep their petty racket going. trump i think has been compromised by the russian mob for a while, it really takes no stretch of the imagination to think, and the indications are too numerous. i think he's indebted to them and knows they also have kompromat. he acted like he was trying to lose in 2016 and that's likely why. now he's like a cornered animal, gotta be worried about prosecution after leaving office. once he got in he's winking at putin like crazy, like "what's up. i have loans." seems like he's ready and willing to hose democracy.

 

26 minutes ago, Nebraska said:

https://www.insider.com/george-floyd-non-responsive-before-officer-took-knee-off-neck-2020-5

hrm... 

you can watch the long video, you can see the knee on the neck the whole time, you can see him die after saying he can't breath multiple times

at one point the cop tells him to get up, while he's pinned down

 

[TubularCorporation]

15 hours ago, d-a-m-o said:

 

Trilby In the Name Of