Comments on: Gangs in #Baltimore Did Not Band Together To Go After Cops https://gregladen.com/blog/2015/04/29/gangs-in-baltimore-did-not-band-together-to-go-after-cops/ Mon, 04 May 2015 20:01:10 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.6 By: George https://gregladen.com/blog/2015/04/29/gangs-in-baltimore-did-not-band-together-to-go-after-cops/#comment-477183 Mon, 04 May 2015 20:01:10 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=21094#comment-477183 In reply to Calli Arcale.

Calli, I agree and disagree with you. I think you have a valid point that the average or even maybe the majority of Americans (or all of Western culture) like to blame other people for their problems. I disagree though because that’s not how it ought to be; people should take personal responsibility for their actions and if they see a problem, they need to take actions to correct it.

]]> By: Calli Arcale https://gregladen.com/blog/2015/04/29/gangs-in-baltimore-did-not-band-together-to-go-after-cops/#comment-477182 Mon, 04 May 2015 18:49:26 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=21094#comment-477182 asdf — we all benefit, because if gangs are responsible for all of society’s ills, then we aren’t. Its’ really as simple as that — nobody likes to know that we’re responsible for our own problems, so if we can pin it on some group of people who we don’t personally know and whom we’re told are not very nice people anyway, then it feels a lot more comfortable. Especially to those who don’t live near the gangs, because then we can take comfort in knowing it’s not in *our* part of town. We’re okay here.

And no matter how smug any of us might be about it, we’ve all been guilty of this type of thinking at some point. It’s very human.

]]> By: Greg Laden https://gregladen.com/blog/2015/04/29/gangs-in-baltimore-did-not-band-together-to-go-after-cops/#comment-477181 Thu, 30 Apr 2015 15:49:48 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=21094#comment-477181 This “benefit” question is a common theme. It is very difficult to prove that someone benefits, or at least, many arguments one could reasonably make can’t be turned into solid courtroom provable assertions. Therefore no one benefits, and since no one benefits, it is not a real thing. Therefore racism/sexism/whatever does not really exist.

]]> By: Astrostevo https://gregladen.com/blog/2015/04/29/gangs-in-baltimore-did-not-band-together-to-go-after-cops/#comment-477180 Thu, 30 Apr 2015 14:40:07 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=21094#comment-477180 @3. asdf : As wellas the NRA as noted by George, add racists and politicians (esp. right wing ones) who like to use it as an excuse and as a way to whip up fear and hatred, the media who sell the stories and are complicit in telling the falsehoods and exaggerating it for financial gain and the big Multinationals and 1%’s who use it divide and conquer and distract from the real problems that they are causing and benefitting from.

]]> By: Donal https://gregladen.com/blog/2015/04/29/gangs-in-baltimore-did-not-band-together-to-go-after-cops/#comment-477179 Thu, 30 Apr 2015 14:23:27 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=21094#comment-477179 The Wire creator and Charm City resident David Simon talks about indiscriminate police arrests.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/david-simon-baltimore-freddie-gray–2

]]> By: George https://gregladen.com/blog/2015/04/29/gangs-in-baltimore-did-not-band-together-to-go-after-cops/#comment-477178 Thu, 30 Apr 2015 12:10:35 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=21094#comment-477178 The NRA benefits of course: fear drives up the sale of arms.

]]> By: asdf https://gregladen.com/blog/2015/04/29/gangs-in-baltimore-did-not-band-together-to-go-after-cops/#comment-477177 Wed, 29 Apr 2015 23:05:03 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=21094#comment-477177 Who benefits from the idea that gangs are just scary conspiracies that are responsible for all unfathomable evils?

]]> By: dean https://gregladen.com/blog/2015/04/29/gangs-in-baltimore-did-not-band-together-to-go-after-cops/#comment-477176 Wed, 29 Apr 2015 20:16:56 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=21094#comment-477176 It isn’t simply the media getting in on the lying :
http://gawker.com/the-nra-is-already-lying-about-whats-happening-in-balti-1700745070

]]> By: Donal https://gregladen.com/blog/2015/04/29/gangs-in-baltimore-did-not-band-together-to-go-after-cops/#comment-477175 Wed, 29 Apr 2015 19:59:16 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=21094#comment-477175 Even worse, the police went after the students:
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/cafe/the-role-the-police-played-in-sparking-the-baltimore-violence

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