Due to police officers Darren Wilson and Daniel Pantaleo not being indicted for the killings of two unarmed black men, Michael Brown and Eric Garner, there has been a nationwide protest against police brutality in recent weeks. Now, just days removed from the tragic killings of New York City police officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos by Ismaaiyl Brinsley, the GOP has made its opinion heard loud and clear on the matter: "It's the protesters' fault!"
That's right; the party of "freedom" has decried people of practicing their First Amendment rights through peaceful protests (for the most part) against police brutality and blamed them for the murders of two police officers, whose job it is to protect our lives, and with that, our freedoms.
Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani had this to say about the matter:
"We've had four months of propaganda, starting with the president, that everybody should hate the police. The protests are being embraced, the protests are being encouraged. The protest, even the ones that don't lead to violence, a lot of them lead to violence, all of them lead to a conclusion. The police are bad, the police are racist. That is completely wrong."
New York Representative Peter King added the following:
"It's really time for our national leaders, the president, it's time for the mayor of New York, and really for many in the media to stop the cop bashing, to stop this anti-police rhetoric."
Missouri Senator Roy Blunt also chimed in with this:
"Piling on to the police and the equipment that they're using, particularly when you really don't explain what's out there in a way that's helpful... You got to the police out there protecting the protesters and themselves and being constantly criticized for everything they're doing and now that may be from that constant criticism something may have gotten into this man's head. We have to wonder about was there anything going on in the national discussion that led to the deaths of those two officers."
The GOP chorus is off-key here on a number of levels. First off, they can't pretend that Ismaaiyl Brinsley was an upstanding, law-abiding citizen before these murders, and somehow, through the recent protests, went from Mister Rogers to Rambo Manson. Brinsley was 28-years-old and had already been arrested for the following crimes: Theft and robbery in Ohio, as well as robbery, shoplifting, carrying a concealed weapon, disorderly conduct, and obstruction of a police officer in Georgia. He'd also been arrested in Brooklyn, where his family resides. Not only that, but it's now believed that Brinsley had ties to a prison gang which has advocated violence against the police. So, with all of that history and baggage, it'd be utterly foolish to blame peaceful protesters for his continued string of violence.
Secondly, the GOP fails at their attempt of taking a college-level critical thinking course. The "false dilemma" is considered an informal fallacy for a reason - it lacks logic. It simply isn't logical to say, "You're either with the cops or you're against them!" That misses the broader picture. Protesters have been speaking out against police officers abusing their power, not of police officers in general. Speaking of generalities, protesters aren't saying all cops are "bad" or "racist," as many in the GOP are now saying. That, once again, would be illogical. Just because a handful of police officers may have been caught abusing power to the point of a person's ultimate demise, that doesn't mean all, or even 25% of police officers have done or ever would do such a thing.
Lastly, and most importantly, it all comes down to accountability and justice. This is not a pro-cops versus anti-cops debate, and people like Rudy Giuliani sound like 7-year-olds when they speak like that. Just as protesters feel the cops responsible for the killings of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and Tamir Rice should be held accountable for abusing their powers, we also feel that way about the killings of Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos.
As the Black Lives Matter organization said following the tragic killings of the two New York City police officers, "An eye for an eye is not our vision of justice. We know all too well the pain and the trauma that follows the senseless loss of our family members and loved ones."
All Lives Matter.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/21/ismaaiyl-brinsley-cop-killer_n_6362298.html
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/12/21/3606040/rudy-giuliani-2-nyc-cops-were-killed-because-obama-told-everyone-to-hate-the-police/
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/12/22/3606191/senator-claims-ferguson-protesters-criticism-of-police-led-to-the-nyc-cop-killing/
That's right; the party of "freedom" has decried people of practicing their First Amendment rights through peaceful protests (for the most part) against police brutality and blamed them for the murders of two police officers, whose job it is to protect our lives, and with that, our freedoms.
Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani had this to say about the matter:
"We've had four months of propaganda, starting with the president, that everybody should hate the police. The protests are being embraced, the protests are being encouraged. The protest, even the ones that don't lead to violence, a lot of them lead to violence, all of them lead to a conclusion. The police are bad, the police are racist. That is completely wrong."
New York Representative Peter King added the following:
"It's really time for our national leaders, the president, it's time for the mayor of New York, and really for many in the media to stop the cop bashing, to stop this anti-police rhetoric."
Missouri Senator Roy Blunt also chimed in with this:
"Piling on to the police and the equipment that they're using, particularly when you really don't explain what's out there in a way that's helpful... You got to the police out there protecting the protesters and themselves and being constantly criticized for everything they're doing and now that may be from that constant criticism something may have gotten into this man's head. We have to wonder about was there anything going on in the national discussion that led to the deaths of those two officers."
The GOP chorus is off-key here on a number of levels. First off, they can't pretend that Ismaaiyl Brinsley was an upstanding, law-abiding citizen before these murders, and somehow, through the recent protests, went from Mister Rogers to Rambo Manson. Brinsley was 28-years-old and had already been arrested for the following crimes: Theft and robbery in Ohio, as well as robbery, shoplifting, carrying a concealed weapon, disorderly conduct, and obstruction of a police officer in Georgia. He'd also been arrested in Brooklyn, where his family resides. Not only that, but it's now believed that Brinsley had ties to a prison gang which has advocated violence against the police. So, with all of that history and baggage, it'd be utterly foolish to blame peaceful protesters for his continued string of violence.
Secondly, the GOP fails at their attempt of taking a college-level critical thinking course. The "false dilemma" is considered an informal fallacy for a reason - it lacks logic. It simply isn't logical to say, "You're either with the cops or you're against them!" That misses the broader picture. Protesters have been speaking out against police officers abusing their power, not of police officers in general. Speaking of generalities, protesters aren't saying all cops are "bad" or "racist," as many in the GOP are now saying. That, once again, would be illogical. Just because a handful of police officers may have been caught abusing power to the point of a person's ultimate demise, that doesn't mean all, or even 25% of police officers have done or ever would do such a thing.
Lastly, and most importantly, it all comes down to accountability and justice. This is not a pro-cops versus anti-cops debate, and people like Rudy Giuliani sound like 7-year-olds when they speak like that. Just as protesters feel the cops responsible for the killings of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and Tamir Rice should be held accountable for abusing their powers, we also feel that way about the killings of Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos.
As the Black Lives Matter organization said following the tragic killings of the two New York City police officers, "An eye for an eye is not our vision of justice. We know all too well the pain and the trauma that follows the senseless loss of our family members and loved ones."
All Lives Matter.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/21/ismaaiyl-brinsley-cop-killer_n_6362298.html
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/12/21/3606040/rudy-giuliani-2-nyc-cops-were-killed-because-obama-told-everyone-to-hate-the-police/
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/12/22/3606191/senator-claims-ferguson-protesters-criticism-of-police-led-to-the-nyc-cop-killing/
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