The post in question is full of strongly stated points, presented with minimal evidence, and in many cases irrelevant to the real argument being had. I would suspect that most people didn't respond because they recognized it as a waste of time. Not every argument is worthy of engagement.

For example:

> Floyd had high levels of drugs in his system, COVID-19, and was complaining about breathing in the car before there was a knee on him.

That makes it much more important not to use a chokehold.

> Chokeholds are also a very standard and typically non lethal form of getting a suspect under control.

This is relevant to whether Floyd's killing was an aberration; the protests were predicated on the assumption that it was not, and that police in general use unnecessary force.

> There’s no evidence of race playing a part in this incident (no evidence of motive)

As per https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/investigations/polic..., a higher proportion of unarmed black men are shot by police than unarmed white men. So whether or not THIS CASE was race-related, there is a racial aspect to the problem.

> or it even being an instance of police brutality (standard and typically safe procedures were used)

"Typically safe" is arguable; Floyd was not the first man killed by a chokehold in completely unnecessary circumstances, where there was no imminent need to subdue the person being arrested (see Eric Garner). But again, this is the problem. Pointing out that it's common looks like an argument against it, but it's really not.

> because of these complicating factors. The news media focus, social media virality, sustained legal protests, and sustained violent rioting have corrupted people’s ability to judge this situation rationally, to the point that people overestimate the number of unarmed black people killed by police by over 50x (https://www.lawenforcementtoday.com/poll-44-of-liberals-say-...)

This number is based on a database that documented cases where we know that police have killed someone, we know that person was black, and the police have said the person was unarmed. The police's judgement on what constitutes "unarmed" may not be the same as that of the people polled.

user:	veridies
created:	May 16, 2012
karma:	672