St Louis police murder scandal (PLUS: riots, idiotic press conferences, etc.)

[Foucaulf]

Regardless of whatever strong feelings I have on this subject, this recent turn of events in the shooting case is pretty silly. The video is circumstantial and may not even be admissible as evidence. What it really serves to do is give relief to an outside observer that the authorities are in the right, the debate over which is what's actually driving the protests.

Don't forget that the robbery video was released due to a FOI request. The police department likely wouldn't want to release it otherwise, since it's too weak to be evidence but strong enough to raise tensions.

Yes, with the video you may think it's more likely that Brown might have tried to run away from the cop. But your belief may be insufficient, and your confidence in your interpretation of events unjustified. Maybe think harder about this issue before blaming "the media" like a conspiratorial nut.

[Foucaulf]

Situations like these are bad times to throw around imprecise statements like "they're rioting". With the national guard called in, there will be attempts to compare what's going on to LA 1992; obviously the two are not on the same scale. Rioters exist, but the dynamics between them and the rest of Ferguson's protesters are different.

It may not be a good idea to call rioters "stupid" either; they have reasons to do what they do. If I had to make a wild guess, they justify their action as resistance against the police. I'm using this to explain why the threat of police action would incite more incidents.

Another thing about the Brown shooting events themselves: the narrative between the two parties seems to have converged up to the officer calling Brown out, Brown trying to leave and then being chased by the cop. Brown's family says Brown held his hands up; the officer says Brown charged toward him. And that op-ed suggests cops do see aggressive movement toward them as justification to shoot.