As someone who was - is - against "nazi punching," this has me fuming. Violence isn't the answer, and I still believe that.

People would argue that, while *real* nazis are indeed bad people, there's too much risk involved in playing vigilante.

The wrong people would get hurt. https://twitter.com/EternOwllie/status/1267039136155865100

One way or another, the wrong people would get hurt, and we were right to varying degrees and in varying ways.

I was called a "nazi sympathiser" and threatened by a verified twitter user. Admittedly, this was online, so nothing would have ever come from it.

But that was our point, that the wrong people would be branded a "nazi," then that branding would be used to justify violence against them.

Meanwhile, that one neo-nazi that was punched in the face did become a martyr for his group. He and his views became amplified and emboldened, then Charlottesville happened not long after, and the *wrong people* got hurt.

An innocent person got killed.

Would any of this have happened if we didn't collectively shoot a neo-nazi to fame/infamy with the "punch nazis" meme? I stand by the idea that it wouldn't have done, at least not to the same degree, and that guy would have languished in obscurity.

The rally would have had less interest, would have been much more obscure, and counter protesters wouldn't have gone there thinking they could larp as Batman.

The "punch nazis" meme acted as a free ad campaign for the rally. It's as simple as that.

Then an innocent person died.

I hope anyone reading sticks with me, I'm not just rehashing old shit for no reason. I promise.

Fast forward to 2020: a racist shit stain of a police officer suffocates a Black man to death out on the street, with multiple other officers standing by, watching. Not doing a damn thing to stop him.

The vast majority see this, and recognise it as a case of police brutality.

People are rightly furious, and demand change. Many gathering to protest peacefully. Some decide to riot, and fewer still decide to use this as an opportunity to steal things and vandalise private property.

You don't have to like or condone the latter...

...but maintaining some perspective would be good. The vast majority of people are peaceful. I'd even go as far as to say that the vast majority of any "looters" likely have no intention of harming anyone else.

(Arson is, admittedly, a different kettle of fish.)

Trump then tweets out about sending in the military, plus the line: "when the looting starts, shooting starts."

If you can't see how this is akin to the "punch nazis" meme, only a billion times worse because it's actively promoting lethality and murder, I don't know what to say.

People have taken this sentiment and ran with it, too. Calling rioters and looters scum who deserve to be shot and killed. People advocating the position, "shoot first, ask questions later" because the rioters ~might~ shoot to kill "first," so they have to beat them to the punch.

Sound familiar? Because it sounds fucking familiar to me, guys.

"We have to punch 'nazis' first, because they could become violent at any moment."

"We have to shoot and kill 'looters' first, before they have a chance to shoot and kill us."

The latter is objectively worse.

They're both bad. I've been through why the first quote is bad; that's why we took a trip down memory lane to begin with. It promotes violence, and as we have seen, anyone can be branded a nazi and targeted.

Fucking contrapoints has been called a nazi. Contrapoints, ffs.

Now, the very same thing is happening with terms like "rioters" and "looters." It's quite clear, people are using a very fringe group of bad actors to tar anyone and everyone who has a genuine grievance with the absolute state of the US police force, and with the US government.

That's not to mention the glaringly obvious fact that "shoot first" types are promoting a mindset that will only lead to a cyclical problem with violence and murder, if people actually saw it through.

"Shoot first, ask questions later" is an attempt to absolve people the responsibility of taking another person's life. That's all that is. If one shoots and kills others out of fear that they might have been armed, and might have killed them first...

...then it doesn't even matter if any of their targets are armed or not. People have already told me that they wouldn't stop to check, because that could potentially give the other an opening to kill them first. So the other person being armed or not is irrelevant to them.

The fear that the other could be armed is enough for them to justify shooting to kill people on the spot.

The "shoot first" types don't even stop long enough to consider that this logic could be used right back.

This is why guns are much more trouble than they're worth.

It doesn't take much for the paranoia to kick in, and for people to start arming up and readying themselves to shoot others at any moment, just on the off chance that someone might attack them first.

This is how violence escalates.

This is how innocent people are killed.

This is the mindset that often motivates police brutality. The fear that police feel for the very citizens they are supposed to protect. It is this fear and hate that leads police to unjustly attack people, because it's their lives over the lives of normal civilians.

It disgusts me to see people who were so against "nazi punching" for all of these very same reasons, suddenly start trying to justify police brutality and murder. To start justifying military intervention. To condone Trump's threat, and promote the "shoot first" mindset.

Don't for a second think that this means I condone riots. I don't.

I think they're counterintuitive. I think the risk of people getting hurt is too great.

It hasn't escaped me that Black business owners are some of the worst affected by the destruction.

It's also quite clear that there are plenty of peaceful protesters who are disappointed with the way things have turned out.

Which actually leads me to my next point of frustration. The conflation of various different groups of people into one.

The peaceful protesters are not rioters, and vice versa. Bad actors should not take away from the message of those who are peaceful, and who want to make real change.

I've also argued that not all police officers are bad, and have supported people who have said this.

I stand by this as someone who lives in the UK. Our police have problems, like all systems do. We have moments of police brutality, but they are an extremely rare occurrence by comparison.

I refuse to say that our police are all bad, just on the basis that the American police force have serious issues. Our system, and our people, are different.

With this said...

It hadn't escaped my notice too, that many of those who argue "not all police" are now arguing that because rioters are involved, their existence has invalidated the message of the peaceful protesters.

That's an insane standard for a very ideologically mixed group of people.

At least when people say "one bad apple spoils the bunch" in regards to police, they are talking about an organised system of people.

If that system allows the bad apples power and impunity, which it oft does, then yes. The bad apples have spoiled the bunch at that point, when badness is rewarded by that system, and goodness minimised.

Of course civilians, all with different beliefs and goals, cannot be held to this same standard of organisation. Recognising that there are multiple different ideological groups among them, all with different goals and ideas, is a must if you really want to repair this damage.

The goal of those who truly want the riots to end, should be to de-escalate the violence. To start repairing relations between angry, disillusioned citizens and the police.

One way to do that is to actually start changing the way the police force operates.

Not condone and double down on police brutality and militarisation. That is the opposite of what the people want, and will only cause them to feel more justified in fighting against you.

At this rate, it's going to become a never ending cycle of violence, hate, and hypocrisy.

Everyone is tired of the status quo. The bad people always getting away with doing bad things. That's why this is happening.

If the US government and police force showed that they were actually listening. Showed they actually care. Showed that they had a plan for how they could fix these shitty problems, people would settle down.

People aren't going to settle down if you threaten them with the fucking military. When you threaten to kill them. That's fucking ridiculous.

America is fucking ridiculous.