So Much Misinformation
July 30, 2020
Long ago I learned that there is no such thing as objectivity. We all see the world through our own lens, colored by upbringing, religious beliefs, social status, geographic location, class, race, etc.
Mainstream media sees the world specifically through a clickbait/for-profit model: "If it bleeds it leads." Very often they will regurgitate press releases rather than incur the expense of doing their own research (see the reporters who show up to White House press conferences rather than reporting on the crimes committed and lies told daily by its occupant).
And, privileged people will rant about property damage, claiming acts of vandalism make the #BlackLivesMatter movement less sympathetic, because addressing systemic racism in this country might require them to give up some of that privilege. Just to reiterate, the brutality of police slaughtering BIPOC is deemed less worthy of horror because someone painted graffiti on a building or pulled down a statue honoring a white supremacist, slave-owning, traitor.
For the past 64 nights, Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) have gathered in Portland, Oregon to protest police brutality and all the Black people killed by Police. The Portland Police beat them with batons, shot them with "less-lethal" weapons, and attacked them with grenades and tear gas.
At the beginning of July, Fanta Fuhrer sent the Feds/Gestapo into Portland mostly as a campaign stunt, claiming he intended to "quell" the "riots".
I am unable to go downtown for various medical reasons, so I've been offering what support I can from a distance. But, that also allows me the advantage of watching the events from multiple points of view by following the independent reporters who are photographing, reporting, and recording (video and sound) the protests and the inappropriately violent Police/Gestapo response. (Some of these reporters are risking injury, arrest, and death to work for tips, so if you can, help them out by buying them a taco or a cup of coffee. None of the criticism in this post about "press" or "media" is directed at these brave, independent journalists.)
White folks who are horrified by graffiti but not dead Black bodies were also shocked to discover the Gestapo was occupying Portland, so many of them joined the protesters. Some of them are reporting what they see as if their experience is universal. But, because they're white, because they haven't been there from the end of May, and for various other reasons, their experience is not the same as anyone else's.
The words of one such protester are being shared by multiple people on social media. They tout him as a "medical doctor who has attended the Portland demonstrations since early July" and list numerous credentials that are supposed to make him more credible.
But so many of his "observations" are completely inaccurate, reported by someone who wasn't there when the protests actually began in May, who apparently doesn't live downtown, and who is most probably not BIPOC (unless he's white passing). I'm not going to repeat his words except to quote the things he got wrong (including his misspellings). But these are the many things he got wrong.
1) "if you’re four blocks away, you can’t tell anything has been happening": Unless the outrageously excessive amount of tear gas released every night has seeped into your building, or filled your tent, or you've walked close enough to the area to smell and be sickened by it. Unless you're being woken up and terrorized by grenades exploding (that can be heard from as far as 15 blocks away) in the wee hours (sometimes as late as 3 or 4 a.m.) of the morning. Unless you tried to get home when the police routinely shut down hundreds of blocks the downtown core and as a result got harassed and/or arrested (depending, of course, on the color of your skin). The Feds also chase people (spraying tear gas and detonating grenades) 10 or more blocks away from the federal building, so anyone claiming they're "just protecting" that building does not know what they're talking about.
"There is nothing going on outside of that region": Unless you count East Precinct (737 SE 106th Ave.), North Precinct (449 N.E. Emerson), and the Portland Police Association clubhouse (1868 N. Lombard Street), all of which are on the other side of the Willamette River for those unfamiliar with Portland addresses. Tear gas released in residential areas surrounding those last two made some homes inhabitable and a number of uninvolved people ill (for which the taxpayers will end up footing the bill when all the lawsuits are settled).
2) "More than one-half of the protesters are white." Well, now that the Feds/Gestapo are in town. But, before thousands of white folks showed up to join (and outnumber) them, many of the protesters (including the lovely Naked Athena) were Black, Indigenous, and non-black POC: Latinx, Asian, and mixed race folks. Those folks are still coming out every night, but the mainstream press pays attention to the white people (don't let them know Athena isn't white, they'll stop covering her). The press writes about white moms being attacked and ignores the BIPOC moms (including one pregnant Black woman who was punched in the stomach with a police baton) who are brutalized. Police beat and tear gassed BIPOC vets (including women), but nothing was said by mainstream media about veterans being attacked until the white Navy Vet had his arm broken by the Feds.
3) "ALL of the protesters are wearing masks" is true, but doesn't take into consideration that the police rip off protesters' masks so they can spray mace in their eyes or arrest them. And many of the protesters are forced to remove their masks when they're choking on tear gas. (Also, note, most of the cops do not wear masks unless they have gas masks on.)
4) "The police responds were unprovoked and brutal, but nothing like the paramilitary force." This guy makes this statement and then admits he "was not there when it was just the police." So, exactly what does he base his erroneous statement on? Everything the Gestapo is doing was done by the police for weeks before the Feds got here. And the police haven't stopped. Anytime the protesters stray more than a few blocks from the federal courthouse, especially if they go anywhere near the cops' private clubhouse on North Lombard, the police attack the protesters with the same brutality exhibited by the Feds.
5) "There have been no 'riots.'" A riot is defined as a tumultuous disturbance of the public peace by three or more persons assembled together and acting with a common intent. By that definition what the Portland Police and the Feds/Gestapo have been doing definitely qualify as "riots" and the protesters and other residents of Portland are the victims of these riots.
While the description: "The federal paramilitary force ... does not have any form of identification, do not wear name badges, and ... are heavily armed with flash-bang grenades, less-lethal bullets, pepper bullets, pepper spray, and tear gas. They pull goggles off of protesters and spray pepper spray into their eyes. They used a baton to beat a US Navy vet, broke his hand, and sprayed pepper spray in his eyes" is accurate, every word applies equally to the Portland Police who cover their name badges and identification numbers, are heavily armed, have pulled off people's masks to spray them with pepper spray and mace, and beaten numerous people of all genders with batons.
"A protester holding a sign up with both hands was shot in the head with a 'non-lethal' bullet and will likely have permanent brain damage." That protester was holding up a boom box, not a sign. (I know this is relatively minor, but it goes to the inaccuracy of the "reporting".) Also, it should be noted, that people have been shot in the head by Portland Police.
6) "I spent an hour talking to the medics. They say they are being targeted by the paramilitary personnel. They are often the first to be shot at and tear gassed. When they try to help an injured protester, the paramilitary personnel throw flash-bangs and tear gas at them (they carry gas masks). One of them was beaten, dragged away from the injured person they were treating and arrested. They are from OHSU"
The cops have done everything he describes as well. But, while some of the medics are students and/or staff at OHSU, they are at the protests independently -- offering first aid for broken bones, bullet wounds, and other injuries and washing tear gas and other chemical weapons from people's eyes -- and do not represent OHSU. In addition, a number of other organizations have medics offering aid to protesters and/or are providing medical supplies.
Two additional points that need to be noted about this: not only have the Police/Gestapo targeted the medics, they also are specifically targeting (and arresting) journalists and legal observers, despite court orders not to do so. In addition, some of the medical supplies have been destroyed by the Gestapo on more than one occasion.
If these troops were occupying a city in another country, as opposed to a city in the U.S, both destruction of medical supplies (and food) and the use of tear gas would be considered violations of international law.
7. "The Elk statue was taken down by the Police to 'protect' it": RACC (Regional Arts and Culture Council), not the police, took the Elk statue down (again, minor point, but supporting inaccuracy of entire report).
"The comparison to the early stages of Nazi Germany is NOT AN EXAGGERATION anymore."
In reality, anyone who is comparing what's going on to "early stages of Nazi Germany" Has.Not.Been.Paying.Attention. We are living in a fascist country. We have a dictator in the White House sending his own personal police forces out to attack cities with administrations that oppose him. The "early stages" went flying by while people were ranting about his tweets or complimenting Nancy Pelosi for wagging her finger and scolding him.
Fascism in the U.S. didn't begin with the Fanta Fuhrer. It started with corporations buying the government, increased police brutality and violence against BIPOC across the country, gerrymandering, voter disenfranchisement, and evangelical xtianists trying to rewrite the laws to their own specifications (which have no relationship to anything in the bible they love to thump but not read).
"Silence is complacency." Nope. Silence is much, much worse than complacency. If you want to use C words try criminally complicit collaboration.
Please do not share any post written by someone who is only offended when federal agents attack white people and doesn't seem to care about police slaughtering BIPOC.
Please do not share the words of a person who doesn't understand that white supremacy is one of "the founding principles of our nation" because if you don't understand that, you don't understand anything about what's going on.
Mainstream media sees the world specifically through a clickbait/for-profit model: "If it bleeds it leads." Very often they will regurgitate press releases rather than incur the expense of doing their own research (see the reporters who show up to White House press conferences rather than reporting on the crimes committed and lies told daily by its occupant).
And, privileged people will rant about property damage, claiming acts of vandalism make the #BlackLivesMatter movement less sympathetic, because addressing systemic racism in this country might require them to give up some of that privilege. Just to reiterate, the brutality of police slaughtering BIPOC is deemed less worthy of horror because someone painted graffiti on a building or pulled down a statue honoring a white supremacist, slave-owning, traitor.
For the past 64 nights, Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) have gathered in Portland, Oregon to protest police brutality and all the Black people killed by Police. The Portland Police beat them with batons, shot them with "less-lethal" weapons, and attacked them with grenades and tear gas.
At the beginning of July, Fanta Fuhrer sent the Feds/Gestapo into Portland mostly as a campaign stunt, claiming he intended to "quell" the "riots".
I am unable to go downtown for various medical reasons, so I've been offering what support I can from a distance. But, that also allows me the advantage of watching the events from multiple points of view by following the independent reporters who are photographing, reporting, and recording (video and sound) the protests and the inappropriately violent Police/Gestapo response. (Some of these reporters are risking injury, arrest, and death to work for tips, so if you can, help them out by buying them a taco or a cup of coffee. None of the criticism in this post about "press" or "media" is directed at these brave, independent journalists.)
White folks who are horrified by graffiti but not dead Black bodies were also shocked to discover the Gestapo was occupying Portland, so many of them joined the protesters. Some of them are reporting what they see as if their experience is universal. But, because they're white, because they haven't been there from the end of May, and for various other reasons, their experience is not the same as anyone else's.
The words of one such protester are being shared by multiple people on social media. They tout him as a "medical doctor who has attended the Portland demonstrations since early July" and list numerous credentials that are supposed to make him more credible.
But so many of his "observations" are completely inaccurate, reported by someone who wasn't there when the protests actually began in May, who apparently doesn't live downtown, and who is most probably not BIPOC (unless he's white passing). I'm not going to repeat his words except to quote the things he got wrong (including his misspellings). But these are the many things he got wrong.
1) "if you’re four blocks away, you can’t tell anything has been happening": Unless the outrageously excessive amount of tear gas released every night has seeped into your building, or filled your tent, or you've walked close enough to the area to smell and be sickened by it. Unless you're being woken up and terrorized by grenades exploding (that can be heard from as far as 15 blocks away) in the wee hours (sometimes as late as 3 or 4 a.m.) of the morning. Unless you tried to get home when the police routinely shut down hundreds of blocks the downtown core and as a result got harassed and/or arrested (depending, of course, on the color of your skin). The Feds also chase people (spraying tear gas and detonating grenades) 10 or more blocks away from the federal building, so anyone claiming they're "just protecting" that building does not know what they're talking about.
"There is nothing going on outside of that region": Unless you count East Precinct (737 SE 106th Ave.), North Precinct (449 N.E. Emerson), and the Portland Police Association clubhouse (1868 N. Lombard Street), all of which are on the other side of the Willamette River for those unfamiliar with Portland addresses. Tear gas released in residential areas surrounding those last two made some homes inhabitable and a number of uninvolved people ill (for which the taxpayers will end up footing the bill when all the lawsuits are settled).
2) "More than one-half of the protesters are white." Well, now that the Feds/Gestapo are in town. But, before thousands of white folks showed up to join (and outnumber) them, many of the protesters (including the lovely Naked Athena) were Black, Indigenous, and non-black POC: Latinx, Asian, and mixed race folks. Those folks are still coming out every night, but the mainstream press pays attention to the white people (don't let them know Athena isn't white, they'll stop covering her). The press writes about white moms being attacked and ignores the BIPOC moms (including one pregnant Black woman who was punched in the stomach with a police baton) who are brutalized. Police beat and tear gassed BIPOC vets (including women), but nothing was said by mainstream media about veterans being attacked until the white Navy Vet had his arm broken by the Feds.
3) "ALL of the protesters are wearing masks" is true, but doesn't take into consideration that the police rip off protesters' masks so they can spray mace in their eyes or arrest them. And many of the protesters are forced to remove their masks when they're choking on tear gas. (Also, note, most of the cops do not wear masks unless they have gas masks on.)
4) "The police responds were unprovoked and brutal, but nothing like the paramilitary force." This guy makes this statement and then admits he "was not there when it was just the police." So, exactly what does he base his erroneous statement on? Everything the Gestapo is doing was done by the police for weeks before the Feds got here. And the police haven't stopped. Anytime the protesters stray more than a few blocks from the federal courthouse, especially if they go anywhere near the cops' private clubhouse on North Lombard, the police attack the protesters with the same brutality exhibited by the Feds.
5) "There have been no 'riots.'" A riot is defined as a tumultuous disturbance of the public peace by three or more persons assembled together and acting with a common intent. By that definition what the Portland Police and the Feds/Gestapo have been doing definitely qualify as "riots" and the protesters and other residents of Portland are the victims of these riots.
While the description: "The federal paramilitary force ... does not have any form of identification, do not wear name badges, and ... are heavily armed with flash-bang grenades, less-lethal bullets, pepper bullets, pepper spray, and tear gas. They pull goggles off of protesters and spray pepper spray into their eyes. They used a baton to beat a US Navy vet, broke his hand, and sprayed pepper spray in his eyes" is accurate, every word applies equally to the Portland Police who cover their name badges and identification numbers, are heavily armed, have pulled off people's masks to spray them with pepper spray and mace, and beaten numerous people of all genders with batons.
"A protester holding a sign up with both hands was shot in the head with a 'non-lethal' bullet and will likely have permanent brain damage." That protester was holding up a boom box, not a sign. (I know this is relatively minor, but it goes to the inaccuracy of the "reporting".) Also, it should be noted, that people have been shot in the head by Portland Police.
6) "I spent an hour talking to the medics. They say they are being targeted by the paramilitary personnel. They are often the first to be shot at and tear gassed. When they try to help an injured protester, the paramilitary personnel throw flash-bangs and tear gas at them (they carry gas masks). One of them was beaten, dragged away from the injured person they were treating and arrested. They are from OHSU"
The cops have done everything he describes as well. But, while some of the medics are students and/or staff at OHSU, they are at the protests independently -- offering first aid for broken bones, bullet wounds, and other injuries and washing tear gas and other chemical weapons from people's eyes -- and do not represent OHSU. In addition, a number of other organizations have medics offering aid to protesters and/or are providing medical supplies.
Two additional points that need to be noted about this: not only have the Police/Gestapo targeted the medics, they also are specifically targeting (and arresting) journalists and legal observers, despite court orders not to do so. In addition, some of the medical supplies have been destroyed by the Gestapo on more than one occasion.
If these troops were occupying a city in another country, as opposed to a city in the U.S, both destruction of medical supplies (and food) and the use of tear gas would be considered violations of international law.
7. "The Elk statue was taken down by the Police to 'protect' it": RACC (Regional Arts and Culture Council), not the police, took the Elk statue down (again, minor point, but supporting inaccuracy of entire report).
"The comparison to the early stages of Nazi Germany is NOT AN EXAGGERATION anymore."
In reality, anyone who is comparing what's going on to "early stages of Nazi Germany" Has.Not.Been.Paying.Attention. We are living in a fascist country. We have a dictator in the White House sending his own personal police forces out to attack cities with administrations that oppose him. The "early stages" went flying by while people were ranting about his tweets or complimenting Nancy Pelosi for wagging her finger and scolding him.
Fascism in the U.S. didn't begin with the Fanta Fuhrer. It started with corporations buying the government, increased police brutality and violence against BIPOC across the country, gerrymandering, voter disenfranchisement, and evangelical xtianists trying to rewrite the laws to their own specifications (which have no relationship to anything in the bible they love to thump but not read).
"Silence is complacency." Nope. Silence is much, much worse than complacency. If you want to use C words try criminally complicit collaboration.
Please do not share any post written by someone who is only offended when federal agents attack white people and doesn't seem to care about police slaughtering BIPOC.
Please do not share the words of a person who doesn't understand that white supremacy is one of "the founding principles of our nation" because if you don't understand that, you don't understand anything about what's going on.