Michael Brown Shooting

[wiltshire builders]

I've been keeping one eye on this story as it unfolds and, predictably, escalates.
The press have been having a field day whipping the public and civil liberties groups up into a frenzy with horrendous results.
We've had statements from Brown's parents saying he was "a gentle giant" despite the fact that she kicked him out of the house and he had to live with his grandmother, statements that the police didn't carry out tests on the firearm and let the officer who fired the shots submit it himself as evidence which is against protocol.

It was only 2 years ago that we had similar scenes in London after the shooting of Mark Duggan.


Are the police to blame?
Are the black community to blame?
Is society to blame?

It raises so many questions that I wanted to see what others on here thought as I'm not going anywhere near the Twitter tinder box!

[WR6133]

My opinion not that it is worth anything

The guy shot was a criminal, I have no issue with that as a life choice but what happened to him is a consequence of the lifestyle he chose. If he was a choirboy he would never have been in that situation.

The copper may have been trigger happy but I really don't care if he was.

The black community as normal decided to use that to whip up unrest. They didn't give a toss about the incident it just boils down to political power and the attempt to grab it from the puppet masters encouraging the rioting and simple greed to loot by the scum of the planet from those enacting the rioting.

Certain minorities here and in the US do not want equality they want life handed to them on a plate and carte blanche to act however they choose. As a society we have allowed and excused (and even covered up) this behaviour as it gets progressively worse, we do so as people have an irrational fear of being branded "racist" at the slightest provocation.

[Nelly]

..and sadly i think there is a lot of the "someone will owe us" routine in here. I've been watching the parents on TV screaming for justice. But sadly deep inside of me, a little voice is saying "when reading justice, replace with compensation". Whilst it is sad that the lad was shot, he was approaching an armed police officer. When i've been in the states in the past i **** myself when one walked past me in the street! We all know that the police aren't afraid to use weapons in the states. So why any US citizen would threaten a cop is beyond me.
The compensation culture has a lot to answer for....

[redken1]

I'm not in the slightest bit surprised by the civil unrest in Ferguson which has followed the fatal shooting of a young black teenager. 18 year old Brown was suspected of stealing a packet of cigarettes which is hardly big time crime. Officer Wilson fired a total of 12 bullets hitting Brown with 8, all from the front. According to local sources racial tensions between the majority-black community and the majority-white city government and police has been running high for sometime. This sorry incident obviously lit the touchpaper. IMHO there can be no justification for firing twelve bullets at an unarmed suspect for alleged shoplifting irrespective of the colour of their skin.

[Trev]

As so many things American it is very difficult to begin to understand the mentality on both counts; firstly the firing of a live round let alone 12 against an unarmed person and then then looting being justified as racial unrest

[Mitch9128]

The police in Murica are not Judge Dredd, so dishing out justice on the spot is still very naughty, so whilst he may have some form, shooting him was unnecessary. Missouri is a majority African American state, so he wasn't a 'certain minority', let's also not forget they're all immigrants, bar the native American indians. 'The black community as normal', as normal? You mean the most persecuted community in a country they are majority in most states in? WR6133 your post is blatant racist, and pretty sickening, there i said it, if no-one else will.

[wiltshire builders]

The police in Murica are not Judge Dredd, so dishing out justice on the spot is still very naughty, so whilst he may have some form, shooting him was unnecessary. Missouri is a majority African American state, so he wasn't a 'certain minority', let's also not forget they're all immigrants, bar the native American indians. 'The black community as normal', as normal? You mean the most persecuted community in a country they are majority in most states in? WR6133 your post is blatant racist, and pretty sickening, there i said it, if no-one else will.

People of African decent make up 14% of the population, are 4 times more likely to be murdered than any other section of American society and in 93% of cases the murderer is also black.
These statistics are absolutely crazy but ignoring the problem isn't going to make it go away.
There are many social and economical reasons for it but the bottom line is these communities need to start helping themselves.
Yes there are bad elements in the police and to be honest if you're seeing what they see day in day out and also fearing for your own life it's easy to see why they become that way.
Personally I think they should have a media black out on cases like this or at least a less militant style of reporting.

[Swanny]

A media black out's no good, the government likes to spread it's propaganda and use incidents like this to bring in new laws.

[redken1]

'Media black out'? No. Responsible reporting? Yes. I'd prefer to make my own judgements based on all the information available to me.

[wiltshire builders]

'Media black out'? No. Responsible reporting? Yes. I'd prefer to make my own judgements based on all the information available to me.

Responsible reporting doesn't sell papers.
The government puts black outs on the media everyday. An example is the 3 firefighter strikes in as many months. Didn't hear about them? Exactly!
Our lives were at risk but we weren't told yet we're told about events that will cause explosive situations.
There needs to be tighter control of the media especially when it comes to potentially dangerous situations.

[Swanny]

Have a look at who owns the media
This shows who owns the American media http://www.whoownsthenews.com/
The news is reported on so that it suits their agendas, There is no such thing as free press these days.

[redken1]

How can national governments control the media in the age of the internet? I haven't bought a paper in over 5 years. So many sites out there reporting on global issues. I was well informed on the firefighters' dispute. As long as the reader is aware of the politics of the editorial it's not too difficult to sift through what is fact and what is propaganda.

[Swanny]

Why do you think they are trying to take control of the internet?



http://rense.com/1.imagesH/Whydowehavewars.jpg

[redken1]

You are right Swanny, but a very difficult task to control the internet which does not recognize international borders. The Genie is out of the bottle and it ain't going back. One more point - if a US police officer fired 12 shots to apprehend a youth for what was a petty crime, imagine what they might get up to if they were not held to account by the media. Albeit far from perfect we need a healthy media to act as our eyes and ears.

[Last Train]

Ok, all well and good.

We are all familiar with the grand scheme of control and manipulation, orchestration of the masses and

So why was this particular (sorry) tale splashed all over the place ?

[wiltshire builders]

The officer wasn't aware of the shoplifting until after he shot Brown.
He shot him because he tried to grab the officers side arm and after being fought off ran at him.

[Trev]

Of course it's hard to know exactly how you would react to a police officer pointing a gun at you until it happens but I'm fairly confident my response wouldn't be to try and grab his gun

[Mitch9128]

Police shootings in one month alone http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_killings_by_law_enforcement_officers_in_th e_United_States,_November_2014 out of control? Yes i think so, trigger happy cops in America, maybe a ban on guns would bring down these statistics, as the baddies wouldn't give the cops an excuse in most cases, however they probably kill you another way https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LSBpwmMnVM

[redken1]

Taken from transcripts of the Ferguson inquiry to clarify a couple of points.

Cigarillos: McCulloch indicated that Officer Wilson was aware of a report of a “strong-arm” robbery at a nearby corner shop when he spotted him and another man walking down the centre of a street and challenged them from his car and had connected them with that incident. Cigarillos had been stolen; Brown was carrying cigarillos. Police earlier said he had not connected the men with the robbery.

Hands up: St Louis County prosecutor Bob McCulloch said one of the issues that continued to generate conflicting testimony was whether Mr Brown had his hands up in surrender at any time while shots were being fired at him. Some witnesses said yes, some said no. 'Hands Up,' became the united slogan of protestors. "The description of how Mr Brown raised his hands is not consistent between witnesses," said McCulloch.

[Swanny]

I wonder why they've stopped talking about Ukraine ?
Massive build up of US forces there, they are pushing Russia too far

[Swanny]

I spoke too soon, the news has been full of talk about Russia today.

[Swanny]

Well if this is the Michael Brown the police murdered in the video it looks like the world's a better place without him in it


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGGmRBTppv0#t=58

[Nelly]

Shame that they didnt show that on the news. BASTARD!

[wiltshire builders]

Horrible to watch.