Hacker News Reader

Comment by stjo | Hacker News Reader

I feel like I don't understand the essay fully. Take for example George Floyd's case - I'm under the impression that it falls under the category of a "clear cut" case, doesn't it? I'm not American, so maybe my assumption is simply incorrect. But if it is indeed "clear cut", then why did it get so much traction? Following the author's reasoning, it should've sizzled out quickly, without much discussion.

Is my recollection of the events wrong, or is there an error in the essay?

View on HN

The George Floyd case is the straw that broke the camel's back. The thing everybody was talking about was not the fact he was murdered – it was the rioting, the looters. The controversy. The conclusion of this comment was intended to be “so the article's not wrong, it just isn't covering every case” – but this actually turned out not to be the counterexample I thought it was.

I heard about his murder before the riots, yes. But it was just “oh, look, another guy murdered by the police in the US, now what's going on with that x86 operating system?”. It wasn't on the news until there were protests, and wasn't really international news (except BBC and the like) until there was rioting.

The thing that was controversial about George Floyd's death wasn't how he died. It was whether people should be out protesting during a pandemic.

When the government had forbidden every other form of public gathering for months, and suddenly seemed to make an exception for these protests, that was the wedge issue.

The Floyd case happened after months of people being locked in their homes, unable to lead active and healthy social lives. While not as bad as solitary confinement, 2020 has been a psychologically grueling year. Floyd's death was the spark that set off a powder keg.

Remember, too, that the immediate aftermath was truly widespread horror. Everyone agreed that it was terrible. My recollection is that is the protests against police in general grew harsher, other folks started to accentuate the fact that Floyd was not a perfect man. And then everyone lost control of their collective sanity.

The essay was written six years ago, and yeah, it doesn't work for explaining why the George Floyd case resulted in widespread protests.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com