Hacker News Reader

Comment by jtbayly | Hacker News Reader

> people watching American news and for instance adopting "all cops are bastards" attitude is just dumb in so many way

Now you know how many of us in the USA feel. Yet for some reason it seems you assume that it is correct in the US. Why? If the simple fact that this social phenomenon is happening here is what validates it, then why complain when it starts happening where you live? If, on the other hand, the we are not a paragon of virtue, perhaps consider that the news is causing just the same sort of inane, invalid response here as you are concerned about seeing where you live.

View on HN

It's not the same. There really IS footage of USA police shooting innocent black people. There exists no such footage in Switzerland. Swiss people protesting against Swiss police because of this footage from the USA makes no sense. US population protesting against US police because of this footage makes sense.

So Americans across this gigantic country should adopt the attitude that all cops are bastards?

If there are tons of shootings in all 50 states of "this gigantic country", to the score of 10x of that in another country, then perhaps...

Heck, in the US you're not even allowed to get out of your car when stopped by a cop lest you be shot. In Europe that's a total non issue...

That's a straw man argument.

I know the USA is a huge, diverse country with different problems in different areas. But it is a single country. And that single country is having a problem with police brutality against black people.

That doesn't mean all cops are bastards. It means some cops are racist bastards. And the whole of your gigantic country needs to accept that and do something about it.

No it’s not a straw man. It’s literally the specific complaint I was initially responding to in GP.

Yes, but it's a straw man argument.

USA police shoot more white people than black people. I'm not sure about the innocent numbers, but most people shot by the police of either color are not innocent.

You're argument doesn't show that police violence in the US is racist, just that it's violent.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com