# Ferguson, MO **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 12, 2014, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354 "2014-08-12T04:51:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 47
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2014, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/921 "2014-08-16T15:38:39Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > You seemed to be implicitly advocating shooting looters. I disagreed. Maybe you should respond to what I actually post. Not what you think I post. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2014, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/922 "2014-08-16T15:42:29Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > Maybe you should respond to what I actually post. Not what you think I post. In human language, many people use nuance and implications rather than direct statements. I attempted to use some insight and intuition to derive something you were hinting at, but it’s possible that I made a mistake. I am human, after all. I’m thankful that you’re such a generous soul that you can look past such imperfections, especially considering how close we are. Hugs and kisses. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2014, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/923 "2014-08-16T16:00:26Z")
In 2009 t[he Ferguson cops arrested an innocent man](http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/08/15/the-day-ferguson-cops-were-caught-in-a-bloody-lie.html), then beat him bloody and charged him with bleeding on their uniforms, and later committed perjury about it. All right, I’m calling it. The Ferguson cops are dirty. They need to be relieved of duty en masse and replaced by decent human beings. Some should be jailed. The Ferguson magistrate is either corrupt or grossly incompetent, probably both. And the people of Ferguson have every RIGHT to be angry at this disgusting excuse for law enforcement. ---
**Author:** ![Jay4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f1d935/32.png) [@Jay4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jay4)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2014, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/924 "2014-08-16T16:40:58Z")
> [@Sicks\_Ate](#): > > Of course; blow one’s head off, and the rest will say “Well shit guys, looks like they’re shooting looters and protesters. Let’s go home!” and magically the streets clear, and it’s just another normal Saturday in Ferguson. > > You’re a fuck. it worked during hurricane katrina didnt it? ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2014, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/925 "2014-08-16T17:02:59Z")
> [@Jay4](#): > > it worked during hurricane katrina didnt it? No. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2014, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/926 "2014-08-16T17:39:13Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > The quotes you posted are not in that link. They were. If you want to believe I made it all up, you are welcome to. After all, you do believe in wondrous and remarkable sets of circumstances. Or, you could simply believe that Fox changed the site. ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2014, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/927 "2014-08-16T17:46:18Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > They were. If you want to believe I made it all up, you are welcome to. After all, you do believe in wondrous and remarkable sets of circumstances. Or, you could simply believe that Fox changed the site. Why on the defensive? I said the quotes you posted were not in the link. No accusation of you making it all up. Just a statement of fact. Do you so often make up quotes that you are so sensitive? ---
**Author:** ![cutman74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f04885/32.png) [@cutman74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cutman74)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2014, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/928 "2014-08-16T17:51:30Z")
Just want to remind everyone that on previous nights, before the state boys took over, the riot gear and tear gas armed cops were not arresting violent protesters, they were filling the cells with ministers aldermen and reporters. You know, easy targets rather than the people throwing bricks and in one case trying to light a molotov cocktail. Many arrests occurred when people were going back to their vehicles or complying, albeit slowly, to the requests to vacate. ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2014, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/929 "2014-08-16T17:52:35Z")
Oh yes, that new guy in charge - Missouri Highway Patrol Capt. Ronald S. Johnson - he’s really helping out the looters: > **[Ferguson rioters threaten reporters](https://www.politico.com/story/2014/08/ferguson-reporters-media-110080?hp=f2)** > > Reporters trying to cover the renewed chaos face harassment and threats of violence. Police largely remained on the sidelines on Friday and into the dawn hours of Saturday morning as demonstrators descended on a number of businesses in Ferguson — pulling alcohol, lottery tickets, and merchandise from the vandalized stores. Reporters were repeatedly and forcefully told to move away, turn around, put down their cameras or simply to leave the area when trying to get close enough to film the scenes of destruction and theft. Most reporters on the scene were simply recording the events as they unfolded — making no effort to interfere or interview participants in the rioting. … The Washington Post’s Wesley Lowery reported on Twitter that one looter “just threatened to pull knife” on him and other reporter outside a liquor store that was being cleaned of inventory. … In one instance, a masked demonstrator headed towards a beauty salon turned to a reporter for the International Business Times and told her to put the camera down and turn around. She did. A crowd gathered near where local Fox 2 news reporter Elliott Davis and his news crew were set up — loudly and aggressively chanting “are you black?” over and over to the African-American reporter. When a Huffington Post reporter tried to approach them, she was also turned away. The experience of being aggressively confronted and sometimes threatened over photographing and video-recording the riots was common enough that most reporters on scene huddled in small groups far away from the actual theft, vandalism and rioting. ============================== Ahh more self-censorship by the press. And how wonderful that the police is not interfering with the looters. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2014, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/930 "2014-08-16T18:17:57Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > In 2009 t[he Ferguson cops arrested an innocent man](http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/08/15/the-day-ferguson-cops-were-caught-in-a-bloody-lie.html), then beat him bloody and charged him with bleeding on their uniforms, and later committed perjury about it. > > All right, I’m calling it. The Ferguson cops are dirty. They need to be relieved of duty en masse and replaced by decent human beings. Some should be jailed. The Ferguson magistrate is either corrupt or grossly incompetent, probably both. And the people of Ferguson have every RIGHT to be angry at this disgusting excuse for law enforcement. And what right do they have to loot and set fires? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2014, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/931 "2014-08-16T18:18:35Z")
We are all quite sure that things would have gone much better if you had been in charge. Oh, yes, no doubt. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2014, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/932 "2014-08-16T18:20:14Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > The Washington Post’s Wesley Lowery reported on Twitter that one looter “just threatened to pull knife” on him and other reporter outside a liquor store that was being cleaned of inventory. > … > In one instance, a masked demonstrator headed towards a beauty salon turned to a reporter for the International Business Times and told her to put the camera down and turn around. She did. > > A crowd gathered near where local Fox 2 news reporter Elliott Davis and his news crew were set up — loudly and aggressively chanting “are you black?” over and over to the African-American reporter. When a Huffington Post reporter tried to approach them, she was also turned away. > > The experience of being aggressively confronted and sometimes threatened over photographing and video-recording the riots was common enough that most reporters on scene huddled in small groups far away from the actual theft, vandalism and rioting. But let’s not forget - it’s the _police_ who are bad men for telling reporters to clear out of a McDonald’s in an unsafe area. They’re the _real_ threat to our pure and noble press corps. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2014, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/933 "2014-08-16T18:30:09Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > And what right do they have to loot and set fires? I do not recall postulating that they had any such right. I said they had a right to be angry. There are various ways of expressing anger, some more effective than others. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2014, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/934 "2014-08-16T18:31:15Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > But let’s not forget - it’s the _police_ who are bad men for telling reporters to clear out of a McDonald’s in an unsafe area. They’re the _real_ threat to our pure and noble press corps. Murders committed by police: 1 Murders committed by protesters: 0 Any questions? ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2014, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/935 "2014-08-16T18:39:50Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Murders committed by police: 1 > Murders committed by protesters: 0 > > Any questions? I was not aware that anyone had been charged with or convicted of murder in the death of Michael Brown, or of any official finding that his death constituted an unlawful killing with malice aforethought. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2014, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/936 "2014-08-16T19:07:14Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Murders committed by police: 1 > Murders committed by protesters: 0 > > Any questions? So, you’re saying that the officer saw Brown, debated whether of not Brown should be allowed to live, and thereafter decided to kill him? I wonder what the officer’s motive was? ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2014, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/937 "2014-08-16T19:15:13Z")
> [@Morgenstern](#): > > So, you’re saying that the officer saw Brown, debated whether of not Brown should be allowed to live, and thereafter decided to kill him? I wonder what the officer’s motive was? Who knows? He shot an unarmed man for no reason. That’s murder. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2014, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/938 "2014-08-16T19:22:27Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Who knows? He shot an unarmed man for no reason. That’s murder. I didn’t realize the FBI had already concluded its investigation and determined that the officer shot “for no reason”. Would you be so kind as to link us to the advance copy of their report that you’re basing this statement on? ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2014, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/939 "2014-08-16T19:32:46Z")
It was a warm day in September and I, a 30 year old grad student, took the subway to Ikea to get some furniture for our new apartment. We arranged to have the furniture delivered, and went to walk the mile or so back to the subway, each of us with a bug bag full of Ikea odds and ends. The route back was a bit tricky, and we got turned around and had to retrace our steps. The neighborhood felt a little sketchy-- nothing scary but we definitely had our guard up. We turned down an empty street bordered by an empty field. Then a car drove by us real slowly, circles the block, and rolls up besides us real slow like. A young guy yelled out the window in a menacing tone “Hey, you girls from around here?” I yelled “Yes” curtly and told my roommate to ignore him and keep walking Then he kept after us yelling “Hey, where do you live?” He was making some kind of gesture, and we kept up the pace, hoping to get to a more populated place before things got more dangerous. The driver got more aggressive, and eventually started saying he was police and we needed to come to his car. His car was unmarked and he was in street clothes, and I wasn’t intended to get one inch closer to him. Eventually we did talk to him, he was police, and he thought we were a pair of female burglars that had been operating in the neighborhood. He gave us a lecture about not ignoring the police (thanks jerk) and we went on our way. Anyway, that day I did not get shot. But one can’t help by think of how that would have played out if is been someone else. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2014, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/940 "2014-08-16T19:59:01Z")
And the protestors who lined up in front of stores to protect them? Nobody has anything to say about them? Too busy offering stern lectures about law and order to pay them any attention? Somebody ought to, but looks like its me. Not the best man for the job, but it calls for someone stupid enough to volunteer, so… Risked their lives armed only with moral courage. No guns, no armored personnel carriers, no Kevlar vests. Just courage, and maybe faith. Can’t speak much about that, not having much, all crowded out by doubt and reason. So, maybe that was it, but I wouldn’t know. What color were they, what race, what religion? What group of humans can lay claim to sharing their righteous courage? Where do we even get people like that? And how can we get more? Don’t seem to have any problem finding people willing to shoot other people, got that in abundance. Tell you one damned thing, for sure and for certain: the day we run out of them, we might as well start in digging holes . Because if love is gone, law and order ain’t gonna save us. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354.md?page=46) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354.md?page=48)