# The King is dead. (Rodney King dead at 47) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 17, 2012, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-king-is-dead-rodney-king-dead-at-47/625434 "2012-06-17T16:27:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2012, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-king-is-dead-rodney-king-dead-at-47/625434/61 "2012-06-18T03:28:35Z")
Too bad pools don’t flush. ---
**Author:** ![Nunzio\_Tavulari](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Nunzio\_Tavulari](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nunzio_Tavulari)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2012, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-king-is-dead-rodney-king-dead-at-47/625434/62 "2012-06-18T03:29:20Z")
This promotes the stereotype that victims of beatings can’t swim. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2012, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-king-is-dead-rodney-king-dead-at-47/625434/63 "2012-06-18T04:03:08Z")
King was a deeply flawed guy - I don’t know of anyone who would deny that. But - at the height of the riots, he went on television and made a very public, very emotional call for calm. “Can’t we all get along?” By all accounts, the man was genuinely appalled by the violence, and did what he could to end it. That can’t have seemed the safest possible option; would have been easy enough to do nothing at all. I don’t think I’d have liked Rodney King. But along with all the wretched parts of his character, he did seem to care about acting decently, and he did some good work in that regard. He’s dead, and thus past caring, but I’ve a measure of respect for the man; he was a better person a week ago than he was twenty years ago, and a better person twenty years ago than anyone would have expected. Some people are shit; for all the genuinely shifty stuff King did, I would not call him that. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2012, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-king-is-dead-rodney-king-dead-at-47/625434/64 "2012-06-18T04:06:56Z")
Please stop quoting **ducati’s** entire post. Three times is enough. ---
**Author:** ![dnooman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/839c29/32.png) [@dnooman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dnooman)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2012, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-king-is-dead-rodney-king-dead-at-47/625434/65 "2012-06-18T04:13:06Z")
Rosa Parks made a statement, based on her actions, regarding civil rights. She became a civil rights icon, and for good reason. Rodney King was made into an icon based on what happened to him. The beatings he endured were savage, and were videotaped. Even for someone resisting arrest, I think the beatings were too much. The police trials and the subsequent riots were a result of a media frenzy. Riots only happen when people are motivated, and the media did that as best they could. Live coverage with helicopters, live news events, it spread like wildfire. Innocent people died during that, and there is no excuse for that. The only thing that died today was a scumbag felon that liked to do whatever the fuck he wanted, damn the circumstances. He was no Ghandi or Parks, or Theresa, he was a shitball criminal. What happened to him is another thread entirely. He was always a menace to society. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2012, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-king-is-dead-rodney-king-dead-at-47/625434/66 "2012-06-18T04:17:18Z")
Is there any independent corroboration that **ducati’s** lengthy post of King’s actions is accurate? I find pieces of it all over the Web, but haven’t spotted any “official” source. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2012, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-king-is-dead-rodney-king-dead-at-47/625434/67 "2012-06-18T04:23:55Z")
> [@dnooman](#): > > He was no Ghandi or Parks, or Theresa… I’m glad you cleared that up. That will certainly give pause to all the people in this thread who have been comparing him to those people. Oh, wait, nobody has been doing that. ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2012, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-king-is-dead-rodney-king-dead-at-47/625434/68 "2012-06-18T04:36:35Z")
I had the same feeling of disgust as **MeanOldLady** reading this thread. I think one of the measures of how civilized a society is, is how the least powerful, and indeed, the least… well-behaved?.. are treated. Despite his many transgressions I think it’s a callous, inhumane thing to deliver the parting shot “fuck him” or those variants. I believe in the power of repentance and forgiveness. Perhaps Rodney King had, or was in the process of making amends for his mistakes in the past. I don’t know, and it’s likely that none of us on this board know that, either. The early 1990s demonstrated to me in vivid detail that there are very different experiences for Black and White people in the criminal justice system, if I had been even slightly inclined to believe that justice is blind. In fact, **Mr. Excellent’s** point of how King, in his own way, made an appeal for peace. He didn’t have to do that, and I remember he was mocked in many quarters for doing so. However, a day after his appeal, the riots were essentially over. I’m not saying he ended the riots single handedly, but it likely had an impact. Upon reading his Wikipedia entry, it seems apparent that King had a lifelong struggle with chemical dependency, which had terrible consequences throughout his life. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2012, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-king-is-dead-rodney-king-dead-at-47/625434/69 "2012-06-18T04:51:41Z")
Well, the increasing availability of video cameras suggests to me that if it hadn’t been King, footage of some other whale-a-thon would have outraged the public and such. I’m not particularly sympathetic to King, but the LAPD needed a good chain-yank. ---
**Author:** ![dnooman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/839c29/32.png) [@dnooman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dnooman)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2012, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-king-is-dead-rodney-king-dead-at-47/625434/70 "2012-06-18T04:56:51Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > I’m glad you cleared that up. That will certainly give pause to all the people in this thread who have been comparing him to those people. > > Oh, wait, nobody has been doing that. They have not. Nor has anyone called him a martyr, but we need to see this as it is. A habitual criminal died today. Many habitual criminals died today, but this one gained public attention. Tell me how his death is different from any of the others? ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2012, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-king-is-dead-rodney-king-dead-at-47/625434/71 "2012-06-18T04:56:57Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Actually, he was savagely beaten by three to six police officers who were acting under the color of authority. Some of these were officers who engaged in rampant brutality as a routine component of their exercise of their duties. Rodney King was a run-of-the-mill drug addict, petty criminal, and lowlife. However, these officers were part of a governmental organization, one authorized by the state to use force in order to protect the populace, that instead used its power to brutalize hundreds or thousands of people and punish them extra-judicially. That makes them far, far worse than Rodney King. So if one’s reaction to news of King’s death is “fuck him, good riddance,” it should be far more extreme upon hearing of the deaths of Daryl Gates, Stacey Koon, and the like. King was an ordinary lowlife. The people who beat him and the superiors who oversaw their brutality were extra-ordinary scum. King did the entire country a favor in his role exposing them and ending their reign of terror. For that, we should thank him rather than curse him. That’s what I think. King was a nobody and a petty criminal, but the assault on him by the cops and the exposure of the evil that was within the LAPD and those in authority made up for whatever little evils he ever did. King needed to exist for the system to be cleaned up ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2012, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-king-is-dead-rodney-king-dead-at-47/625434/72 "2012-06-18T05:02:46Z")
> [@dnooman](#): > > They have not. Nor has anyone called him a martyr, but we need to see this as it is. You really are very good at setting people straight about arguments that they have never made. Kudos to you! ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2012, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-king-is-dead-rodney-king-dead-at-47/625434/73 "2012-06-18T05:05:07Z")
I’m a little surprised that his death has served as a catalyst for some much vitriol. No, King wasn’t a good person. So far as criminals go he wasn’t even a particularly bad one. I see no reason to cheer his death and I honestly hope he didn’t suffer very much. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2012, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-king-is-dead-rodney-king-dead-at-47/625434/74 "2012-06-18T05:07:51Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > That’s what I think. King was a nobody and a petty criminal, but the assault on him by the cops and the exposure of the evil that was within the LAPD and those in authority made up for whatever little evils he ever did. King needed to exist for the system to be cleaned up No he did not. Some random, most likely minority or down and out white person needed to cross the LAPD at the right time and place to get videod and cause a scandal in order to get it cleaned up. I’ll give King credit that once he started the shit storm (by being a shit head) he did have one moment of “doing the right thing” a short time later by his appeal to the public. The LAPD was probably a bunch of shit heads. But it wasn’t a requirement that a general low life criminal/fuckup was NEEDED to show them to be such. And even if it was, the fuckupedness of the LAPD doesn’t somehow absolve his fuckeupedness. If Tony Soprano hires a guy to burn a building and then realizes there are OMG orphans in there and then goes in to save them I ain’t give ole Tony any medals. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2012, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-king-is-dead-rodney-king-dead-at-47/625434/75 "2012-06-18T05:15:04Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > And even if it was, the fuckupedness of the LAPD doesn’t somehow absolve his fuckeupedness. Another person who’s _awesome_ at rebutting arguments that no-one has made. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2012, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-king-is-dead-rodney-king-dead-at-47/625434/76 "2012-06-18T05:20:24Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > Another person who’s _awesome_ at rebutting arguments that no-one has made. This from someone who posted this: "Hanging, drawing, and quartering was too good for this man! Put him in the brazen bull, i say. " Yeah people MADE that arguement too didnt they? Or did you mean _fabulous_? ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2012, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-king-is-dead-rodney-king-dead-at-47/625434/77 "2012-06-18T05:23:54Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > This from someone who posted this: > > "Hanging, drawing, and quartering was too good for this man! Put him in the brazen bull, i say. " I assume you’re joking. Mmmm. Perhaps not. Here, [happy to help](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/irony) ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2012, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-king-is-dead-rodney-king-dead-at-47/625434/78 "2012-06-18T05:30:45Z")
> [@Farmer\_Jane](#): > > He was quite a fuck up. I can’t believe he never killed anyone with his drunk-driving ways. How the hell did he still have a license?! Doesn’t CA have a three strikes law? ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2012, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-king-is-dead-rodney-king-dead-at-47/625434/79 "2012-06-18T05:32:18Z")
Its not as black and white as one would expect. ---
**Author:** ![dnooman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/839c29/32.png) [@dnooman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dnooman)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2012, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-king-is-dead-rodney-king-dead-at-47/625434/80 "2012-06-18T05:37:01Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > You really are very good at setting people straight about arguments that they have never made. > > Kudos to you! You’re equally good at ignoring pertinent questions, and snipping statements to meet your needs. Shame on you. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-king-is-dead-rodney-king-dead-at-47/625434.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-king-is-dead-rodney-king-dead-at-47/625434.md?page=5)