# Whose life matters? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 25, 2016, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-life-matters/769663 "2016-10-25T04:00:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2016, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-life-matters/769663/1 "2016-10-25T04:00:55Z")
The SNL sketch thread got me thinking about what people on the board think about the “Black lives matter” campaign. I remember several different late night shows sending people to Trump rallies, and trying to get people to say “Black lives matter,” and they’d always respond “All lives matter.” So what’s you response if someone says “Black lives matter,” and sticks a microphone in your face? ---
**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:** [October 25, 2016, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-life-matters/769663/2 "2016-10-25T04:05:23Z")
Nobody’s. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2016, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-life-matters/769663/3 "2016-10-25T04:26:19Z")
Yeah! black wives matter! ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2016, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-life-matters/769663/4 "2016-10-25T05:00:34Z")
All lives are of high importance. Including the fact that unarmed black people are being shot, Iraqis are dying in Mosul, Koreans are dying in Camp 14, and Filipinos are being killed extra-judicially in Duterte’s regime. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2016, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-life-matters/769663/5 "2016-10-25T05:45:51Z")
The term was coined in response to the feeling that nobody seemed to care when black people were killed. It’s “black lives matter (too)” not “black lives matter (only).” ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2016, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-life-matters/769663/6 "2016-10-25T07:20:19Z")
I’d say I understood what they were trying to convey and I support them. And while of course “all lives matter,” the reasons for their campaign being necessary, far trumps (argh!) anyone else attempting to circumvent their point. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2016, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-life-matters/769663/7 "2016-10-25T08:11:35Z")
Black people suffer the most from police killings. All lives matter of course, but the campaign is not denying that by saying BLM. On the other hand, I just read a local BLM guy’s proposal that police should kill zero people. No, fuck that, they should kill exactly as many people who try to kill them. That number will never, ever, be zero. Clearly exclusionary claims don’t make sense. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2016, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-life-matters/769663/8 "2016-10-25T08:24:55Z")
Extra lives matter, which is why you should always collect those dragon coins in Super Mario World. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2016, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-life-matters/769663/9 "2016-10-25T10:18:39Z")
> [@](#): > > So what’s you response if someone says “Black lives matter,” and sticks a microphone in your face? I’d say, “Yes, I agree our lives matter too. I hope one day this is something that doesn’t even have to be said.” ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2016, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-life-matters/769663/10 "2016-10-25T11:06:23Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > So what’s you response if someone says “Black lives matter,” and sticks a microphone in your face? I voted “of course they do”, but I’d actually say “what the hell makes you think that _ **I** _ think they don’t?” Same thing if someone said “blue lives matter” and stuck a mic in my face as if to “challenge” my beliefs. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2016, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-life-matters/769663/11 "2016-10-25T11:13:55Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > The term was coined in response to the feeling that nobody seemed to care when black people were killed. It’s “black lives matter (too)” not “black lives matter (only).” Exactly and I honestly believe that there are people on the right who are intentionally misunderstanding that point in order to pander to racists in the party. If you recall, they asked during one of the GOP primary debates, “do black lives matter, or do all lives matter?” In an intentional misrepresentation of the BLM movement. ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2016, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-life-matters/769663/12 "2016-10-25T11:14:08Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#): > > Extra lives matter, which is why you should always collect those dragon coins in Super Mario World. You win the internet for making me chuckle. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2016, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-life-matters/769663/13 "2016-10-25T12:32:29Z")
My issue with the response “All lives matter” as a response to “Black lives matter” is that, since it is a response, it carries an implicit invalidation of the statement “Black lives matter”. It’s as if there is a silent “No, you’re wrong” being stated. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2016, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-life-matters/769663/14 "2016-10-25T12:38:21Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > I voted “of course they do”, but I’d actually say “what the hell makes you think that _ **I** _ think they don’t?” Same thing if someone said “blue lives matter” and stuck a mic in my face as if to “challenge” my beliefs. > [@Icarus](#): > > My issue with the response “All lives matter” as a response to “Black lives matter” is that, since it is a response, it carries an implicit invalidation of the statement “Black lives matter”. It’s as if there is a silent “No, you’re wrong” being stated. I _somewhat_ agree with this, but to wax philosophical, communication is meant to convey information. If you come up to me, and tell me personally that “black lives matter”, it carries an implicit invalidation of my belief that they do. Because if I did already believe that, then no communication would be necessary. Now, not everyone who proclaims the phrase is directing it at me – some are directing it at police departments – but I am addressing the hypothetical in the OP. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2016, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-life-matters/769663/15 "2016-10-25T12:43:19Z")
> [@Icarus](#): > > My issue with the response “All lives matter” as a response to “Black lives matter” is that, since it is a response, it carries an implicit invalidation of the statement “Black lives matter”. How can it be an implicit invalidation, if ‘black lives’ and ‘white lives’ are implicitly subsets of ‘all lives’? Isn’t it an implicit _validation,_ and then some? ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2016, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-life-matters/769663/16 "2016-10-25T12:43:36Z")
“…say it clear?” ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2016, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-life-matters/769663/17 "2016-10-25T12:50:58Z")
I’d agree, but only because I have been slowly educated/conditioned into understanding what BLM means. Of COURSE all lives matter… and as pointed out above the meaning of the slogan is “Black Lives Matter TOO.” So while responding “All Lives Matter” has been turned into the hallmark of a racist Trump supporter or blue-tinted cop apologist, a poor choice of phrasing for the original slogan has undercut its effectiveness by making its ambiguity a (false) touchstone for us/them, black/white, racist/enlightened. Black LIves Matter. Too. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2016, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-life-matters/769663/18 "2016-10-25T12:51:14Z")
All Lives Matter is more accurate. Because it includes black lives with Asian, white, Hispanic, and police lives. > [@](#): > > It’s as if there is a silent “No, you’re wrong” being stated. It \*is \*wrong. Black people in the US are shot by police disproportionately because black people in the US are disproportionately involved in violent crime. Black people get busted for drugs disproportionately because black people tend to live in areas which are high-crime, and therefore have a greater police presence. The rest of the complaints are mostly selective perception, and anecdotal. But that doesn’t fit on a T-shirt. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![edwards\_beard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7bcc69/32.png) [@edwards\_beard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/edwards_beard)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2016, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-life-matters/769663/19 "2016-10-25T13:02:49Z")
Black Sabbath Matters ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2016, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-life-matters/769663/20 "2016-10-25T13:03:00Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > Nobody’s. Yep. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-life-matters/769663.md?page=2)