If This Is True - Belief is Beggared - Salt Lake Protests

Here in the UK, London is seeing sympathetic protests triggered by the death of George Floyd at the hands of police in Minnesota, and as I was reading about them, I came across the following article in the Daily Mail...

www.dailymail.co.uk... oola_feed_desktop_femail

...I have to say I read it with my mouth opened wide in astonishment, and it takes a lot for that to happen to me, but if it is true, I have to say that that level of utter stupidity hits my credulity like a punch from Mike Tyson in his most ferocious prime. What the hell are they putting in the water over there!

McCormick's actions were not only beyond stupid, but bordered on the suicidal. The guy could easily have been killed for his behaviour, behaviour which was driven by a warped and twisted mindset that from his perspective was right and proper...

First, I got beat up when I yelled “All Lives Matter”,' McCormick told KSL-TV on Saturday.

‘Then I pulled out weapons and I got beat up some more.

‘The cops grabbed me and my car got totalled...I lost everything, coming down here to try to protect [officers] with what weapons I had.’

McCormick added: ‘I back up the law enforcement.

However, how McCormick states it is not apparently true. The same article states that...

Video on social media shows Brandon McCormick climb out of his car at an intersection in the Utah capital with the weapon, which he then aimed at several protesters.

...meaning he got beat up when he pointed the bow at protesters, and not before. He gives his statements with a level of emotional surprise at what happened to him. To be honest, from the photographs, McCormick looks like a large, lumbering knuckle-dragging troglodyte who is absent of mid-brain and cortex regions in his head. So, let's clarify what he did...

If the article is true, this idiot apparently got out of his car with a bow and arrow while stopped at an intersection, due to an ongoing protest against police thuggery which resulted in a black man dying, and then proceeded to point the lethal weapon at said protesters. He then got set upon by the threatened protesters, and then, after surviving the melee of kicks and punches (which clearly did not knock any sense into him), he had the gall to take the stance that he was the victim in his statements.

What if he had released the arrow into the crowd of protesters and killed someone with it, but not only that, what if it was a black guy or woman he hit? Do you think he would have calmed things down? No, neither do I. In fact, he would have been lynched and killed, and inflamed the situation even more. Another white guy kills another black person the headlines would scream, whilst stirring the race war crucible. The only thing this utter clown was missing was the garb and hood of the Klu Klux Klan.

McCormick stated that he backs up law enforcement, and that he had specifically gone down there, with whatever weapons he had, to help protect said law enforcement. Right there, McCormick is guilty of intention to do harm if he perceives he has to do so. Just remember, this guy is short of an arrow or two for his quiver. He's not the brightest Robin Hood, nor is his mindset. He's just a faux Red Indian wanting to support the local sheriff against faux outlaws. Wyatt Earp might just be spinning in his grave about now.

It is not the business of ordinary people to take a weapon to a protest in aid of law enforcement. They have enough to contend with without a dickhead turning up like a pretend superhero. In the chaos of the protest law enforcement would not know his intentions, but they would know that he has a weapon and he is pointing it at people, they would have had to disarm him. McCormick wasn't wearing a sign that stated he was here to help the cops, nor was he wearing a spandex superhero uniform. He didn't have a signed note from his mental carer that he had been let out for his daily exercise. This prat could've sparked a very deadly riot! There is an absolute profundity behind his thinking and behaviour. Whatever you do, don't give this pillock a pitchfork!

a reply to: elysiumfire

What a complete bell end.

Is the USA approaching tipping point?

It certainly seems fractured like at no point seen since The American Civil War.

originally posted by: Freeborn
a reply to: elysiumfire

What a complete bell end.

Is the USA approaching tipping point?

It certainly seems fractured like at no point seen since The American Civil War.

Rome didn't fall in one day.

I doubt any other countries will let America do as it pleases abroad any longer giving the state of our affairs here.

a reply to: Freeborn

Got nothing on the mid- and late -sixties yet

a reply to: Freeborn

No actually it looked eactly like this in 2016. And then just about every year from 2011 through election 2016 under Obama. You take a worst case scenario and plaster it on tv, kind of like the mortality rates for annual respiratory illness, and you get everyone easily in a state of terror lamenting the end of times or praising the fall of the usa. Good news is, neither will come true.

a reply to: RadioRobert

I didn't live through the sixties - well I did for a few years but I can't recall anything of substance of them as I was just a small child - and from what I've learnt over the years I don't think it was quite as bad.
But I could easily be wrong; I'm speaking from the outside looking in.
If the USA has been this fractured before then I'm afraid it doesn't really reflect good on it and maybe there's something inherently wrong there?

A conversation for another time and place?

a reply to: elysiumfire

Maybe he's been watching too many 'Rambo' movies but this guy didn't learn his script properly.

Tw at!

On another note, it looks like it's getting well out of order over there in the US but if a change is needed.... maybe it's the only way, however, I do wonder when the army will begin shooting.

a reply to: worldstarcountry

I have no desire to see the 'fall of the United States', far from it.

I think the world would be a far worse place without the USA and the role it plays on the world stage.

What gets me is the mindset. I would hope that anyone possessed of their own mental faculties would not in any way think that it is right to do what McCormick did. He is entirely void of both social perspective and communal sensibility, prohibiting him from any understanding and cognisance of the bigger picture, and the inflaming of the situation by his actions. How can any adult not be aware of what consequences could have resulted from such actions?

I cannot for the life of me reconcile what he did in my mind. I can only think that he took umbrage at being inconveniently stopped by a protest at an intersection. There is no other reasoning that could account for what he did.

a reply to: elysiumfire

Stupidity and social privilege can look a lot alike.

Just look at all the folks here who think the National Guard is on “their” side.

CrazeeWorld777:

...it looks like it's getting well out of order over there in the US...

Yer' think?

...but if a change is needed...maybe it's the only way, however, I do wonder when the army will begin shooting.

I'm sure the equivalent of McCormick is in every country, but if the army starts shooting their own compatriots dead on the street, it changes the situation from one of a police racist issue, to one of nation-wide social discord. Will the demonstrators come back with weapons of their own to combat the troops?

We know that violence only achieves more violence, and more, a brooding and festering hate. If you seek a political and social change, put aside violence and use political and social methods that brings about a shutdown of society, so that politicians have to listen and act on the people's will. For this to happen, the protesters have to have resolve and be ready for the long-haul, and be utterly uncompromising in their stance. Peaceful, but powerful civil disobedience is the way to go.

To much john Wayne movies i bet.

a reply to: elysiumfire

As Joe said;

"Kick over the wall, cause governments to fall.
How can you refuse it?
Let fury have the hour, anger can be power
Do you know that you can use it"

Just not too sure it should be applicable in this instance.

a reply to: Freeborn

If one understands that for some of these folks in the streets, they feel that their Government is trying to kill them.

They feel like they have used peaceful methods long enough. Yet, for them, time-after-time, their people get murdered by the government. By cops.

There is no justice in many of their minds, no rule-of-law.

Only us and them.

Sound familiar?

a reply to: Gryphon66

I know that feeling mate, back in the 80's and early 90's it was as if the government was trying to supress any sort of dissention and they actively destroyed the way of life of many groups.

They are a little more subtle about how they go about things nowadays.

What a coquestain... I fearfully clicked on this thread.. terrified that I might see people posting and referring to this obvious victim of lead poisoning/inbreeding as a "Patriot".
Thank you all previous posters for restoring my faith in ATS.

originally posted by: Freeborn
a reply to: elysiumfire

What a complete bell end.

Is the USA approaching tipping point?

It certainly seems fractured like at no point seen since The American Civil War.

No, not really. Most people are watching all of this just as you are and muttering "What morons" whilst shaking their heads. There are over 328 million people here- what you are seeing on the news and online are just a tiny fraction of the population.

originally posted by: elysiumfire


I'm sure the equivalent of McCormick is in every country, but if the army starts shooting their own compatriots dead on the street, it changes the situation from one of a police racist issue, to one of nation-wide social discord. Will the demonstrators come back with weapons of their own to combat the troops?

This is the mark of facile, over-simplistic thinking that is helping to ignite and fuel these riots.
- Minneapolis is the exact same city where a Somali police officer shot and killed a white woman. "police racist issue"?
- Freddy Ferguson case; please research the racial makeup of the arresting officers. "police racist issue"?
- Eric Garner case: "police racist issue"?

The arrest was supervised by a female African-American NYPD sergeant, Kizzy Adonis, who did not intercede.

We know that violence only achieves more violence, and more, a brooding and festering hate. If you seek a political and social change, put aside violence and use political and social methods that brings about a shutdown of society, so that politicians have to listen and act on the people's will. For this to happen, the protesters have to have resolve and be ready for the long-haul, and be utterly uncompromising in their stance. Peaceful, but powerful civil disobedience is the way to go.

You keep referring to them as 'protestors'. Only a small fraction of the participants of these riots are actually, in any way, protesting anything. The officer responsible for Floyd's death has already been fired, arrested, and charged with murder. Any real protestors should have realized that action has been taken to satisfy their wishes, and de-escalate the bedlam going on. I'm sure some have done so, and I'm also sure the true protestors with half a brain make it a point to clear out of the streets when the knuckle draggers show up for the night shift. As for the mobs we're viewing inflict this damage, a large % of them are not protestors but Molotov-hurling radicals, who, by and large, are acting out pure malice and destroying millions of $$$ of property for the funz.

originally posted by: elysiumfire
What gets me is the mindset. I would hope that anyone possessed of their own mental faculties would not in any way think that it is right to do what McCormick did. He is entirely void of both social perspective and communal sensibility, prohibiting him from any understanding and cognisance of the bigger picture, and the inflaming of the situation by his actions. How can any adult not be aware of what consequences could have resulted from such actions?

I cannot for the life of me reconcile what he did in my mind. I can only think that he took umbrage at being inconveniently stopped by a protest at an intersection. There is no other reasoning that could account for what he did.

Ummm...There are two possible scenario’s...

1...the dude is a nut case..

2...the dude actually feared for his life as we’ve all seen vehicles surrounded and the people inside dragged out and curb stomped by the perennial riot perps...

BLM...and ANTIFA...are violent domestic terrorist organizations...and their presence is center in all these riots...and they’re doing their job by instigating...and egging on the herd...


On second thought...the dudes a loser poser...and the herd...is just the herd doing what herd’s do...play follow the leader...


Quite simple to understand really...





YouSir

a reply to: elysiumfire

If this is the guy on a clip that was posted here the other night, then yeah, the protesters got him, not the cops. I saw a clip posted on Twitter of an older dude who gets out of his car by a trailer with a bow and arrow. It looks like he might have tagged one with his bow and arrow, but then he gets swarmed by the others. He had a crew cut, mustache and tats. Not sure what he was thinking.