Ferguson / Staten Island Decisions -- No Indictments

Re: Ferguson Decision -- No Indictment

It sounds like it's really rough to be white.

 

Re: Ferguson Decision -- No Indictment

What if you turn on your demon-face? Demon-face is a good way to get shot or at least have some holy water permanently disfigured.

 

Re: Ferguson Decision -- No Indictment

Vox has a nice chart summarizing what witnesses testified to before the grand jury.

When asked if Michael Brown put his hands up when Wilson fired on him, 16 eyewitnesses answered in the affirmative. Two said no, he did not raise his hands. Seven couldn't say.

http://www.vox.com/xpress/2014/11/26/7295595/eyewitnesses-ferguson-grand-jury

But yes, let's just go ahead hand take Wilson's word for it in its entirety. I'm sure all 16 were lying and Wilson and those other two are the only ones telling the truth. How dare those Rams players suggest such a thing.

 

Re: Ferguson Decision -- No Indictment

You really believe n$*$&*s, though?

 

Re: Ferguson Decision -- No Indictment

I don't believe a single one of the eyewitnesses. Not Wilson, not any of the civilians. Eyewitnesses are worth shit under the best of circumstances, let alone something as polarizing as this.

 

Re: Ferguson Decision -- No Indictment

There was a time when some folks around here were very, very skeptical as regards eyewitness accounts. Indeed, I recall one or two of them making very, very good arguments regarding the well-placed-ness of their skepticism.

 

Re: Ferguson Decision -- No Indictment

Even now, more than three months later, by far the most convincing and believable testimony in the entire case was that of Dorian Johnson.

As for Wilson's "testimony," I expect better from someone who was allowed to stay quiet for an entire month to get his story straight.

 

Re: Ferguson Decision -- No Indictment

I agree with you that people should be skeptical of eyewitness accounts, as some posters talked about earlier on this discussion. Look at how varied the ones from this incident are. However, it seems that people have decided that he must not have had his hands up by the way they are dismissing the Rams gesture.

 

Re: Ferguson Decision -- No Indictment

I would agree that eye witness testimony and memory is flawed. Listening to Serial is a great example of how people don't remember things they way they happened. I'm not sure of the logical consistency that suggests one can completely buy into Wilson's eyewitness testimony while entirely disregarding eyewitness testimony of others, tossing out the fact that Wilson has a clear motive (to clear his name) while suggesting the people in the neighborhood have a far more obvious motive that is possible, but wholly invented (get that racist cop).

 

Re: Ferguson Decision -- No Indictment

I don't. Look at the echo chamber he's insulated himself within. The demon-faced Hulk who reached into his waistband probably goes over *huge* with the people in his life.

 

Re: Ferguson Decision -- No Indictment

Your latest attempt to make a persona stick is fascinating. This one might have staying power.

 

Re: Ferguson Decision -- No Indictment

It's a Rashomon thing ... everyone's perceptions have been run, multiple times, through filters that were already there. So you don't have to buy Wilson's testimony AND dismiss the eyewitness accounts to believe the GJ's decision was appropriate.

On edit: Probably poorly worded. What I meant was that believing the GJ's decision to be appropriate does not mean that one has to BOTH buy Wilson's testimony AND ALSO dismiss the eyewitness accounts.