The stakes in the debate could not be greater, and the divide between views of race and justice seem stark. What’s missing from the public conversation over police brutality, racial justice, law and order? Bill Whittle and Scott Ott explore how can we channel despair and anger into something that pulls America together before we’re utterly torn apart.
Civil dialogue is at the heart of the mission of our Members who fund these programs. You can join this group of liberty lovers at https://BillWhittle.com
40 replies on “America Divided: Can George Floyd Murder Protests Pull Us Together in Time?”
Candace Owens has an excellent video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTF-85H_E6o&feature=youtu.be
I think humility is good, but the tacking a knee bothers me. Hugs, empathy are good. And here is my thought. There is an old Cherokee story about an elder talking to his grandson about 2 wolves inside him fighting. One is evil, hateful and bad. The other is loving and joyful and good. All people have them. The grandson says “Which one will win?” The elder said ” The one I feed. ” The individual is responsible for the feeding, but the media is providing food for the bad one and telling them to feed it. Understand they are swimming in it. Show you care first, then and only then, point out the problems with the narrative.
I share your disquiet about coppers taking the knee. On reflection, I think it’s the uniform element that I have problem with. The whole point of uniform is to signal that you are not acting as an individual, but as an agent of the body that put you in those clothes. There is also the lack of clear divide between honest protestors, thugs and activists.
NY cops kneeling in uniform was uncomfortably like the City of New York kneeling to Marxist thugs.
To all the members out there who have been angered by this show and are thinking of leaving BW.com, at least sleep on it first. I totally understand why you might not like this episode, but please do not act in haste or anger.
Einstein said the definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over and expect a different result. The pattern of ‘black man dies due to police action followed by street protests turning to riots and looting within nanoseconds followed by the necessary reaction from the authorities followed by both sides retiring to their corners to nurse grievances until the next time’, is well established and a prime example of Einstein’s point.
This was easily the most courageous show I’ve seen the guys do. Courageous, thoughtful and thought provoking. Seeing the riots and the looting is painful enough for an Englishman who loves America watching from this side of the Pond, I can’t imagine how it feels for you guys.
My instinctive reaction is that the rioters should be met by two ranks, front kneeling, rear standing, five rounds rapid. And robust reaction by police and, if necessary, Nat Guard or Army is appropriate when things get out of hand, but in order to restore order, not to make us feel better.
Yes, the protests are hijacked by Antifa and other Marxists for their own purposes. Yes, the actual stats do not bear out the narrative of blacks being hunted by racist cops. Yes, that narrative is the product of the cultural Marxists. Yes, white guys are killed by bad policing as well without riots happening. Yes, most black men who are murdered are killed by other black men. Yes, the genuinely poor and degraded conditions in these areas are not the “legacy of slavery” but of decades of Democrat mismanagement. All of this is true and none of it matters.
You know these things are true, I know they are, Bill, Scott and Steve know they are, but we need to convince others. Bill is right, to do this we must first acknowledge the feelings, even if those feelings are largely the result of lies. This was an honest attempt to look at alternatives to simply repeating the reactions that have failed in the past. If you’ve ever been inspired, amused and uplifted by Bill, Scott and Steve then at least watch the show again before pushing that button.
I think “humility” here is a grave mistake. These protesters believe a lie. They are not being targeted. They are not being hunted. They are receiving the wages of their general criminality – death. What they’re protesting is being held accountable by the law – which is why they cry for defunding of police and the effective end of incarceration.
This is about enabling Black criminality, creating a space for it uninhibited by law, and nothing more.
Why must we play into their dark desires?
Bill, Scott – I’m trying hard to reconcile the points you are making here with so many of your prior calls for consistent application of the law.
I don’t want my police Or my National Guard taking a damn knee EVER. Period!
I live near Seattle, where the Police Department openly refuses to arrest robbery or vandalism of anything under $1000 of value. Is that “humility”? Is my wanting police to protect me from a robber that threatens me for one penny in my pocket “prideful”?
How about me wanting equal application of the law for Hillary for violating Classified Information law? Is that “prideful”?
Sure, context is important, but it seems to me that by compromising clear property laws and police responsibility you are invalidating them.
Out of respect, I re-listened carefully to the entire episode. Out of the hundreds I loved and shared, this one disappoints at the moment we need clarity most. But forget about me, I make my two teenage kids watch your shows as a precondition to watching their stuff.
So they came over tonight lamenting that friends relentlessly shame them into not only respecting, but promoting BLM – That they will be ostracized if they don’t completely excuse the rioting. Next, tonight I get an email from the principal at the religion school apologizing for white privilege.
So we sit down, still she’ll-shocked and aching for a little clarity and we get this episode.
Please reconsider and let’s call it a mulligan.
Kneeling to violence invites more violence. Cancelled my membership.
Sad to see any of the members leave. We all disagree on something but overall the whole reason we have become members is because we believe in the most of the same things. As an Floridian born Canadian, I believe in truth, liberty and the right of the people to have their say. Also to have the right to not fear the government. These three have been espousing that narrative since the age of PJTV. I have not agreed with all of their comments over the past 10 years I have followed them, However, I will always state (paraphrasing) I don’t agree with you or your opinion, but I will defend to the death your right to have and declare them. I don’t think they knelt in penitence, but in agreement and sympathy for the death of Mr. George.
Sad to see you go. Most members have the courage of their convictions to stay and argue their position and we are all better for it.
Hey friend!
while I read the first part of your sentence, I wanted to give you a thumb up
But canceling your membership over this?
Yes, I suppose Bill and Scott had a bad day (as I’m sure, we all do right now), and although I didn’t like this Video. I have entered this blog, only after I decided not to write how I felt about it.
these are good man, with there harts in the right place, and they made one video out of there despair – so what?!
we are all feeling down right now, but please take a moment, and think!
As far as I can tell, our mission (at this point), is to make sure that Donald Trump wins 2020, with also a majority in both houses, anything else will be a disaster!
OK you say, so why should I be a member?
I will vote In November, right, what else should I do?
If you put your thoughts into these blogs, you may spark an idea, and it will be put out in a video, this video will be seen by many many people, and you will make a difference!
Maybe it had already happened, and you don’t know about it…
Scott’s comment about looking a test case I think is spot on. It isn’t the actual victim but the advancement of the narative that is the focus of the people doing so.
I think the scenes of humility Bill mentioned, of cops kneeling marching hugging was their important way of saying we aren’t your enemy and you aren’t ours.
I just hope that the actual protesters can find and turn over the looters, rioters and thugs. If they are from the area, they’ll be known to their neighbors. If not, I suspect the whole movement will get tarred with that brush and make it harder for anything good to happen.
All I hear is an appeal to the authority of the Main Stream Media narrative.
Damn it Bill, you are so wrong on this. You have judged and convicted 4 men on a media narrative that has been force fed to you. Suspend your judgement for a moment and take a look at the whole incident that occurred there and the context in which it transpired. You are being deceived..
I’m continually bothered by so many filming a horror rather than stepping in to stop it like that Black Mirror episode in which a murderer’s sentence is to relive her victim’s torment over and over while bystanders film it.
Had one of the several people holding phones actually approached the policemen involved in Mr. Floyd’s predicament instead of just shouting, I wonder if they might have broken the spell and altered the outcome.
Like the women shouting “no looting” while actually attempting to prevent it, sacrificial participation evidences social proof–a powerful human tool and motivator.
OK, now tell me why they’re rioting in England and not practicing social distancing “anywhere”? How about the statistics from Chicago and other leftist run big cities that show the high black on black murder rates? The phrase, “Physician heal thyself” comes to mind!!
Peaceful protesters are exercising a constitutional right and should be protected and allowed to make their points. Floyd’s killers need to be punished!
Rioters, looters, and arsonists are dangerous criminals. They have some killed, some have put protesters and bystanders at risk. Shoot looters, rioters, and arsonists.
Thank you for the excellent viewpoint Bill. It gave a new perspective on the events.
Thanks as always for making some interesting points, gentlemen. And above all for making me think.
This is exactly what I needed to see today.
Which is why I’m back.
Thank you, gentlemen.
Welcome Back, Ms. Friday! Glad to see you around these parts again.
Thank you, friend. I genuinely missed you guys. <3
I second that. welcome back.
The late Rene Girard wrote about violence in the cycle of mimetic rivalry (mimesis) and the build-up of societies’ need for a scapegoat who is offered up as a sacrifice through violent means. The wuhan virus fears, the lock down, economic losses, the visible death of George Floyd, the crowds of protestors, Antifa, BLM, police and the media are just part of the cycle of violence which is played out and then lessens, but never completely goes away. A time of quiet may last for a while . This cycle of violence with the appearance of a scapegoat, his/her sacrificial death, and the eventual subsiding violence, a temporary calm has been played out by humankind over and over again. It is what it is. Throw in the ideology of the Left— and the political and social power struggles which we are in the midst of— and it is never ending.
I’m forever grateful that Christ found me and I found Him. He truly is the hope of this world. I like what Bill and Scott said. Imho There is no greater example of humility than that of Jesus Christ.
One of the most annoying episodes yet; and I am a big fan of Bill and Scott.
Assume that everything that they said is correct. The problem is that they are discussing this problem from the viewpoint of right/wrong; problem/solution. Many of the protesters are doing the same. The rioting thugs are not.
Most of the protesters see the death/murder of Floyd as a problem to be solved.
The thugs see it as an opportunity. as merely the latest in a long progression from at least Occupy Wall Street to the present; think Pivin and the theory that overloading the system with disruptions will cause the system to fail.
Bill and Scott talking rational sense with a view towards a solution totally avoids the threat to our system and way of life. At some point evil cannot be confronted by nice platitudes; it needs to be confronted by force and eliminated. Bill needs to ask Natasha about the Menshevicks and Bolshevicks. Lenin knew how to deal with well meaning people; today’s thugs do too.
i actually believe that the anger of the MSM yesterday of DJT standing in from of the church with a Bible is based on their disdain for those Americans who believe.
It’s not disdain any more, it’s fear.
Bill, you always make me proud and your wife is a gem. Humility is the one thing we definitely need more of in our society and I fail to practice it too often. There are so many things political that we argue about that in the end they don’t matter. My brother always refers to politicians as dancing bears and some are ultimately in it for themselves.
I have long held that the role of women in society, as far as their relationship with men, is to make men better men. Natasha just proved it.
For many, that is not the case…the women themselves are the problem…raised to be self-centered and domineering….I watched the demasculinization of men as a result of the 60s/70s femlib movement…
Maybe I should have added “proper” and/or “natural”.
What is being lost in the conversation is that one group of Americans, and only one, unless I am mistaken, feel that they are entitled to loot and burn to express their frustrations. What group? I think we can all figure that out. The revulsion of the act committed by a Minneapolis policeman was virtually universal. However, that fact was soon lost in the storm of protests which, as they always do, turned violent. When will the “protesters” learn that their protests are always taken over by groups like Black Lives Matter or ANTIFA? If instead of taking to the streets the protesters had gathered in churches or stadiums to “redress their grievances” the looters and violent actors would not have been able to infiltrate their midst. Large gatherings are the Devils Playground, and always will be. Statistics prove that white on black police violence is largely a fabrication. An examination of FBI gathered statistics proves that. However, that doesn’t fit the narrative of the left or mainstream media.
Your honesty is refreshing but not politically correct.
Well said Al.
I’m living in Ireland now and did see the video of the officer kneeling on George Floyd’s neck as by standers were screaming that he couldn’t breathe and to let him up. It was an act of barbarity but what was the most frightening was the lack of any human expression on the face of that police officer. We have a right to protest but the looting, murder and destruction of property has nothing to do with the death of this innocent man. These thugs are financed, encouraged by the likes of George Soros and those anarchists who want to destroy this country and make it into the dystopian hell like Venezuela and Cuba. It is so depressing but I think the American spirit will win out; I have to believe that or go mad.
You know that moment when you wake up in the morning and reality hasn’t really set in yet? Maybe you just awoke from a pleasant dream. So in the brief span of 5 seconds there is a calmness that all is okay…. then you become fully awake and realize that the nightmares you read about the day before are still there. The country you defended is still slipping, at an ever alarming speed, towards socialism and communism. Your told that what you have is because of this so called “white privilege.”
To go with your final thought, I’ll give you my favorite line (response) from the movie ‘Bridge on the River Kwai’ (1957) in which the doctor had just witnessed a horrendous event, bringing the movie to a close.
“Madness! Madness!”
That is how I have been feeling for over 10 years.
My late Irish, Belfast born, Grandmother worked hard all her life and she taught me the meaning of hard work. I applied what she taught me throughout my military career. White privilege? Right!
As for the events that have taken place recently, a civil society would let due the system work by bringing this for COP to trial. I worked that profession in the military and worked with some very fine people and some not so fine. I stayed away from them as much as I could. That former COP is not representative of all those in the profession.
With the protesters and the louting thugs it is not the reality of the situation it is getting even for imaginary slights. I suspect, almost to a person, it is all someone else’s fault thus they believe they have the unlimited right to protest for protest sake. It is mass emotional virtue signaling done endlessly without any bases but anger that reality does not give you what you wish simply because you wish it.
If it is truly justice that you seek, protest, make your point, then let the system do its work. If it doesn’t work, VOTE to change it using the built in processes. Forget about the fact that change is not instant because you demand it. YOU have to do the work to make change happen. This means YOU must first become the change you want.
Keep in mind, those whom you pretend have it easy, have their own challenges to overcome. Their way forward is not any more automatic and causeless than your way forward. Their challenges are simply different. You don’t live their lives. They don’t live your lives. You each must live the life you have.
Take responsibility for your own challenges, meet them, and work to overcome them. They will not be overcome by mindless mass protest, riots, louting, and burning. In fact, such things only make the situation worse.
Or as I like to summarize the main difference between the two sides:
Conservative: “I’m responsible.”
Leftist: “Someone else is responsible”
And when they are done virtue signaling, they go home to comfort….
This is one of many reasons why I love you, Bill! You are my #1 pundit, nay, philosopher and have been for years. Humbly accepting my humility is salve to my anger and frustration. And boy do we need more of that now than ever.
Thank you! <3