HOW TO PROTEST SUCCESSFULLY

A good portion of the normal, everyday people didn't get along with the police. They abused their authority and "shook down" people frequently - often without cause.  A lot of the laws weren't enforced even-handedly. Certain groups were targeted.  This had been going on for awhile. Because of this, it wasn't uncommon for people and police to get into physical altercations, and sometimes it ended very badly.

Through all of this, however, public opinion was always mixed.  There were a LOT of people very supportive of law enforcement and the government in general. They were very vocal and public in their support.  These folks were generally a bit more affluent.  Most of the larger business-owners were very pro-police. The community had gotten to a point where it was divided based on whether you supported the police and the laws they enforced or you were antagonized by them.  The latter group began vandalizing and destroying stores and businesses that were associated with the police.  Of course, this escalated everything.  Tensions were high most of the time.

One day, a group of these thugs were throwing rocks through the windows of a store they felt didn't deal fairly with their people and a neighbor realized it, and in attempt to defend the neighbor's store, shot one of the vandals.  It ended up being a kid, and he died.

A massive protest started.  The streets were filled with rowdy people destroying property and businesses, demanding justice for this kid.  Some were very violent.  Yeah, he had committed a crime, but he didn't deserve to die.  Stand-offs with police were common over the next couple of days.  One evening, a group of these demonstrators caught a cop by himself - he was doing security for a store.  Before long there were around 30 demonstrators pelting him with rocks or ice-balls (it was winter).  It reached the point where he was in fear for his safety and called for backup.  A group of police showed up and took defensive positions around him and the store, and like-wise the crowd grew in size and everything escalated until it was a full-on brawl.  They were beating each other with clubs and anything else available.  Then one cop shoots and this causes gunfire from both sides, multiple people were shot and two were killed, and of course they shot a black man first.  

The city was in a stand-off.  One side wanted the police to be charged - some even wanted the death penalty.  Others just wanted things returned to normal.  They were happy with things as they were, and their relationship with police was an important part of their successful and prosperous lives.  The cops were arrested, partly to appease the mob.  A trial ensued for the policemen involved in the shootings and all were acquitted in a jury trial, and actually a couple of the demonstrators ended up with felony charges for attacking the police.  Relations between the police and this section of the public just deteriorated further.  They began organizing and looked for opportunities to strike back against what they perceived was an oppressive and heavy-handed law enforcement. Feeling that the courts often provided no real justice and physical altercations didn't really change anything, they began focusing on destroying property.

One day, the big opportunity came.  A shipment of over half a million dollars worth of retail goods was arriving. This stuff was all destined for these elite store owners that had sided with the police.  So, they disguised themselves as ethnic minorities, busted in, stole all of the goods, and destroyed all of it in a very pubic display - signaling this would all keep happening if something didn't seriously change. They hoped this would get the store owners riled up too.

It didn't change.

So, this was the beginning of the American Revolution. In 1770, the police in America were British soldiers. While this is over-simplistic and there were other antagonizing factors, unjust police was the biggie - way more than taxes, even if that is the popular reason (because that is what we told the British).  Try to find something about taxes in the Bill of Rights.

About the only example of peaceful protest in the history of America that actually worked was women's suffrage.  We are the most violent and warlike people in modern history, and that is all we listen and pay attention to. Well...we also care about money. 

A CASE STUDY IN MEDIA BULLSHIT

On May 4, a 35 year old man named Sebastian Yellow was found dead in a park in Montezuma Co, Colorado. He tested positive for COVID-19. It appeared he had died from respiratory failure. His blood-alcohol level was also .55, which is far above the threshold that could bring about a coma or death. The attending physician ruled this as alcohol poisoning. Later, the state reclassified this death as COVID-related, as the individual was positive for the virus and had died from respiratory failure. This has caused the county coroner and government to cry foul and now the national media - as well as some INTERNATIONAL media - have picked this story up. Some state officials are now suggesting there should be CRIMINAL charges brought against whoever reclassified the cause of death.

Why is this single case important enough to make international, or even national news when a single autopsy result in a very rural county isn't more than local news? The answer is pretty simple: There have been coordinated efforts over the last month or so to completely discredit the COVID death counts - this narrative has been pushed by conservative media sources as well as social media, where you see silly memes on a daily basis joking about how things like smoking deaths have dropped due to the virus. A study was done last week suggesting that over 50% of these stories are being spread by bots on social media. And just like with anything else, you can always find a few doctors willing to say whatever, so there are numerous doctors quoted as saying the counts are exaggerated. Generally, however, there have been few clear examples of this happening - just broad statements. THIS one puts a simple, understandable story and a face to that narrative - which is why it now has legs. "See - we told you they were making up numbers...the COVID death count is bullshit."

There is more to this story than just death counts, however. This is VERY political. Montezuma County is in the SW of Colorado - at the "Four Corners". It is a very rural and conservative county with a population of around 25,000. It is a small "red" enclave in what has become a "blue" state. The last time a Democrat received more than 40% of the vote there for President was 1968. They are political orphans. Recently, Montezuma County has objected to the way the state is handling the virus and requested to count their COVID numbers differently than the rest of the state. This story is an attempt at throwing shit on the state government to accomplish this request. Other conservative media outlets like Fox affiliates and New York Post took the story national, realizing it provides a memorable anecdote to their recent narrative. Now the conservative British tabloid Daily Mail have given it international press, realizing the same.

It's important to consider that historically 25-30% of all autopsy results list an incorrect cause of death. This is not a COVID thing, this is a medical thing. Studies going back as far as 1983 produce similar results. I am 100% certain there are deaths erroneously attributed to COVID, and I am equally certain there have been COVID deaths that were missed. The point here is there will be some gray area. We aren't counting deaths from this virus any differently than we have other recent viruses. It won't be exact and expecting it will be is unreasonable.

In the real world, we have a dude who died of respiratory failure that was found postmortem. He tested positive for COVID and also tested with a really high blood-alcohol level. Either of these factors or the combination of both could have killed him. The coroner picked one, state officials picked another. In the conservative "news-sphere", this is an example of leftists inflating death counts to undermine America's economy and try to embarrass the "party of patriots" in the upcoming elections and here is an example of them doing just that.

This is how media works. All sources have some form of bias - always have - and there are biased news sources to validate any opinion that exists. The most effective forms of bias don't come from spreading outright lies, however, although that has certainly grown and has been proven to be impacting as well. People are capable of fact-checking if they want to. Its fairly simple to determine whether content is factually correct, although you wouldn't know that from your Facebook feed. The most effective bias is much more subtle and includes things like choosing what gets press. Agenda-setting.

So....when you see this story over the next few days and wonder why only conservative national news sources like Fox, NYPost, The Blaze and Daily Mail are carrying it, it isn't because "the liberal media doesn't want you to see this...". In actuality, the local CBS affiliate broke the story and the Denver Post (considered to be somewhat leftist) actually wrote the piece that all of the right-wing sources are circulating. The real story here is the only news sources that view this as "national" news are the ones that see it as an example to validate the narrative they've been selling for the past month.