Correction for the anonymous ask someone sent to @phaeton-flier:
This appears to be a mangling or misremembering of a different statement, or of a statement by a different author.
During the 2020 riots, rioters (or demonstrators, or protestors, whatever you want to call them), of multiple racial backgrounds, attacked STATUES on the basis of the race of the person the STATUES depicted.
This was fairly well-established, as we have photos of red paint thrown on statues of abolitionists and other such historical figures.
Statues are not people.
This was part of an overall vibes-based discourse regarding the morality of the riots.
There are several other statements this might be a mangling of, but it gets to part of why, unlike the New York Times, I did not want a "reckoning" - even a fairly cautious and level-headed statement about something so controversial can get wrecked by being misremembered.
Worse, because I tend to be fairly careful about my statements, "mitigatedchaos, a trustworthy source, said [version of statement with the most important noun deleted]," might make the problem worse than if it were attributed to a troll.
Listen to the language each of them uses and the angle from which they approach conflict. I love that Walz doesn’t diminish the pain felt or the gravity of why these protests needed to happen. Tim Walz is the kind of leader trump wishes he was. ❤️
He says whatever he needs to in the moment to get whatever he needs to in the moment. He has no compass.
Walz is obviously a man with a good and loving heart plus political savviness. trump should go away for the well-being of the world.
But at least for the moment cops are still welcome in restaurants.
What is the difference between shoplifting and looting?
Looting occurs when there is a riot, or some natural disaster. After Katrina in New Orleans, police were allowed to shoot to kill, even though some thieves carried away toilet paper, canned goods, and fresh water.
Shoplifting is more surreptitious. You try to hide what you have taken. Police won’t try to kill you, but they will take you to court if you are caught. Like looters, shoplifters steal for a number of reasons.
San Francisco and some other cities have tried a new form of theft. It looks like looting, but it’s called shoplifting. Police do not try to prevent it. Store owners’ only recourse is to close their stores and empty their shelves. No police department stands by to help them.
If this hybrid form of theft, with no police intervention, appears to be an outgrowth of the 2020 summer riots, you are correct. You might also guess, correctly, that current social sympathy lies with the thieves, not with store owners. We will have to see how far this pendulum swings, and how long the swing lasts.
