Having a Bad Day?: Get 'yer Hugs here!!

[Renoux she/her]

I'm just. So. Tired. And I'm about to go to a week-long summer camp that my church does, (which is great), but it means I'm staying up 'till like 1:00 in the morning, which is really late for me, cause I'm an early to bed, early to rise kind of person. So I'm going to come back from camp and be super tired, and then, lo' and behold, school is going to start, which is just what I need to make me less tired and grouchy. Because pre-Calculus makes everyone happy. Ugh. 

[Erunion he/him]

 

3 hours ago, Renoux said:

I'm just. So. Tired. And I'm about to go to a week-long summer camp that my church does, (which is great), but it means I'm staying up 'till like 1:00 in the morning, which is really late for me, cause I'm an early to bed, early to rise kind of person. So I'm going to come back from camp and be super tired, and then, lo' and behold, school is going to start, which is just what I need to make me less tired and grouchy. Because pre-Calculus makes everyone happy. Ugh. 

/hug

Get as much sleep as you can before you go, then be prepared to take midafternoon naps whenever possible!

[Briar King]

 Kenny Baker(R2D2) died today. 

[Erunion he/him]

49 minutes ago, Briar King said:

 Kenny Baker(R2D2) died today. 

I grew up on Star Wars. Literally watched the VHS's every day, until I wore them out. 

I think we all need a hug from this one. 

[Renoux she/her]

This didn't affect me personally, but there have been riots in Milwaukee, because of a shooting that happened there recently. I don't know the details, (I try to avoid reading violent news), but a gas station in that area was burned down. No one was killed, but the building was decimated. Praying for the people in Milwaukee who were affected by this! 

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

24 minutes ago, Renoux said:

This didn't affect me personally, but there have been riots in Milwaukee, because of a shooting that happened there recently. I don't know the details, (I try to avoid reading violent news), but a gas station in that area was burned down. No one was killed, but the building was decimated. Praying for the people in Milwaukee who were affected by this! 

From the CNN article:

Quote

Peaceful demonstrations Saturday on the city's north side over the death of 23-year-old Sylville K. Smith turned violent as the evening progressed, Mayor Tom Barrett said at a news conference Sunday. 

Protesters burned six businesses, including a gas station, and threw rocks at police, leaving four officers injured, seven police vehicles damaged and 17 people arrested.

Why?  If you're protesting violence, why in Harmony's name would you add more violence? 

[Renoux she/her]

38 minutes ago, TwiLyghtSansSparkles said:

From the CNN article:

Why?  If you're protesting violence, why in Harmony's name would you add more violence? 

I know. It seems counterintuitive. And the fact that property was destroyed just makes more people angry. It makes me sad that I was about to say "At least no one was killed." Things like this shouldn't happen at all, never mind no one being killed. The thing is, things like these are often both people who actually are rioting because of the person who was shot, (although, if I remember correctly, the person was shot by a police officer, because the person who was shot drew a gun on the police officer after running away from him), and then there are hateful people who just want to loot and burn, and take the opportunity when others are looting and burning as well. It's heartbreaking. 

[Orlion Blight he/him]

The counter intuitiveness is only due to the reframing of what they are protesting. It is not a protest against violence as an abstract principle, but violence against their community... An issue they feel has been continuing through decades and generations.

It is easy for us to condemn that violence as going against their cause...it's not our culture or community under consistent institutionalized attack. It's even easier when we ignore that violently opposing institutions we do not like is exactly how this country was founded.

Edited August 14, 2016 by Orlion Determined

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

2 minutes ago, Orlion Determined said:

The counter intuitiveness is only due to the reframing of what they are protesting. It is not a protest against violence as an abstract principle, but violence against their community... An issue they feel has been continuing through decades and generations.

It is easy for us to condemn that violence as going against their cause...it's not our culture or community under consistent institutionalized attack. It's even easier when we ignore that violently opposing institutions we do not like is exactly how this country was founded.

I'd say there's a pretty big difference between the American Revolution and a protest that wound up burning six businesses—whose owners, in all likelihood, had nothing to do with the shooting they were protesting—before all the details of the case came to light. 

[Orlion Blight he/him]

1 minute ago, TwiLyghtSansSparkles said:

I'd say there's a pretty big difference between the American Revolution and a protest that wound up burning six businesses—whose owners, in all likelihood, had nothing to do with the shooting they were protesting—before all the details of the case came to light. 

Yeah, the Revolutionary War started as the result of privileged white men wanting not to be beholden to a far off king

And keep in mind, the shooting is not the reason for the protest, but the occasion. For example, the Susan Komen foundation is only touching on Susan. It's really about researching better ways to treat and cure breast cancer.

In this case, the protest is about the discrimination minorities experience at the hand of law enforcement.

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

1 minute ago, Orlion Determined said:

Yeah, the Revolutionary War started as the result of privileged white men wanting not to be beholden to a far off king

And keep in mind, the shooting is not the reason for the protest, but the occasion. For example, the Susan Komen foundation is only touching on Susan. It's really about researching better ways to treat and cure breast cancer.

In this case, the protest is about the discrimination minorities experience at the hand of law enforcement.

And that makes the destruction of six unrelated businesses permissible? Or, at the very least, occasion for empathy? 

I am sympathetic to their cause, but not to methods that punish people who had nothing to do with the reason for the protest. 

[Orlion Blight he/him]

14 minutes ago, TwiLyghtSansSparkles said:

And that makes the destruction of six unrelated businesses permissible? Or, at the very least, occasion for empathy? 

I am sympathetic to their cause, but not to methods that punish people who had nothing to do with the reason for the protest. 

Certainly. But it is a natural reaction to the perpetual mistreatment they've gone through. Naturally, when the world is actively persecuting you, you eventually fight back against the world.

It's not a betrayal of some ideological fight against violence, but a desperate action by those who see their options for legitimate protest disappearing or having no effect.

[Renoux she/her]

38 minutes ago, Orlion Determined said:

The counter intuitiveness is only due to the reframing of what they are protesting. It is not a protest against violence as an abstract principle, but violence against their community... An issue they feel has been continuing through decades and generations.

It is easy for us to condemn that violence as going against their cause...it's not our culture or community under consistent institutionalized attack. It's even easier when we ignore that violently opposing institutions we do not like is exactly how this country was founded.

I agree that we do not fully understand what they are going through, because they lost a member of their community. However, I do not think their response was the best one in that situation. I'm sure that grief can cloud judgment, but burning the businesses of seemingly innocent people does not seem like the right course of action.

33 minutes ago, TwiLyghtSansSparkles said:

I'd say there's a pretty big difference between the American Revolution and a protest that wound up burning six businesses—whose owners, in all likelihood, had nothing to do with the shooting they were protesting—before all the details of the case came to light. 

I do agree with Twi, that the American Revolution was different in that it was a open war, which was declared. Though bloody, it wasn't people burning buildings in the night. It was an honest, (if war can be), war that was declared by the Declaration of Independance. While America does have it's problems, I think that the two instances are different in many ways, though that was an interecting comparison. I hope that I haven't offended anyoen in stating my opinion. I try to see it from the other point of view, I just hate violence pointed toward the innocent.

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

10 minutes ago, Orlion Determined said:

Certainly. But it is a natural reaction to the perpetual mistreatment they've gone through. Naturally, when the world is actively persecuting you, you eventually fight back against the world.

It's not a betrayal of some ideological fight against violence, but a desperate action by those who see their options for legitimate protest disappearing or having no effect.

That doesn't make their actions right. An eye for an eye makes the world go blind--and, in a more immediate sense, it damages their credibility. Responding to police violence with more violence isn't going to gain them allies, especially not from within police departments. There are officers within those departments who would have been likely to try and change things from within, had they been approached diplomatically from the beginning. Now, these protestors are going to have a difficult time convincing even sympathetic cops to do what they can. Things are going to get worse and worse, and no one will be happy with the solution.

[Renoux she/her]

I think that both sides of the arguement, (for that, indeed, appears to be what it has be come), have points, and that I was just asking you to pray for those who lost property. I hope that my post didn't cause any undue hurt feelings. I just think that more violence is never a good thing, even when it's caused by grief. I have lost loved ones, and understand that grief is hard, but hurting others won't make it better, or so I think. I feel sympathy for both groups, but I feel that what the people who burned the buildings did was wrong, even if they had motives that we don't understand. I just hope that no one got hurt. I also hope that no-one feels the need to argue unduly about which party was right. Good night. 

Edited August 15, 2016 by Renoux

[Orlion Blight he/him]

Oh the current discussion has run its course, I think

[Delightful]

If I can add a thought -

I don't agree with the idea that oppression naturally leads to indiscriminate violence. 

People can suffer oppression and not become violent at all.

They can fight solely against their oppressors. You can fight a cultural war with media. You can debate leaders. Civil disobedience. 

Jews have been oppressed for thousands of years and we fight back by surviving, by celebrating life, by being kinder, by refusing to let our enemies change who we are. And when it did come to violence in fighting the British for Jewish independence in Israel, most of the fighters attacked British military targets or infrastructure, not civilians.   

Opression leads to a burning sense of injustice, and that passion can express itself as violent rioting, but it doesn't have to. Fighting injustice doesn't absolve anyone from the basic humanity of leaving innocents out of it. 

[Orlion Blight he/him]

58 minutes ago, Delightful said:

Opression leads to a burning sense of injustice, and that passion can express itself as violent rioting, but it doesn't have to. Fighting injustice doesn't absolve anyone from the basic humanity of leaving innocents out of it. 

Things don't have to, but it certainly can. Particularly if they feel there are no other options.

But I keep digressing from my original point: which was labeling these protests as a movement against mere violence paints a false picture. Whether through respectability politics or outright violent action (we really have not seen a revolt), the goal is to end racial profiling from law enforcement. One does not need to condone such violence to see that it is a symptom of a deeper problem.  When there is smoke, there tends to be fire. If you want to stop the smoke, you need to put out the fire.

I think that's all I'll say, just because I can easily digress to other points and take over the thread.

[Delightful]

24 minutes ago, Orlion Determined said:

Things don't have to, but it certainly can. Particularly if they feel there are no other options.

Yes. I just dislike the 'natural reaction' argument that implies violent protestors hold no responsibility for their actions. 

But I think we're in agreement?  

[Erunion he/him]

Back to the original topic:

 

I have a final exam tomorrow in 8.5 hours. I am exhausted, stressed out and no where near ready. I'm currently running on caffeine and sugar from a couple Tim Hortons Iced Capuccinos (they're delicious). 

But I am in a mind burning need sleep but need to study more mode. 

Then as soon as this exam is done I have to START studying for another exam. That's on Tuesday. 

 

To add insult to injury, currently stressing out about my sister in law who was just taken to hospital. So bleh. 

[Delightful]

1 minute ago, Erunion said:

Back to the original topic:

 

I have a final exam tomorrow in 8.5 hours. I am exhausted, stressed out and no where near ready. I'm currently running on caffeine and sugar from a couple Tim Hortons Iced Capuccinos (they're delicious). 

But I am in a mind burning need sleep but need to study more mode. 

Then as soon as this exam is done I have to START studying for another exam. That's on Tuesday. 

 

To add insult to injury, currently stressing out about my sister in law who was just taken to hospital. So bleh. 

Unless you weren't concentrating in class and you're cramming everything:

sleep will do you far far better than studying, particularly once you reach the point where the words are all meaningless and you won't remember any of it tomorrow anyway. Sleep solidifies memories and your memory will work better when you're well rested anyway. 

[Erunion he/him]

16 minutes ago, Delightful said:

Unless you weren't concentrating in class and you're cramming everything:

sleep will do you far far better than studying, particularly once you reach the point where the words are all meaningless and you won't remember any of it tomorrow anyway. Sleep solidifies memories and your memory will work better when you're well rested anyway. 

Normally I'd take that advice, but there are two problems. 
Problem 1: I'm making a reference sheet that I can take into the exam. I need to fit the last chapter or two onto it so I have that reference with me.
Problem 2: I wasn't paying enough attention in class. I used to, but it's the side effect of a mixture of 'lazy college senior' and a massive case of studying burnout. I haven't had a break longer than a long weekend since Christmas, and I spent that break a mixture of depressed and sick. 
So after 5 years of university with no breaks longer than 3 weeks, and about a year with no useable breaks longer than 4 days, I'm at the end of my tether. 

[Delightful]

21 minutes ago, Erunion said:

Normally I'd take that advice, but there are two problems. 
Problem 1: I'm making a reference sheet that I can take into the exam. I need to fit the last chapter or two onto it so I have that reference with me.
Problem 2: I wasn't paying enough attention in class. I used to, but it's the side effect of a mixture of 'lazy college senior' and a massive case of studying burnout. I haven't had a break longer than a long weekend since Christmas, and I spent that break a mixture of depressed and sick. 
So after 5 years of university with no breaks longer than 3 weeks, and about a year with no useable breaks longer than 4 days, I'm at the end of my tether. 

In that case...good luck! Are these your finals exams? Do you get to breathe once they're over?

[Erunion he/him]

2 minutes ago, Delightful said:

In that case...good luck! Are these your finals exams? Do you get to breathe once they're over?

Yes, and a little bit

They're the finals for this semester, so I'll have 2 and a half weeks. One of those weeks I'm volunteering at a camp, and I have to work a few days, but it'll be the first real break I'll have had in a very long time. 

[Delightful]

3 minutes ago, Erunion said:

Yes, and a little bit

They're the finals for this semester, so I'll have 2 and a half weeks. One of those weeks I'm volunteering at a camp, and I have to work a few days, but it'll be the first real break I'll have had in a very long time. 

Yay! Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming! And then you can do fun stuff and/or talk to people/binge watch Netflix/ take over the world!

.....maybe not world domination. That sounds like work.