Old man believes whatever he sees on cable TV

- See if you can spot the difference between Bernie's statement and MLK's:
  Let me say as I've always said, and I will always continue to say, that riots are socially destructive and self-defeating. ... But in the final analysis, a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it that America has failed to hear? It has failed to hear that the plight of the Negro poor has worsened over the last few years. It has failed to hear that the promises of freedom and justice have not been met. And it has failed to hear that large segments of white society are more concerned about tranquility and the status quo than about justice, equality, and humanity. And so in a real sense our nation's summers of riots are caused by our nation's winters of delay. And as long as America postpones justice, we stand in the position of having these recurrences of violence and riots over and over again.
  I don't think it's at all unreasonable to criticize Bernie for leaving that second part unsaid. Not to mention the point Hasan was making, which was picking this moment to talk about nonviolence - at a time when Trump is preemptively painting the protests as violent and insurrectionist - affirms Trump's framing and justifies police escalation.
  I'm with Hasan here, this was tone-deaf of Bernie, if not completely hypocritical.
  Bonus MLK quote:
  These are the times for real choices and not false ones. We are at the moment when our lives must be placed on the line if our nation is to survive its own folly. Every man of humane convictions must decide on the protest that best suits his convictions, but we must all protest.
- Didn't MLK also work because the Black Panthers were lurking in the background? Either the establishment dealt with MLK or they dealt with the Panthers.
  
  They actually dealt with both unfortunately
- No, Bernie is implying that the protesters are currently protesting violently.
  
  He's literally calling for discipline, not to stop protesting. A small minority of people were being violent. I think you're looking for things to be upset about.
  
  From what I have read, it is a simple fact that a nonzero number of people in LA have been protesting violently (or call it rioting). It’s even possible, but certainly not proven, these are Proud Boy agitators.
  His comment may be based on the possibility they were not. It’s still a bit demoralizing when you and your thousand-strong hold back from violence, and your leaders still rebuke you for one person’s action.
- Nuance was never alive.

I mean, yeah, he was there, being offensively non-violent. That's the point he's making. He knows how easy it is for the authorities to use any sort of physical (and sometimes even just verbal) aggression as an excuse to start to escalate things.
He's not saying "don't protest". He's giving tips on how to.
People please remember there are people actively posting Russian propaganda and trying to divide and break the US even further.
The first fight is against disinformation and propaganda.
- Dude they don’t give a fuck what the truth is - they call it all violent regardless. He should speak out against their lies, not give credence to them. That’s the point. By saying that crap he’s implying that there is some major violence issue that needs to be addressed before people can be heard. It’s insane to hear this from Sanders.
  There are always violent protestors, there is always property damage. It is never 0%. Stop letting the small fraction define the whole.
  His recent tour makes this all even more insulting. He sounded like he was actually going to do something.
  
  Them not caring might mean you don't care, but it doesn't mean people don't care.
  There's a reason they "make truth" whatever they want; because they need at least some semblance of justification for wider propaganda. Now which do you think will set off more people, watching cops maze and watercannon people sitting and singing kumbayaa, or using those same tactics on a violent group of people tearing up storefronts?
  Which do you think will have a larger impact in motivating the general public? Which is easier to modify into whatever the fuck they want, even if there was justification for rioting? Which will play better for the State when ran in news highlights?
  Hmm?
- Yeah, defeat fascism with a witty sign and a good chant! Law enforcement will NEVER escalate if you don't!
  
  This is the problem, right here:
  You don't know how the MLK Jr. protests actually operated.
  Pick up a fucking book about it.
  It was a very complex organized effort centered around litigation, and peaceful protesting protected all the people participating in it.
  Civil disobedience is far more powerful than any violent resistance, because it plays against the fascists' narrative. There will be a lot of causalities, a lot of pain and sadness, but the more people participate in peaceful protests, the more it raises awareness and grinds the machine to a halt.
  There is no economy if the laborers don't participate in it.
  
  Is your supposedly sarky comment supposed to imply peaceful protests are less effective than, idk, all out war, or whatever the fuck you're proposing?
  Non-violence and civil disobedience are where it's at, and exactly what Sanders did in that image and what he is advocating now.
  You're not familiar with a guy called Gandhi, I take it.

There is no protest against the status-quo that the press (including "the liberal press") can't depict as violent. You have seen the female Australian reporter being targeted with a rubber bullet on camera only to have her own channel report it as her "being caught in the crossfire" right? Hasan was out there for two days documenting the incredible violent reaction of law enforcement to what has been almost completely non violent protests against the unlawful kidnappings of immigrants. He knows what he is talking about. If your concern is not the well being of the protesters but three fucking waymos or people waving Mexican flags, you are just self-reporting.
- Rubber-coated bullet*
- 9News US Correspondent Lauren Tomasi 'sore, but okay' after being shot by rubber bullet in LA protests.
  This is the title of the article you linked. She wasn't shot by a rubber bullet. We saw that she was deliberately targeted and shot with a rubber bullet by a police officer while reporting on the protests, an action both illegal and against LAPD policy. It's not a mistake or a coincidence the title is worded in a way to minimize this incident and the involvement of the police, it's propaganda. And when Bernie implies these protests are violent, which they are not, he gives credibility to this propaganda when he should be unequivocally condemning police violence.
- How is Bernie's statement "leaning into the hysteria"

What are your goals with this post?
Edit
Found more details about Bernie's arrest here: https://medium.com/@ShaunKing/you-dont-really-know-who-bernie-sanders-was-in-the-1960s-79628016125f
I know it wasn't the point of this post, but thanks for teaching me about this bit of history! This helped me understand why he emphasized discipline.
- Have people understand that being a progressive does not mean blindly following Bernie Sanders.
  Because past Bernie stood for what present Bernie admonishes.
  
  I won't pretend to know much about Bernie's history, but I do have a couple of thoughts with which you may or may not agree.
  We should never blindly follow any politician.
  Politicians should be expected to change/evolve. It's probably a good idea to consider the delta to understand each politician's trajectory.
  Out of curiosity, do you prefer past or present Bernie?
  
  Arguing with the soldier next to you is definitely how world wars are won.
- To sow general discord within the Anglophone left because:
  Sour grapes that their particular brand of socialism is unpopular.
  It's a policy goal of the Russian state, and they're algorithmically downstream of Russian info-warfare groups.
  Though, not that it's necessarily intentional.
  
  Great to see liberals coming up with their own version the Judeo-Bolshervick conspiracy theory.

There was also a vastly different media landscape when Dr. King made his speeches. The level of surveillance now is so much higher that its trivial to find or create footage of violence if you want it.
There is no level of discipline where the media will portray it as anything but violence. I don't think sanders is enterely wrong here, but I understand how in the year 2025 sander's statement is a bit cringe inducing.
- He probably was literally murdered by the surveillance state

I don't think Hasan actually read Bernie's post.
- I don't think you understood Bernie's post.
  
  He's telling people to keep the protests peaceful. He's literally speaking from 1st hand experience about what works to achieve your goals.
  How exactly does that play into Trump's narrative?
- Has he ever read anything longer than a tweet?
  
  Yes.

This comment section shows exactly why we should be wary of those who label themselves as progressive vs leftist or socialist/communist.
Y’all clearly aren’t trustworthy. Reformists who see themselves as reasoned revolutionaries. You still reflexively shove that boot in your mouth on command.
- Seriously. At this point the majority of violence being carried out against protesters in order to protect ICE is being done by local law enforcement. State and city level democrats are not resisting Trump. They’re just mad that he doesn’t realize that they’re on the same team.

Both people are right in a way here.
It's the masses joining non-violent protests that gets shit done. They can't ignore it when it gets big enough. Violence makes it that much harder to hold those safely.
The mainstream media and the right wing propaganda machine will amplify any small amount of violence to try to tarnish the whole movement.
- The problem is that the protests are already extremely peaceful... Until the police show up and start blasting.
  The media instead will take the 3 pictures of the Waymo on fire and plaster it on the front page everywhere to pretend the protests are extremely violent riots and give a pretense to send in the police which starts blasting.
  
  Not to mention cop cars and other images from the past. Pure yellow journalism.
  
  They'll do that if there is trash on the ground and claim it's looting. They'll do that if anything catches on fire and call it a riot.
  Dropping rocks, lime scooters, and molotovs on police cars parked under an overpass doesn't need any sensationalism to amplify AND it gives the police a great reason to start blasting.

Don't tell anyone to remember their umbrella unless it's absolutely pouring or you'll give into the propaganda that water is falling from the sky.
The right-wing thinks we're giving rioters a pass and, not that we need to satisfy their demands, don't give them a pass. You can denounce setting fires and shooting reporters in the leg in one breath you know.
- They only do that when they speak about Israel. They start the statement with OCT 7 then end it with "all hostages should be released" and in the middle they water down whatever genocide and war crimes happening.
  He could have done the same here. Could have said, the ICE violated people rights, and reforming the ICE should be the first step to peaceful solution.
  Instead he basically ignoring everything leading to the riot and expect people to take it until, maybe, they can pass something in congress to be then reject by the house.
  classic useless politician.
- "Guys it is not raining today. But you should not forget to bring your umbrella if it rains."
  Totally normal statement.

would you rather a sitting US senator call for escalation and violence
- Yes?
- in the face of his boss and his boss’s boss doing the same thing but to a much worse degree… yes? americans should be defending themselves from federal agents by any means necessary.
  like it or not if the world only had MLKs we would live in a society that practices blood sacrifice or some absurdist shit. you need your Malcom X’s at times like this because the unfortunate reality is that the only power that begets peace in the face of political violence is often more extreme political violence.
  sitting and doing performative takes on how we need to remain “nonviolent” or “peaceful” in the face of literal armed government goons coming into our cities against our will is peak pussy shit and you guys are all shameful for going so hard on that take. have some self fucking respect. will you be clamoring for peaceful protest when they’re deporting your family to an unmarked government camp somewhere across the world? no? so why do you think it should be any different for the people it has already happened to?

We're upvoting Hasan stuff? That's what we've come to? Bernie didn't even say anything wrong.
- Step 1. Do not address the argument made by Hasan.
  Step 2. Hurr Durrr Bernie good? Israel no genocide Netanyahu bad?! Israel has the right to defend itself!!
  
  I don't respect him, or his takes.
  Not a fan of Bernie, either. Definitely not a fan of Isreal. I'm trying to think of any political commentators or politicians or activists I don't dislike, and all I have are AOC and Gretchen Whitmer. And I think Greta.
  Bonus opinion, I don't think there should be any violence from the protesters. Regardless of what the police or national guard do. Arrests, tear gas, rubber bullets, just take it. Don't throw things, don't loot, no masks, just take it. A protest is serious business, and I think you should be willing to accept any consequences from it if you really support the cause you're fighting for, whether it is imprisonment, injury, or death. If you aren't, don't protest. Everybody remembers MLK being arrested. Everybody remembers Tank Man from Tiananmen Square. Everybody remembers Rosa Parks. Hopefully, everybody remembers Rachel Corrie. Their acts were so impactful because of the stark contrast between their peaceful non-violence and the response to them.
  If there is any property damage done, let it be by the cops. Deep down, I believe most people are materialistic and somewhat selfish. If their car gets torched during a protest by protesters, they're probably going to get pissed at the protesters! You want the support of the masses. Of businesses. If you're a shop owner, and your windows get blown out by teargas and rubber bullets, you're probably going to be way more pissed at the cops than the polite people just gathered in the street.
  From the outside, to the centrists and the old people who still watch the news, a quiet (but huge) group of people getting pelted with tear gas and rubber bullets is so much more sympathetic than (hypothetically) some person in a mask chucking rocks at the police, waving a foreign flag. Again, sympathetic to people less left leaning. In my opinion.
  Conversely, if someone thinks violence is the answer, I don't think that's a protest. That's a fight. A revolution. And that energy should be directed, planned. Not just riot style destruction.
  That's all I've got, peace.

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