Personally, I often watch such things. I want to understand the cause and effect, the action and reaction, that lead to these monstrous outcomes. It better prepares me for the eventuality that I am involved in or witness to one, especially if there’s even the most remote chance that I could affect the outcome.
Some other people seem to just not fucking understand how unjustified the shootings were until they see it for themselves. I’m not one of those, but I have seen this sentiment.
For me it’s about real life heuristics. I’ve seen a lot of car accident videos, and it’s helped me be more aware of the kinds of small events that predicate them. I know things like “if there’s nuclear fallout, try to hold out in shelter for 2 hours, 2 days, or 2 weeks.” I know what gunfire sounds like. I know what a subway shover’s face looks like right before they do it (they all have this same dead-eyed look and fixed stare).
Odds are none of these things will matter. But I take comfort in having some primary sources on the horrors of the world. It helps me contextualize, and affords me a higher chance of a dispassionate and pragmatic response if I’m ever witness to one.
The reason I chose not to watch was simply that, based on the responses I was reading, this man was complying and was then violently shot. I know that if a cop wants to shoot me, I can do very little about it. So watching the video in this case doesn’t teach me, unlike what you’re discussing with other horrors.
I started it, but I quickly realized I was going to be too upset going through with it and I stopped.
I have started watching videos like this. I find them disturbing and that one more so than any other. I used to avoid it but part of me says that in order to respect the loss of life I’ll watch, and feel angry or upset or whatever and face that unpleasant reality on its own terms.
Speaking personally, it’s born of a desire to attempt to understand what people could possibly perceive as a threat.
If there are people who claim that an officer saw an action that justified a fatal response, then I want to see what it is that justified said response. I want to try to understand what other people are perceiving as a threat.
I also naively want to believe that there is something justifiable, so that I can believe in law enforcement that works well and fairly.
Increasingly, I am lead only to believe that a significant portion of my country engages in widespread uniform worship, and has no problem with violent fascists literally murdering unarmed civilians in the name of “law and order.” I suspect it’s rooted in a deep-seated hatred of their fellow man intersecting with privilege - they assume the murderer will always work for them, and will thus murder the people they want to murder.
It also assures me that the solution is to disarm all police.
Humans are all ugly. Every cause seems to have blood and bad intentions somewhere within its ranks.
I’m only saying that to say, you would be wrong to dehumanize those groups, in that the actions we see on display are very human. Police brutality is a modern brand on an old code. I think it sounds like dumb and edgy duality of man bullshit, but there is some truth in the idea that man is it’s own monster.
I mean isn’t a man harming another as human a trait as making art?
I watch out of morbid fascination. It’s kind of the same reason people go to /r/watchpeopledie. And on another hand, look how blatant this was. Even with video evidence this officer was willing to make up an excuse to shoot a man, shoot him, and he still was cleared of any charges. I don’t look for excuses to be angry, but this sure gets me angry.
Edit: And my fiancee just put it succinctly while watching The Handmaiden’s Tale: if we turn away from the horribleness we let it grow.
I had the Michigan equivalent. It was a badge on the back of my car. It got me out of pretty-much any low-level speeding ticket, and downgraded any serious speeding tickets to 5 over. It wouldn’t have done anything for a real crime of course.
The only downside was that the cop would tell my dad.
This is a pretty common thing. There are various Police Benevolent Associations and such like that you donate to and they send a window decal that says you donated to the Podunk Police Department and it’s an implicit agreement that the Podunk PD won’t bust your balls too hard for minor stuff.
