[Neurons] 2015 "Neurons" Meta Reflections #20

Mon May 4 09:41:00 EDT 2015

From: L. Michael Hall

Meta Reflections #20

May 3, 2015

LET'S HAVE RESPONSIBLE PROTESTS

It has happened again.  Another American city, Baltimore, has suffered
significant destruction from people rioting, looting, fighting, throwing
rocks at the police, burning cars and buildings, and in the end-destroying a
community.  This past week in Baltimore, there was an eruption of rioters
who did there what others did in Ferguson Missouri (part of the greater St.
Louis area).  So, what's going on?  Why is this happening?

It seems that the triggering event is usually framed as "racial injustice."
Typically a single person is involved in a minor activity that brings in the
police.  Then things gets out of hand with the result that someone is
severely injured or killed.  Then the "racial" frame is set to interpret the
event.  At this point, more people get upset about the injustice, but
instead of staying calm and cool as they speak up, one or more people turn
it into a vendetta for all injustices.  Then framing it as "racial
inequality," they set up protests and begin to march.  And while there may
be some justification for that, because it is not managed well.  "Thugs" and
criminals come out and use that as a cover-up to riot, loot, burn, steal,
destroy, injure, and kill.  Then everything gets out of control.

Interesting enough, the actual "injustice" is something that happens pretty
regularly.  Someone acts in a suspicious way in a neighborhood, steals or
tries to steal something from a store, gets into a fight, etc.  Then it
escalates.  In the case of Mike Brown in Ferguson, he strong-armed an older
man in a store and stole some items, then walking down the middle of a road
(!?), got into a fight with a policeman.  When he reached into the car and
tried to get his gun, he wrestled with the policeman in the patrol car.  As
they wrestled the gun went off and the policeman was punched.  Brown then
fled, but soon turned around and came diving at the policeman (being a very
large man, 6 foot 5, 230 pounds), the policeman shot; he died.

Of course, none of that was immediately known.  It took six months for the
government reports to come out.  At first someone said that Brown raised his
hands and said, "Don't shoot!"  It was later discovered that was made up by
an observer who said it to frame the conflict as an injustice.  So it was
immediately framed as "racial injustice," "racial prejudice," "racial
inequality."  All of which inflamed the community.

Now what happened is actually not as important as how it is framed.
Ultimately, the framing of the event determines the meanings which people
take away from it.  And the first to frame it-sets the frame.  This is where
the kind of thinking makes all the difference whether a community handles it
effectively or if everything quickly goes to hell.  The framing of the event
determines if people will use their critical thinking skills or if they will
over-generalize, blame, personalize, awfulize, etc.

The problem is that the kind of thinking people are doing in the moment of
the crisis is the kind of thinking that's making the problem a hundred times
worse.  Most of these problems seem to stem  from the fact that some people
begin with the frame of "racial injustice" and in some communities that
frame is constantly being reinforced even when it cannot be validated.  For
some, they look for anything and everything that they can stick into that
frame.  It happened in the Travon Martin case in Florida.  Someone wanted
that to be a case of white/black racialism.  Of course, the security officer
there was not even white, but Hispanic.

In the Freddie Gray case in Baltimore this week, 3 of the 6 policeman who
arrested him and took him into custody are black, 3 are white.  That fact
makes it hard to make the injury to him based on "racial inequality."  The
best information that we have right now is that someone apparently put their
knee in Gray's back to restrain him, and then with the police vehicle moving
around, the spiral chord was severed, bringing about his death.  So it could
have been an accident.  But that will take time to tell.  Additionally, and
even more significantly, every year a thousand black young men are killed in
Chicago.   Never heard of that?  Ah yes, most do not reach the media because
it is black-on-black crime and that cannot be put into the "racial
inequality" frame.

What's the solution to all of this?   Here is a recommended solution: Let's
stop jumping-to-conclusions and over-generalizing about "racial injustice."
If it turns out to be a case of racial injustice, that will come out.  In
the meantime, what is called for is calmer heads and cooler hearts.  Then we
can use our critical thinking skills to ask about the facts and to patiently
allow the justice system to work.  Then the reporters and media, the
investigators, grand juries, etc. can all do their job of uncovering the
facts so that those responsible can be held accountable.  Eventually the
facts do come out.  That's the good news.  The bad news is that they do not
and usually cannot come out in the first 24 hours or even the first month or
two.  It takes time.  Which means that during the waiting time-waiting for
the facts-what is there to protest?  Is there any injustice?

Another recommended solution: Anyone and everyone planning to conduct a
march to protest should work closely with the police and authorities so that
the protests are peaceful and not driven by those who would profit from
"racial mayhem" or full of over-exaggerated rhetoric.  In Ferguson the
step-father got on top of a car, yelling to a crowd, "Let it burn!"  Isn't
that like yelling "fire" in a crowded theater?  And isn't it that kind of
irresponsible words in the heat of the moment what's amplifying things?

The sad and pathetic thing is that the honest and law-abiding people who
want to protest injustices, if they are not careful, and responsibly manager
their language and the conditions of the protest, end up creating a context
where "thugs" and criminals will use the situation to burn down their
communities.  And then a greater injustice arises for the business owners of
that community.  These business owners are usually of the same ethnic race
and the consequences sets up a vicious circle.  It reduces the economics of
the community, the presence of jobs, undermine the possibility of investors
investing there and so in the end-greater injustice is done and the
community is the worst for it.  Protesting is a privilege we have in the
United States and in many democracies. Yet it is not a privilege without
responsibility.

Calmer hearts and cooler heads are needed.  And everybody has responsibility
in this.  We cannot think critically and carefully when people are framing
things in a way that only inflames people.  These problems are systemic and
they will not be solved framing them in over-simplistic ways.

L. Michael Hall, Ph.D.

               Neuro-Semantics Executive Director 

               Neuro-Semantics International

P.O. Box 8

Clifton, CO. 81520 USA                             

               1 970-523-7877 

                    Dr. Hall's email:
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