After much rumination, I decided to make a short video presenting a libertarian centrist view on the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and the trial of former Police Officer Derek Chauvin. Should we care about this situation? Does it affect us? What are the wider ramifications if we allow Police Officers, and other agents of the state, to violate the human rights of citizens?
TRANSCRIPT
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This is not going to be a fun video for me.
And I almost didn’t bother making it.
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In fact, I might not even release it.
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Anyway, I’m going to talk about the George Floyd trial.
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It’s just started, and I haven’t really been watching it.
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But I know it’s happening because lots of my
friends on social media have been talking about it.
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Now I have a lot of left-wing friends.
And I have lots of right-wing friends too.
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Personally, I’m a centrist libertarian, and
very proud to be a centrist libertarian,
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because we, the libertarians, are generally very principled people.
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And it’s sad for me to see the reactions to the George Floyd trial
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because of some very unprincipled rhetoric from my friends.
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In particular, my right-wing friends.
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You see, a lot of my right-wing friends
have been sharing video of George Floyd
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from before he was killed – just before
he was killed. And looking at that video
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it’s very obvious the guy was not right in the head.
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he seems to have been high as a kite.
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And he may well have been aggressive.
And he may well have been threatening.
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But even if we accept ALL of that is true
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it doesn’t change the fact that he
was murdered by an agent of the state.
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He was killed by a Police Officer while in custody.
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He wasn’t a threat to anybody at
that point but he was killed anyway.
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There is no justification for that. None whatsoever!
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Maybe he was high. Maybe he was a criminal.
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But criminals have human rights too.
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And I get that being a Police
Officer is a very difficult job.
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And you want to support the
Police. Of course, you do.
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But human rights apply to EVERYONE.
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Even to people you don’t like.
Even to criminals.
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So why are you trying to defend Derek Chauvin?
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And why do you think George Floyd
being high is a legitimate defense?
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And these are questions specifically for my right-wing friends,
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because they are the only ones sharing those
videos of George Floyd acting like a maniac.
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By trying to defend Derek Chauvin,
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it seems like you’re suggesting that the police
should be allowed to murder certain people.
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Or maybe certain groups of people?
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And you’ve got to realize that’s
a very dangerous slippery slope.
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And you need to ask yourself why
you’re going down that slippery slope.
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Think about it…
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So the police murder a civilian that you don’t like.
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I don’t know why you don’t like him.
Maybe you just hate junkies. Whatever.
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And you decide to just accept it.
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That’s a naive and very short-sighted attitude.
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Because, if you let this one slide,
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eventually the police will start killing people you do like.
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Try and think it through.
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The police murder some random, alleged
junkie and you choose to defend them.
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But tomorrow, when they kill a member of
your family, you’re going to be outraged.
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Why? What’s the difference?
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Why are the human rights of you
and your family more important
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than the human rights of that random junkie?
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That random junkie has a family too.
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Do you think the human rights of you
and your family are more important
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than those of George Floyd?
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And is that because you think of
him as being less human than you?
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Well guess what?
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There are people above you in the social hierarchy
who think exactly the same thing about you!
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If you, or one of your loved ones, got murdered
those people will be trying to justify it as well.
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And then YOU will be the George Floyd!
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You’re only defending Derek Chauvin because
you think it could never happen to you.
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That you will never end up a victim of police brutality.
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And you absolutely could.
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And THAT is why you should always defend human rights.
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Why you should defend EVERYBODY’S human rights.
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And why we should all care about what happened to George Floyd.
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Because tyranny isn’t carried
out by politicians themselves.
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Tyranny is carried out by agents of the state.
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It is carried out by Police Officers,
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and state officials and soldiers
- just like in Burma today.
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It isn’t the aristocrats and the oligarchs who terrorize you.
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They get other ordinary people to do it for them.
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So when you see that happening
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you should never celebrate it.
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Never defend it. Never try to justify it.
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Because, if you do, eventually they will come for you too.
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A government that is allowed to
oppress some of the people today
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will oppress ALL of the people tomorrow.
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