Help me understand people

Let’s keep the responses clean, I don’t want a padlock thrown on this thread. I’m asking because I really can’t wrap my head around it.
We have two situations here where a white cop shot an unarmed black man.
Scenario #1 –a there’s a dead man that robbed (not allegedly) a store minutes before he was shot. The cop was assaulted during the altercation that lead to the shooting. One, maybe two eye-witnesses were there and they have conflicting stories. Losts of hearsay and false/incomplete information is causing lots of trouble. The result was weeks of rioting, that I don’t think we’ve seen the end of yet.
Scenario #2 – There’s a unarmed black man shot by a white cop. The traffic stop was shoddy at best. The whole altercation was caught on camera, we’re all eye-witnesses. The result (as far as the public), nothing.
What gives? I’m not saying I wanted to see riots in the second case, but why all the hullabalu around the Fergusson case when there’s soo much in question nothing in a situation where the cop was in the wrong?

Agreed!

I'd wager a guess is the culture difference of hatred between the two geographical areas, and yes, I mean that the rioting Fergusen folks were acting racist. I do not know if the #2 police officer was or not because he was generally being a E36 M3ty police officer.

In the first one, someone died in an area where race relations have been shaky at best lately. No one was fatally wounded in the second.

Additionally, the police department stepped up, fired the officer, and did nothing to try to cover his tracks or protect him. People want to see those actions being taken, and they were.

yea what he said ^^^^^

For those not paying attention, the second was in Columbia, SC. Also known as, "The armpit of South Carolina". Mostly because it's the home of the Gamecocks. (Wife is a Clemson grad, so I'm legally obligated to hate on Columbia, SC)

Agree with mtn, the police dept fired the officer in SC, and now he's having assault and battery charges of a high and aggravated nature (whatever that means) levied against him. The officer is facing like 20 years of hard time. SC has a pretty checkered past as far as race relations go; frankly if the response was any less than it has been I think you would have seen riots.

Don't have much knowledge about the F case. From what I have heard there's many different stories. Sounds like a perfect opportunity for either side to lie to their advantage.

mtn wrote: In the first one, someone died in an area where race relations have been shaky at best lately.

I wish I could disagree with that statement. Things will get worse before they get better.

By firing and arresting the PO it's hard for Rev Al to make any money demanding the department has the officer fired and arrested.

It's all a matter of perspective of the enviroment that it happens in.

An awareness of "fairness" is part of human nature. One, the general public thought the fainesss scale had gone off the charts, the other, they did not.

I agree that the reaction of the police to the incident has something to do with it. I don't know anything about previous relations between the police and the public in either incident, but I'd have to think the first place was much worse than the second.

As someone who works in upper Missouri Gov, I got to see some interesting perspectives in regards to Ferguson. There were some less than stellar things done from both sides in this case, most of which didn't directly pertain to the incident. Naturally, this just made the other side angry and the cycle continued. It was also no nearly as clear cut as the SC case. Had it been, there wouldn't have been nearly as much controversy. The SC incident was handled appropriately (IMO) whereas here in MO, not quite as true. You had some lazy responses by the authorities (not just Ferguson PD) and some over reactions and deliberate disregard of evidence by the protesters.

^ Best description I have read anywhere. ^

The only way to understand how people work is to capture a few and dissect them in a laboratory.

I think mtn and singleslammer covered it...but yes, if you only look at the scenarios themselves, #2 is worse than #1.

GameboyRMH wrote: I think mtn and singleslammer covered it...but yes, if you only look at the scenarios themselves, #2 is worse than #1.

No it isn't. Scenario #1 involves the loss of a life. Scenario #2 involves the possible loss of a hip.

(Yes, I understand what you are saying. I don't disagree either)

one of the issues with Ferguson was that not all of the Protestors were "protestors" The ones that caused all the rioting and looting were there just for the rioting and looting. Those people did not care about the shooting or the police reaction to it, they just wanted to cause mayhem and steal.

Because humans be crazy, that's why!

In reply to mad_machine:

Very true, which leads to the problem for the authorities of who is who. Regardless, that situation isn't resolved there and I just hope that things calm down in the area before something else occurs.

HappyAndy wrote: Because humans be crazy, that's why!

Amen brother!

Here's what I think is going on in MO. They (the authorities) are waiting for the cold weather for things to be settled, especially if the cop isn't arrested and drawn-and-quartered in the town square like the protesters want. The cold weather will quell the rioting.

Good line in MIB about this, "A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it."

This can be extrapolated to theorize that the larger and denser a crowd becomes, the lower the intellect of the crowd will be, regardless of the actual sum of the minds gathered. I'll bet aforementioned protests began with a few smart individuals with some valid concerns to raise. Put enough pissed off PhDs in a room and you'd probably get the same result.

In reply to DrBoost:

Yep. Waiting for cold weather, but the police are still preparing for riots worse than before.

Public didnt say anything about the white kid shot by an "other-than-white" cop in Utah around the same time, either.

wow... so many get their "news" from "fair and balanced"...

It's not a people thing, it's a power thing. Power corrupts people.

There's a third one that's worse. Salt Lake City,Utah. Body camera on the cop recorded it all. DA declared it justified.

what I find interesting is all these incidents involve a cop acting alone. I know around here, if you get pulled over for anything, there is a second cruiser around within minutes. I have seen the original cop wait to get out of his car until the second one shows. They do not take chances here in South Jersey, both for their benefit and ours

I'd say the SLC shooting is, at worst, on par with #1. Guy says "No fool" when told to put his hands up repeatedly, and then lifts his shirt and reaches into his pants while facing the cop...

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/body-cam-helps-justify-fatal-utah-police-shooting-25874521

Video:

http://beforeitsnews.com/politics/2014/10/salt-lake-city-police-release-police-officers-body-cam-video-of-fatal-shooting-2654336.html