The #BlackLivesMatter Analysis Tables
Twitter
Page:
#TamirRice
Name
of Author or Article
|
The
Principle – Fallacy, Perelman, Schemes, etc.
|
Quote
or Example
|
Analysis
|
Tommy
TheFamily
@tommythefamily
|
Fallacy
– Hasty Generalization, Accident, and Bandwagon.
Possible
Wishful Thinking and No True Scotsman set-up.
|
“Nothing
was learned by ANY police deparment from the #TamirRice murder.
Business
as usual.
Every
cop wants to be a #KillClubMember
in the US.”
|
Tommy
TheFamily has a valid point to say that Tamir Rice was another victim of
police shootings, but the final line appeals to several fallacies.
Hasty
Generalization, as there is no sample size specified of police shooting or
blacks killed by police numbers to track. It is assumed to be true based on
other similar occurrences, but a larger sample size is required to make that
argument and to provide evidence.
Accident,
as “Every cop wants to be a #KillClubMember
…” would mean that all cops want to shoot suspects dead upon contact,
even if the suspect surrenders.
Bandwagon,
because other people think this way, it must be true that all police are
murdering scumbags! Look at Traveon Martin and other cases, with other
Twitter users calling cops “racist pigs” and “murderers!” Therefore, they are
murdering and racist pigs!
Wishful
Thinking is possible in that maybe Tommy TheFamily wants all cops to be
murderers and call them out for their actions.
No
True Scotsman may be possible in the sense that Tommy TheFamily could be
setting up a position of “All Cops are Killers” and no police officers that
refuse to murder suspects are really cops at all. If this were the case, only
a true cop is a cop that would be able to kill a suspect, regardless of state
of action.
|
(Picture
of Teddy Bear on Sidewalk)
|
Schemes
& Tropes:
Angle-
low angle
Implied
Distance – close-ups
Figures
– Abstract
|
N/A
|
A
teddy bear, lying on the ground in a green jacket and abandoned. It is
abstract not on an art standpoint, but symbolically. It represents Tamir
Rice, and yet it is just a teddy bear. Or so it seems.
The
author (The Root @TheRoot)
likely chose this picture as the teddy bear represents youth, as it is a toy.
Tamir Rice was young when he was murdered, and was supposedly playing with
toy guns when he was gunned down by police…
|
Su
Zie
@suzannapomade
|
Perelman:
Abstract Values and Hierarchies
|
“
<Sad emoji> (2) until justice is served we will keep coming back!! #EmmettTill #TamirRice Y’all
see the resemblance <Eyes wide emoji> #RestInPower <Black Fist emoji>”
(There
is also a picture of Emmett Till and Tamir Rice, side-by-side.)
|
Justice
is an abstract value, and justice for the dead and those victimized expresses
a hierarchy of abstract values. Not to mention, there is an overt comparison
of the two boys, whom were victimized by white people. (Emmett Till was
killed for “cat calling” a white lady, Tamir Rice was killed by police when
he supposedly was waving a toy gun on a playground.)
|
Noura
Erakat
@4noura
|
Perelman:
Sacrifice ???
|
“Prosecutor
though it was reasonable to use deadly force against a black child playing in
a park. We still haven’t done right by u #TamirRice
|
Although
not overtly stated, this tweet seems like it could be used to motivate others
to end the police shootings of black citizens, making Tamir Rice’s death not
in vain. The last line seems to imply, at least to me, that Tamir’s death was
not acceptable, but he will be the signal for change and will be the beacon
of hope amid the challenges ahead. Upon successful change, he will be
remembered as a hero.
(So,
while he was “sacrificed” unintentionally, could his “sacrifice” bring forth
the change that BLM seeks?)
|
Video: One Month in
Ferguson – The Death of Michael Brown, by The Young Turks
Name
of Author or Article
|
The
Principle – Fallacy, Perelman, Schemes, etc.
|
Quote
or Example
|
Analysis
|
(Previously
stated above)
|
Fallacies – Slippery Slope and Quantifier
Shift
|
The
police’s premeditated mobilization of the riot gear and armed forces.
|
Slippery
Slope – The police assumed that there would be a riot due to the shooting of
Michael Brown. While this is a precautionary measure, the riot gear should
have come out AFTER riots and violent protest had begun.
Quantifier
Shift occurred because the police assumed that Michael was armed and was
uncooperative when confronted by police. The police then assumed that
uncooperative suspects usually intend arm to police, and assumed the
stereotype that M. Brown was a dangerous black suspect, so they shot him.
They turned the belief that some black suspects are dangerous to ALL black
suspects are dangerous, and then they gunned Michael down.
|
Schemes
& Tropes:
Arrangement
– Climax
|
The
entire movie, as it states the events as they occurred.
|
The
effect shows the escalation of the situation of Ferguson as tensions rise and
police attempt damage control. Also, this effect allows the viewers to
simulate “being there” in the middle of the protests, the backlash, and the
tense atmosphere.
|
|
Schemes
& Tropes: Visual – Saturation
|
See
the pictures from 0:03 to 0:08 in the video.
|
A
lack of clarity and a mixing of colors in contrasting photos (some dark and
bleak, some mixed in vibrant colors) represent the ups and downs of the
situations in Ferguson. There is a beacon of hope and a chance for justice,
as there are the ugly circumstances surrounding the death of young Michael
Brown, whom was killed by police. The situation deteriorates, yet there are
people whom remain hopeful amid the chaos. That is what the photos represent.
|
|
Perelman:
Observed Facts/Truths
Abstract
and Universal Values
Abstract
Hierarchies
|
The
film is stated (in the comments) to present just the facts, but the central
conflict is of the morality of police and the people in regards to the
shooting. It is justice vs. human life.
|
Observed
Facts and Truths are given from the dialogue in the video, stating dates,
times, events, etc. as they occurred and how they occurred. The narrator
remains unbiased to claims, and represents the events in a way that this is
not a political issues, but a social and human issue.
The
police represent the abstract value of justice against the abstract hierarchy
of the people, whom want safety and security from the police, and whom value
human life. The dilemma occurs when Michael Brown is killed. The police claim
Michael was attempting to reach for an officer’s gun and dispatching him was
a just thing to do to save the officer’s life and possible other lives, but
the people believe Michael was gunned down due to racism within the police
force.
Was
justice served, or was Michael a victim (rather a suspect) of the police
force?
|
|
Perelman:
Presence
– Time and Space
|
Make
it feel close, make it feel urgent!
|
By
utilizing local news footage and video shot by pedestrians, the documentary
brings Ferguson up close, and makes it personal. It also shows the tense and
heated atmosphere between the police and the populace, giving urgency to a
dire situation that is quickly turning into a powder keg.
|
|
Perelman:
Enthymeme
???
|
The
film obviously makes no claims about the situation in Ferguson, only
reporting the reactions of the people and the true events; yet, it is as The
Young Turks shot the documentary in a way to incite the viewers to care about
Ferguson, to call out the racism that is likely in the police force, and to
get the viewers to acknowledge the issues and take action! Perhaps…it only
sets a stage; the viewer has to make the decision.
It
is like what Morpheus said to Neo in The Matrix: “…I can only show you the
door. You’re the one that has to walk through it.”
|
||
Amplification
|
The
movie takes the entire situation of Ferguson and breaks it down in a small
pieces, progressing through the story one event at a time and as the events
occur.
|
Again,
one event is told at a time of the “bigger picture,” and it is told as the
event occurs in the story. There is little else to say.
|
|
Analysis
– Philosophical
|
The
documentary is pure facts, that is the definition of Perelman’s philosophical
argument piece.
|
The
entire movie is a compression of all the events and occurrences in a
fact-by-fact basis of story-telling.
|
|
Justice
(The
Quasi-logical argument device, not the value of Justice)
|
The
police utilization of force among suspects, most of which are African
Americans.
|
Do
the police always need to shoot the suspects? Is the gun the go-to option in
all cases? Why not use a taser or pepper spray, or even a nightstick?
|
|
Transivity
|
The
reaction to Michael Brown’s death.
|
Police
shoot Michael Brown = Michael Dies, Michael’s Death = Protests & Riots,
so the Police Shooting of Michael = Protests and Riots.
|
|
Succession
– Pragmatic
|
(ditto
as above)
|
By
police shooting Michael Brown (whom was said to be armed, but no evidence of
this was found), it can be assumed that public outrage resulted from the
wrongful killing of Michael Brown, if not Brown being murdered in cold blood
by police. We could also evaluate the tensions and the civilian-police
relations before and after the shooting.
|
|
Intention
?
|
Did
the police shooting Michael Brown reveal true racism in the police force?
|
It
may be possible police wrongfully killed Michael under suspicion of his
behavior and the intel that he was in possession of a weapon, which may or
may not have been the case. However, if Michael was unarmed and white police
officers still shot him despite cooperation, then there may be racist cops in
the blue.
|
|
Prestige
|
The
actions of the police – were they of accident or intention to murder?
|
By
this point, most people believe the officers involved murdered Michael, and
their actions reveal racism within the police force. If this is true or not,
we do not yet know of for certain; however, it seems more likely every day.
|
|
Representativity
|
Do
the actions of the police officers reveal racism in the entire department?
|
This
is still being debated, but most people believe that this act was of racism
and reveals that some police officers may be racist. Regardless of what is
the truth, police are experiencing poor relations with the police, and this
needs to be fixed!!!
|
Press: Salon.com – Black
lives blackout: Has the mainstream media forgotten about police violence and
African-American resistance? By Chauncey Alcorn
Location:
Name
of Author or Article
|
The
Principle – Fallacy, Perelman, Schemes, etc.
|
Quote
or Example
|
Analysis
|
Schemes & Tropes: Profanity
|
“The
people who have influence are being distracted by the grabbing of the pussies…”
“As
long as our black and brown brothers and sisters are still dying and there is
no accountability, I will march until I can’t march no longer…And even then,
I’ll haunt y’all motherfuckers!”
|
I
love a journalist or a citizen not afraid to push the boundaries by using
swearing. It is fucking liberating and it is fucking amazing (pardon my
language!).
That’ll
send a message to the deniers and nay-sayers, and it will get everyone’s
attention!
|
|
Fallacy – Black and White (no pun or dry
humor is intended here)
|
“The
movement for black lives is alive and well across America and on social
media, but you probably wouldn’t know that from watching CNN.” …
“But
Donald Trump is our president now and the mainstream media apparently no
longer has the bandwidth to cover alleged discriminatory treatment and
brutality inflicted on African-Americans by the police.
|
So
if the Press isn’t covering police brutality on black citizens, then they are
focusing exclusively on the Trump Administration (and not the weather, local
news, global issues, etc.).
I
find it funny that people argue that social media is ineffective when it
comes to delivering news, yet people are now mad that the conventional
broadcast news on television is not report what is being reported on social
media.
However,
my opinion does not matter – what matters is that there is only so much room
on TV for programs, and news networks have to carefully select what they want
to report on in their limited broadcast time. Perhaps it is not that the
media outlets have forgotten about black lives lost to police and only choose
to highlight Trump, but maybe that the traffic generated by Trump is demanded
more by the public than the stories of black lives lost, and the media
stations choose to fill the program schedule accordingly…
Yes,
black people whom are slain by police deserve to “have their stories told”
and to have justice served, but maybe mainstream media does not have the room
to put the stories into the program, or maybe the public do not want to see
it…or worse, the public is now desensitized to black slaying by police! My
suggestion is to encourage media outlets to cover the stories of police
killing black people, or to embrace social media fully over traditional cable
news.
|
|
Perelman:
Presumptions
|
The
entire article assumes that the mainstream media would rather focus on Trump,
and would ignore police violence against blacks in order to do so.
|
I
would like to point above for my full coverage of this point, but I will add
that it is possible that mainstream media may be unaware that this issue of
police continuing to gun down blacks is still prevalent, and that there is
still a want and need of the people to have it reported.
I
can only say that either the mainstream media should be contacted directly
and be encouraged to cover these stories, or people should abandon the
mainstream media if it does not listen and move exclusively to social media.
|
|
Loci
– Quantity
|
More
news coverage of blacks being gunned down by police (whom may be racist) is
better!
That
is what this article is claiming and what it wants to achieve. I rest my
case.
|
Did
I miss anything from Perelman? Did I overlook a Fallacy? Did I cover all the
Schemes and Tropes within?
If
you spot anything that I missed, feel free to notify me and I will do my best
to correct the issue.
Thank
you for reading! See you next time.
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