Ferguson - Myth, Reality, and PBS Chart Revisit

[maxparrish]

While the meme of "hands up" becomes an urban legend, a new chart has appeared that provides a whole new perspective:

 

[AthenaAwakened]

Max,

You don't get to shoot black people and then get to think nothing is wrong with that.

So before you or anybody else tries AGAIN to make what happened in Ferguson a righteous thing, and a game to win...

Be assured

A young man was killed and the man who killed him didn't have to. And that will never be a righteous thing.

 

[dystopian]

Holy shit, someone is in need of some serious lessons in designing readable charts.

 

[KeepTalking]

Did this chart come from the back page of Mad Magazine?

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Whole new perspective indeed. As in maybe an entirely illegible one.

From a quick overview, my understanding is that it is in the bottom half of the 6th, and the Cubs are beating the Orioles 4-3.

Or maybe someone is bowling in the 7th frame and has a score of 131.

 

[maxparrish]

Holy shit, someone is in need of some serious lessons in designing readable charts.

It took me a while to decipher it, which requires a close reading of the Chart Legend. After doing a little investigation, the chart was created by a member of a conservative site called The Last Refuge, which has intensively followed the controversy. While they are mainly reliable, the were at least a few prior errors on Ferguson that make me reserve judgement on this chart.

None the less, the poster "DumbScribblyUnctious" has tweeted it to PBS who is reviewing it, apparently to revise their own chart.

https://twitter.com/ScriblyUnctious

The most important take away from the chart is that it illuminates the complexity of issues like "hands up" (e.g. all the way, half way, palms up, palms down, etc.).

 

[dismal]

Max,

You don;t get to shoot black people and then get to think nothing is wrong with that.

Do you actually imagine that the debate in Ferguson is between people who think it's OK to shoot black people and people who don't?

Because if not this seems like a ridiculous, unfair, offensive and outright pathetic tactic.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Max,

You don;t get to shoot black people and then get to think nothing is wrong with that.

Do you actually imagine that the debate in Ferguson is between people who think it's OK to shoot black people and people who don't?

No. It is more between the people that think that if a black person was shot by an officer, it was the only viable option... and the people that think just because an officer fired a bullet doesn't mean it was required.

 

[dismal]

Do you actually imagine that the debate in Ferguson is between people who think it's OK to shoot black people and people who don't?

No. It is more between the people that think that if a black person was shot by an officer, it was the only viable option... and the people that think just because an officer fired a bullet doesn't mean it was required.

I don't believe I have ever heard anyone say that Wilson's only option was to shoot Brown. The question is whether it was justified, not required.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

No. It is more between the people that think that if a black person was shot by an officer, it was the only viable option... and the people that think just because an officer fired a bullet doesn't mean it was required.

I don't believe I have ever heard anyone say that Wilson's only option was to shoot Brown. The question is whether it was justified, not required.

I'm curious. When is it justified for an officer to open fire if he has other viable options?

 

[laughing dog]

The most important take away from the chart is that it illuminates the complexity of issues like "hands up" (e.g. all the way, half way, palms up, palms down, etc.).

I agree. Yet we have "reliable" conservative website(s) making definitive claims about the righteousness of Wilson's shoot.

 

[dismal]

I don't believe I have ever heard anyone say that Wilson's only option was to shoot Brown. The question is whether it was justified, not required.

I'm curious. When is it justified for an officer to open fire if he has other viable options?

Perhaps you should have researched this before taking a position on this topic.

 

[ksen]

a conservative site . . . mainly reliable

- - - Updated - - -

No. It is more between the people that think that if a black person was shot by an officer, it was the only viable option... and the people that think just because an officer fired a bullet doesn't mean it was required.

I don't believe I have ever heard anyone say that Wilson's only option was to shoot Brown. The question is whether it was justified, not required.

doubtingt was spouting off yesterday that the shots Wilson fired were necessary. So there's one for you.

 

[maxparrish]

The author has just provided his chart without the PBS data overlay:

 

[Shadowy Man]

I don't believe I have ever heard anyone say that Wilson's only option was to shoot Brown. The question is whether it was justified, not required.

I'm curious. When is it justified for an officer to open fire if he has other viable options?

Depends on what you mean by "viable option". Responses I have seen that though it may be "viable" for a policeman to run away it is not what he is supposed to do. If he's confronted by a criminal who means him mortal harm, he is 'justified' in shooting, even if he has the ability to hide in his car or drive away. He is not a civilian so it is his duty to confront criminals and if that means using deadly force then that is what he must do. At least that's the thinking that I've seen represented here.

The problem with the Wilson/Brown case is that multiple aspects of the situation remain unclear.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Holy shit, someone is in need of some serious lessons in designing readable charts.

I think this is likely a low-res screen cap, not the chart as it originally existed. Google turns up a much more readable version:

http://i.imgur.com/xWNjLjK.png

I still have some problem following it because I have some red-green vision issues but that's something that the average person with normal color vision is likely to get wrong.

He's got some *MAJOR* disagreement with the PBS evaluation of the interviews. I would like to know who is right.

 

[scombrid]

Did this chart come from the back page of Mad Magazine?

Don't know.

Would like to see a link to a source.

Don't really see why it is acceptable for big copy/paste without links to originals or significant descriptive commentary.

 

[maxparrish]

Did this chart come from the back page of Mad Magazine?

Don't know.

Would like to see a link to a source.

Don't really see why it is acceptable for big copy/paste without links to originals or significant descriptive commentary.

See post 6 - https://twitter.com/ScriblyUnctious

 

[RavenSky]

No. It is more between the people that think that if a black person was shot by an officer, it was the only viable option... and the people that think just because an officer fired a bullet doesn't mean it was required.

I don't believe I have ever heard anyone say that Wilson's only option was to shoot Brown. The question is whether it was justified, not required.

Wilson claims it was his only option

 

[Nice Squirrel]

I don't believe I have ever heard anyone say that Wilson's only option was to shoot Brown. The question is whether it was justified, not required.

I'm curious. When is it justified for an officer to open fire if he has other viable options?

Me too.