A Season in Pandemonium

Pandemonium, the capital of Satan and his subjects.

It looks as though George Floyd may have killed himself after all. Autopsy has shown he had fentanyl and methamphetamine in his system. We do not know how much; but an overdose of fentanyl is deadly on its own, and causes death by asphyxiation. It is possible the officer was just following standard procedure, a procedure regularly used by Minneapolis police without serious consequences, but there were unknown additional factors in this case. This would explain why none of the other officers seemed concerned.

If so, it is awful to think of the poor officer, who is as much a victim in all this as Floyd himself. Even if he is acquitted of murder, he has lost his job, career, and marriage, and his face is known and hated worldwide. How can he live? And he might have only been doing his job.

A lot of people are publicly endorsing the “justified peaceful protests” since the killing. Police officers themselves have joined in. Slate magazine has run a piece helpfully advising on how you can demonstrate—or riot—without being identified by the police.

I think peaceful protests are illegitimate here, even without the rioting. What are they protesting against, or for? Against the killing of Floyd? But the policeman responsible is already charged with murder; the matter will be dealt with by the courts. They can only, then, be protesting this process; which is dangerous. Getting your day in court, and a fair, unprejudiced trial before a jury of one’s peers is a foundation of our freedom and our system of government. Mob rule and lynchings are unlikely to be an improvement. The very act of protesting publicly subverts the possibility of a fair trial.

Are they protesting police racism more generally? It seems hard to make the case that the Minneapolis police force is anti-black, since the police chief is black. Are there statistics showing that black suspects are treated more roughly than white? If so, that needs to be demonstrated by reasoned argument, not imposed by shouting in the streets, let alone threats of force.

And it seems incumbent on anyone making that charge to also offer specific solutions. It is hard to make proposals by shouting in the streets; but even given that, has anyone shouted or spraypainted any workable ideas for improvement? I’m not sure “down with capitalism” or “abolish the police” counts.

So long as we have freedom of speech and a free press, there is scant justification for taking any protest to the streets in any case. If you had a good argument, you pretty obviously wouldn’t. And while we can certainly criticize the media for limiting the opinions “given a platform,” it is still more possible to be heard now, with the Internet, than ever before in anyone’s history.

And the present context is not peaceful protest. That is an egregious lie. It is unrestrained looting, rioting, and what indeed looks like terrorism, violence directed at a political purpose. Trump is right about that, and whatever the practical consequences, it is essential to call a spade a spade. Anyone who sincerely believes in peaceful protest would nevertheless stay home in this case until and unless the rioting ends. Anyone present at a riot, even if they are not themselves engaged, unless they are trying to stop it, is aiding and abetting that riot. None so guilty as the innocent bystander, at least in this case; they serve as human cover. They grant the terrorists their opportunity and their anonymity.

Not to mention the obvious fact that milling about in crowds right now is likely spreading a deadly pandemic, and delaying the day when desperately poor people can again make a livelihood. If you sincerely care about the death of George Floyd, why would you immediately do your best to cause the deaths of more innocent people?

Those of us who genuinely care about George Floyd will stay home, light a candle, and put it in our window to express our concern and solidarity. Then we will pray for his soul’s repose.