The truth on Breonna Taylor

[Kishkumen]

I'll agree that I'm biased as is most everyone else on this board. But I don't hate black people as K Graham contends. Does it count when I post the black person's side of the argument and the black person is a conservative? I've posted on Candace Owens, Larry Elder, Thomas Sowell, Allen West, etc.

I am not all that happy with the way attacking you tends to be very imprecise. I am pretty sure I deeply disagree with where you are coming from, but "hating black people" is not necessarily at the root of my disagreement with you. I honestly do not know that you hate black people. You may.

As for quoting black people who are conservative, I take your point. I think Candace Owens is a deplorable human being, but Thomas Sowell is a respected and decent human being. The problem with any identity-oriented worldview is that it only looks at the incidental characteristics of a person and does not take into account their contribution to the good society. Candace Owens is a destructive actor, while Thomas Sowell is a constructive one.

I think real conservativism is a worthwhile and salutary part of our political discussion. I may not agree with conservatives in every particular, but they have something very worthwhile to bring to the table. I would say the same about progressives. Unfortunately, we are in a place where people have become tribal about these "identities," seeing their own side as righteous and the other as fundamentally corrupt and anti-American. In other words, identity politics have completely destroyed political discourse, and I am not talking simply about racial or gender identity politics; I am talking about politics as an identity instead of a set of preferred principles by which one feels the nation should be governed.

So ultimately it just comes down to who we choose to believe. I think officer Mattingly's testimony disproves several things the media reported initially. The fact that the mainstream media consistently erred in a way that favored the criminal rather than the police demonstrates their bias to me and therefore I don't trust the mainstream media.

Wherever anyone is motivated to use anything to advance themselves, beware of the impact of that interest on their actions. Journalists, police officers, people in the media spotlight, etc., etc., all of these people are generally going to say and do what it takes to preserve their reputation and advance themselves. I say don't trust a one of them. Be more concerned about your own approach to these issues. To the extent that any one of us is capable of setting aside our own interest and reputation to do what is right, we are on the side of the angels, and that is where we should be.

We can waste our time trying to decide whether Mattingly or Walker is the hero, the martyr, or the villain, but our time would be better spent on other issues.

[K Graham]

So ultimately it just comes down to who we choose to believe. I think officer Mattingly's testimony disproves several things the media reported initially.

Your belief doesn't establish that he "disproved" anything. Ultimately you're going to believe anything that contradicts the evidence that overwhelmingly undermines your entire political worldview.

The fact that the mainstream media consistently erred in a way that favored the criminal rather than the police demonstrates their bias to me and therefore I don't trust the mainstream media.

They haven't "consistently erred," you just made that up. And you're choosing to believe white cops who have already been caught lying about the case several times.