All Lives Matter

[Some Schmo]

It is hard to make a pithy slogan idiot proof.

Many moons ago, I had a pearl of wisdom given to me:

If you manage to make something idiot-proof, the world will just make a better idiot.

The way I heard it was, you can't make something fool proof because fools are so ingenious.

[Moksha]

Wasn't the point of Black Lives Matter an attempt to curb the lawlessness of police gangs?

[Doctor CamNC4Me]

Sometimes I wished BLM would have started out as BLM2. "Black Lives Matter Too."

BLM2. I like that. It does a much better job of inclusiveness.

- Doc

[MeDotOrg]

Cards on the table: MeDotOrg, a lifelong card-carrying liberal, has always been uncomfortable with the phrase 'Black Lives Matter' as opposed to 'All Lives Matter'.

I don't know... It always seemed painfully obvious to me what the message was there, and was honestly surprised right-wingers found a way to obtusely misunderstand it.

Part of the reaction (I think) has to do with the perceived motivations of the speaker. When people hear 'All lives matter' as a deflection from 'Black lives matter', they perceive that the speaker is using 'All lives' to diminish the suffering of 'Black lives'. But in doing so, we allow the expression 'All lives matter' to be co-opted by the racists instead of rightfully claiming it as the aspirational goal of all Americans.