Riots once again in Amherst at UMass 3-8-14

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TruePoint
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Re: Riots once again in Amherst at UMass 3-8-14

Unread post by TruePoint »

100% the cops' fault. Just let kids party. I don't understand why our culture glorifies how fun college is, and we all have our own stories to tell about it, yet when current college students party people call 911.

The article actually says that "a 911 call reported 'thousands of students wearing green walking down the street.'" OMG! Kids wearing green! Walking down the street!! Then the article says this prompted "local police, who were already on standby expecting the worst, to spring into action" without any sort of irony or questioning whether this was at all necessary or even rational.

As usual, cops are the worst.
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TruePoint
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Re: Riots once again in Amherst at UMass 3-8-14

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I don't understand what the cops were doing there in the first place. Obviously showing up to a college party in riot gear is provocative. I can understand why a kid would throw a beer can at the people who showed up at their party looking like they were there for a fight. If the cops hadn't interfered, nobody would've gotten hurt - student or cops.
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rhodylaw
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Re: Riots once again in Amherst at UMass 3-8-14

Unread post by rhodylaw »

TP - this country needs to address the issue it has with kids and drinking. Prohibition is not working and is only making things worse as kids cannot openly have a beer without fear of the po-po which creates tension. Turn the drinking age back to 18. Make it 0.2 to drive from 18 to 21 and if you are caught driving .02 to .08 you lose you license for 3 months. Use the increased revenue on beer taxes to step up enforcement on the roads, which is the only place the police belong most times when there are people having a good time. That is a law that promotes designated drivers and doesn't force kids to do other things like prescription drugs to get buzzes which has led to the epidemic of herion abuse.

If I ever get time - I want to draft a bill on this and submit it to the local legislatures. Imagine the economic boon RI could create in providence if they were the first state to roll back the drinking age.
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TruePoint
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Re: Riots once again in Amherst at UMass 3-8-14

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Law, I agree, but you know you can't address the problem at the state level. The feds have highway money and other funding wrapped up in enforcing the 21yo drinking age. In general, the government should be less involved in telling people what they can and can't do. Maybe not the most liberal thing I've ever said, but I don't have a problem with paying taxes or having national education standards. I do have a problem with governing people's behavior on such a micro level. There should be no such thing as a crime unless there is a victim.
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rhodylaw
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Re: Riots once again in Amherst at UMass 3-8-14

Unread post by rhodylaw »

Ahh yes - I forgot about the highway funding. Need to continue to suck at the teet of the Feds or money dries up. Disgusting what this country has turned into where the controllers so easily manipulate the population by giving money back to the states with strings attached ignoring that it is from the states where they took it from in the first place.
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Puck Frovidence
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Re: Riots once again in Amherst at UMass 3-8-14

Unread post by Puck Frovidence »

TP - agree 100%. While I love any chance to point out how neanderthal your typical UMass-Amherst-ian is, this response from campus police is unnecessary and very provocative. I was at UNH when the Sox won and the students emptied out of the bars to find cops lining the street in riot gear. At first it had a slight chilling effect, and then obviously there was the drunken indignant push-back. Saw a couple people get hauled off, possibly warranted, but they would never have been razzing the cops in the first place if they weren't lined up like storm troopers on the Death Star.

Our two-faced prohibition/chuckle and nod approach at URI has decimated any sense of campus culture and driven student drinking into literally the least safe place possible: house parties down the line. You have to drive to get between anywhere unless you live within walking distance to Bon Vue/CharlieOs... but school admins love it because they don't have to deal with the cleanup/hassle. Meanwhile they preach safety but get all misty-eyed talking about smoking pot on the quad or chugging beers down on fraternity row. I just want a bar on campus that I can walk to, but apparently that's crazy.
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theblueram
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Re: Game #32 UMASS, Thurs., March 13, 9:00

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TruePoint wrote:Sweep - already a thread on the police assault on innocent college students in Amherst.
Tp, is that what happened? Or is it a bunch of college douche bags that needed their heads kicked in?
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TruePoint
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Re: Game #32 UMASS, Thurs., March 13, 9:00

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theblueram wrote:
TruePoint wrote:Sweep - already a thread on the police assault on innocent college students in Amherst.
Tp, is that what happened? Or is it a bunch of college douche bags that needed their heads kicked in?
In my opinion, yes. I don't think college kids that want to have a St. Patricks day party are necessarily douche bags, nor do I think that warrants cops showing up in riot gear to pepper spray them (or to kick in their heads). 100% the police's fault.
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