Ep. 135 Adrian Lee Oliver on Police Abuse and the Pros & Cons of BLM
Adrian Lee Oliver wrote a Twitter thread on the BLM protests and how they are contributing to racial polarization. The thread took off, leading to Adrian’s appearance on Benjamin Boyce’s podcast. Bob wanted his own listeners to hear Adrian’s personal story of police brutality along with his critique of today’s “anti-racism” campaign.
Mentioned in the Episode and Other Links of Interest:
- The YouTube version of this interview.
- Adrian Lee Oliver’s original Twitter thread that brought him attention.
- Adrian’s appearance on Benjamin Boyce’s podcast.
- Bob’s debate on postmodernism with Thaddeus Russell.
- Helen Pluckrose and James Lindsay on Thaddeus’ podcast.
- Academic literature on “implicit bias.” An article showing the concept in today’s usage.
- Help support the Bob Murphy Show.
The audio production for this episode was provided by Podsworth Media.
About the author, Robert
Christian and economist, Chief Economist at infineo, and Senior Fellow with the Mises Institute.
George Floyd’s case was blown out of proportion so incredibly, one wonders if Officer Chauvin was guilty of anything at all. I was personally taken into the hype for a while as well: pointing to this as a case of police brutality instead of others. Now I wonder if I contributed to a big lie.
The question becomes, so many of us are incredibly fed up with Legacy Media, and like to think we have left Media in it’s circlejerks, but truly, how much of our beliefs are influenced by the media?
Why does 99% of the population accept the institution of the State as Supreme Arbiter of Property and Life? Why is it that everybody I talk to about U.S. History knows only the mainstream perspective, even, for the most part, people who are actual, self-proclaimed fascists?
I would like to repeat, more specifically, my statement from the paragraph before the last. How much of what we know about so-called major events, and actual turning points, in human history is actually influenced by the media? When the world is finally unfettered, through whatever process, and some historians try and revise history, to see what *actually* happened, what might they say about current events?
We live in an odd time. The most we can do is drop marketpills throughout casual conversation, and hope we live to see the day we wake up from bed without the metaphorical chains that bind us today.
The video seems to pretty clearly show a case of police brutality. Chauvin continued to kneel on the man’s neck long after he was “under control,” and even after they stopped getting a pulse from him.
If he had just wrestled him down and put the knee on his neck to get the cuffs on, or if Floyd was struggling, and he stopped after getting him under control, that might be one thing.
But continuing well after the suspect was under control, and despite warnings from other officers that he should put him in the supporting (side) position? Seems like a clear case for manslaughter to me. We can’t read the man’s mind, so I’m not sure about the 2nd degree murder charge.
Great interview. Very interesting perspective.