Beren

Hey, always glad to see more people wanting to create content, I don't really see it as competition myself - I just want to be able to share what I have to others who might enjoy them. That said, I felt the same way as you before I started posting my stuff on the site. One thing to keep in mind when posting textures is having a link to the models you're making the texture for in the description. You really only need to upload the texture files themselves. Most of the time, you don't really need to ask for the modeler's permission - just the link to their model and a mention in the credits are enough. Also make sure that your texture is completely made by you and doesn't use resources from other authors, unless they allowed it. This is probably going to be your biggest concern, as some people can be too sensitive. I even had one who got suspicious over...a font. The kind of fonts you can get for free online...

BLM doesn't hold a monopoly on fair treatment of blacks, just as today's 3rd wave feminism doesn't hold a monopoly on equity for women. To not support BLM does not mean that you don't support blacks. Is there an issue with police brutality in America? Yes, of course, I doubt anyone can confidently deny that. But is there an "epidemic" of police killing blacks indiscriminately? No, there isn't. At least, not how the media portrays it to be. Of the total of around 800 people who have died by police this year, 198 were black. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2015/jun/01/the-counted-police-killings-us-database Of that 198, 138 were killed while being armed with a weapon. Only 28 unarmed blacks have been shot and killed by police. As I mentioned in another thread, the label "unarmed" is often given literally, as in the person literally was not actively using anything that could be considered a weapon. However, it doesn't take into account whether or not the suspect was either reaching for a weapon or was about to commit some other form of violence - making the total number of probable unjust killings lower. But let's take those 28 deaths; 28 deaths in one year over the thousands of instances of police interactions everyday? Doesn't really scream "epidemic" to me, more like sensationalist reporting by the media over-blowing an issue way out of proportions. Of course, the real number of police killings cannot be documented with 100% accuracy, but we have to make do with what info we do have. I can sympathize with the underlying cause that started BLM - that blacks deserve fair treatment just like everyone else, but I hold that idea for all race. No, not just race, for all people. As it is now, I cannot support the actions of BLM as they continue to widen this racial divide between people and actively influence others to riot and burn their communities, gleefully hunt random people and beat them simply because they were white, call for segregated housing (yes, that's a thing now apparently) in colleges because they refuse to live with whites, hijack memorials like the one meant for the victims of Orlando just to promote their own agenda instead, and chanting for the death of cops. Oh, and don't forget outright hostility to the media, just like that time where rioters tried to toss a journalist into the fire during the Charlotte riots: http://dailycaller.com/2016/09/22/charlotte-rioters-try-to-burn-reporter-alive/ As for the OP, I take "social experiment" videos with a grain of salt. As mentioned already, a lot of them have been found to be staged. You would probably be better off posting a public "all lives matter" banner on social media, like Facebook, and compare the reactions you get from there. From what I've seen, a lot of people don't take too kindly to it there.

What I'm saying is that there's a correlation between police treatment of blacks and the fact that majority of violent crimes are committed by blacks. You responded by saying that whites kill more cops, and I replied with how the FBI confusingly considers Hispanics as white, so statistically, real whites could be lower, thereby possibly making blacks the real majority. I did, and it conflicted with your points within the same articles. The reason why blacks aren't landing more jobs is because, and I'm quoting from the thinkprogress.org article, " According to Census Bureau data, blacks are almost twice as likely as whites to drop out of high school and are half as likely to get a post-baccalaureate degree." Again, this brings me back to my point that it's not about race, but rather an individual's will to achieve something greater in their lives. And as it is now, not a lot of blacks are willing to go through school, statistically speaking. Even then, from the same article, it says that "...a professional degree gives a black male a 146 percent larger increase in employment opportunities than his white counterparts." So how is that being unfair to them? Blacks are being arrested more because the police tend to patrol high-crime areas, and they just so happen to be mostly within black neighborhoods. It's simply a case of happenstance. Sure, Billy and friends in Beverly Hills do more drugs, but they don't have to worry about increased police presence. It's not like there are gang shootouts everyday or hustlers actively dealings drugs on the streets of Beverly Hills. And most of these blacks who are caught with drugs were breaking some other law for the cops to have stopped them in the first place. They just so happen to have drugs on them at the time. No, I'm sorry, but that's just not true. I know that anecdotal evidence doesn't have as much weight in debates, but one of my best friends grew up in Detroit. He and his family were somewhat decent when it came to their finances. He came here to LA to study at the Art Institute and make it big in either the music or movie industry. He worked hard and helped soo many people during his time studying here, and now he has several internship offers from higher ups of top companies such as Riot Games, Universal Studios, The Asylum (people who made Sharknado), etc, just before he's about to graduate. And he has already done some work in Universal, where his uncle works too. Through his dedication and hard work towards the perfection of his craft and networking with people, he is moving up in the world. It didn't matter that he was black, only that he knew what his goals were and worked for it. I didn't say it was going to be easy, only that it was possible so long as that individual tried. I will, but I have a feeling that even those will have some twist. It's something that they're known to do... Once a source is caught outright lying and twisting the truth, just like in that example I showed you, everything they say I take with a grain of salt... Again, it's still difficult to compare laws made back then with the laws we have now. Segregation was still a thing and of course blacks would be imprisoned for even sharing the same room with whites. But we don't have such laws anymore. Being arrested for drugs now is no petty thing, but that's a whole other topic. Isn't the entire point of this thread is to debate against BLM? And why should I, or anyone for that matter, like what they want? Reparations? More handouts? That's crazy. Who is going to pay and to whom, exactly? Like, with the issue of Civil War reparations, WHY would ANYONE be obliged to pay reparations today for something that happened hundreds of years ago? There were only a handful of somewhat reasonable demands based on grounded evidence (eg. removing privatized prisons), but most of them were just entirely unreasonable. I still don't like the idea of community controlled law enforcement. There's a lot of room for abuse in that. BLM wants communities to also control the budget and the right to hire and fire officers. And what kind of community are they talking about? I can picture a "community" ran by some mob boss who now has direct control of the entire police force of that town/city since they're separate from the government now. A better way to solve this would be to provide more accountability for offices - make bodycams mandatory, have an independent group or tribunal overlook cases of police misconduct, end the privatization of the prison system so that there won't be anymore "quotas." Giving complete control to the community would make mob justice types of situations more likely towards police officers. If that makes facts racists, then I don't know what to say. If most of the crimes committed are done by a particular group, then I think it's understandable that the police would be more wary of said group. My main point is that there's probably reason as to why the police seem to be targeting blacks, and that it isn't flat out racism. Yes, evidence could be planted and that should be taken into consideration as well. But a drugged out guy is still a threat, may not always be deadly, but again, it's the unpredictability. And I can't blame the cops for being afraid. There's more than a handful of instances where the cops themselves were gunned down within the blink of an eye with no warning whatsoever. I don't think that would ever stop though, sadly. Both sides will fear that the other is going to shoot them at any moment. And I don't think any amount of training can help you from being shot in a split second. Yes, I don't deny that racism exists on a personal level, and it's another thing that I fear won't go away anytime soon, unless everyone around the world suddenly agrees to just stop talking about it completely and just see each other as human beings. And yes, I won't deny that certain individuals will act upon those biases to twist the law against someone else. It's just strictly the laws that aren't intentionally racist, is what I'm getting at. Oh, no, I didn't mean to say that you were the one against it. It's just something I keep hearing from a lot of people. And perhaps, it's not something I want to say with certainty, but I don't doubt that it's possible that they would think that if he was white. Are they from third-party sources? I can imagine why the rioters would say that the police started it and I can also see the police say that the rioters hit first. But if those narratives come from independent, neutral sources, then that's pretty damning. I can agree that there's room for more training for police officers. But is military-grade training a suitable replacement? I always thought that people were against the further militarization of the police force. Raising kids to hate and even kill cops isn't helping either. And I didn't think that you were trying to make me like them. Like I said before, BLM started out with noble, albeit with some misinformed, intentions, but just like most ideological groups today (like 3rd wave feminism), they've been hijacked by radicals and racists. To be against BLM doesn't, or at least shouldn't, make you anti-black, just like being anti-feminists doesn't make you anti-woman, etc.

Wouldn't mind having an Impala with a valor to complete my airport police fleet, since police at LAX use Impalas with a valor.

The thing that confuses me about the FBI statistics on that is they sometimes include Hispanics into the white category, so the overall number of whites could be lower than that. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2015/01/09/are-black-or-white-offenders-more-likely-to-kill-police/ Racism and racial biases, still exist, yes, I agree. But systemic racism? When I mentioned laws, I was referring to laws that could possibly prevent blacks and minorities from succeeding in life. They're not excluded from receiving a better education, from applying for jobs, or even landing in high positions within government. The war on drugs, while devastating for sure, is targeting people who are already committing crimes in the first place. Whether or not drugs should be legal, is another debate, but right now, a lot of them aren't. Also CNN... isn't exactly the most reliable of sources. Especially after this: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/aug/16/cnn-edits-out-milwaukee-victims-sister-sherelle-sm/ I'm assuming that you meant to say, "Today, our laws aren't explicitly racist," and you're right. And regardless of how small they are, they are still crimes. And I did, most of it boiled down to, "you owe us, give me money." https://policy.m4bl.org/reparations/ Also, "direct community control" over all law enforcement agencies? Really? I don't think they realize what a dangerous precedent that could be. Looking back at it, yes, they should have an actual link to that FBI statistics page, but the point of that was to explain why the police and the public view blacks in that stereotype of being thugs. Not that the stereotype itself is a good thing, mind you, but maybe because of this, the police act the way they do around poorer black communities. At this point, we can't say for sure either way. On the contrary, erratic behavior is unpredictable, and unpredictability can be a life or death situation for an officer. They reported to have found a vial for PCP in the car. I've seen videos of people under PCP, they can literally go berserk. But of course, we still need the autopsy and toxicology reports to know for sure. And I think that example would be better if it wasn't some well known actor. Another type of bias would be in play, or that his star power would sway the officer's actions. Of course cops wouldn't be so quick to kill him. It would have been the same if the person was Shaq. All we know is that he was acting strange, and refused to obey orders to stop, and he had a vial for PCP in the car. I think the real question should be - could the officers really tell if the windows were rolled down or not? That's why he was shot, right? Because they thought the windows were down and he was reaching? Of course, we found out that it wasn't, but that's later. How did those cops see it at that moment? I really wish one of them had a body cam. And I can understand why the officer was initially scared of him first. He was bigger than her. And men are just naturally stronger than women. But that's before backup came. I agree that she shouldn't have had reason to be scared of him after that. And I don't think you're accusing cops of being evil. We all want this violence to end. I agree that there is embedded racism on a personal level, but I can't agree that it's systemic in that the system itself actively discriminates. The pilot said that he looked like a "bad dude" because he seemingly wasn't obeying orders to stop. You have to put yourself in his shoes - you see a suspect, walking back towards his car, refusing to listen to the cops. Usually, that means one of two things: a. he's going to jump in and flee, b. he's going to reach for something. How would you describe him? I'd say that he looks like a bad guy too, wouldn't you? Regardless of skin color. And the token black guy doesn't always die first, if at all: http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/10/black-characters-horror-movies/verdict Yes, but around 20 officers were injured from rocks and other objects during the riots in St. Paul, Minn. They weren't wearing full protective riot gear. With amount of riots that's been happening in the US, I'd prefer to wear some protective gear too if I was a riot police. We can both agree on that. This violence has to end. This racial divide is also something we need to tear down. I don't consider a person black, asian, or hispanic, I consider them as fellow human beings. I also agree body cameras should be mandatory (hopefully with better quality... the videos we get look like there taken from a potato) and better training. The problem I have with military members saying all that is most of their engagements happen over long distances and they go in there knowing that they will be engaged. When it comes to cops, shootings can happen just a few feet away, sometimes point-blank. A lot of cops have died from criminals quickly shooting them before they could even say hello. So, I don't know. Also, aren't some cops veterans as well? I don't hear them saying the same thing. Of course, they're the ones who actually know how it feels to be on patrol. But change also needs to come from the people as well. The healing process is a two-way street. Cops need to connect more with community, while the community needs to learn to not engage in crime. Doesn't surprise me either. And it's not just BLM protests, there are a ton of individual cases where they simply blast their own racisms and violent rhetoric. I mean, there are videos of them everywhere to the point that they've become the butt of the joke for the internet. BLM UK seems to think that even air pollution is racist, nevermind that we all breathe the same air...

Whoah, must feel like Captain Ahab having spotted these rare, white beasts around LA. I wouldn't mind seeing regular 16's using the arjent.

Those people do sound crazy, but how often do we hear of gun rights groups actually killing cops in the name of their ideologies? BLM can say what they want, but the moment when people start acting upon those violent rhetoric, that's when it becomes an issue. I've also yet to see a gun rights activist go up into my face pushing their agenda, whereas BLM activists have been... more than vocal, to say the least. And I blame the media for downplaying issues and selectively reporting based on which will net them the most views. And race issues definitely garners views. If we were both in the 60s, I can wholeheartedly agree with you. There certainly was oppression in one form or another, the police were brutal, and there were laws actively discriminating against blacks. I don't think anyone can deny that. But, as nic227 pointed out, that's more than 40-50 years ago, progress has been made since then. What law, that we have now, specifically discriminates against blacks and other minorities? I'd like to know, because I'll stand by you to fight against it, but at this point I can't think of any. And protesting is completely fine, they have a right to do so, I only take issue when it turns into a riot and stores are looted and burned. At that point, nobody wins regardless of the point being made. Also, believe it or not, but segregation is back. But it's not mandated by the government - it's self-imposed by black students in universities, and I can't, for the life of me, understand why... And what kind of reform does BLM want, exactly? The disbandment of the police force? Because that was brought up I don't mind the read, I want to be able to gather every info on a topic. I'll be looking into the sources of those articles though, as some of those sites I've found to be misleading before. The thing with stereotypes, as much as I try to avoid using it to justify anything, is that there are some truth to them. Something had to have happened in order for it to be so pervasive in society. Blacks, while only making up around 13% of the entire US population, are responsible for around 50% of murders, 60% of robberies, and make up 40% of cop killers. http://blogs.channel4.com/factcheck/factcheck-black-americans-commit-crime/19439 https://infogr.am/Black-34991937313 But again, I don't believe it has anything to do with race. Blacks are also disproportionately impoverished while having one of the largest single-mother rates of any demographic. And it's this level of poverty and plight that causes such high crime rate. I believe that this is the root of the problem. Yes, I agree that Scott's death does seem highly suspicious. There are a lot of questions I keep asking regarding the entire ordeal, to both sides. Like, why did Scott not have his arms up as he backed up? Why was he doing it so quickly? What was that black object on his leg? And what made the cops deem it necessary to really shoot the guy? There has to be more to this. I'm only leaning towards the cops side for now on this simply because after the shooting, the cops were asking for the wife to come over, to which she refused. If the cops really were trying to cover up the gun, why would they be willing to have her over? As she was filming? Like I said, a lot of questions that I've been trying to find answers to. But if the cops were in the wrong, then they do deserve whatever punishment that's handed to them. Doesn't matter if the man had a lengthy record on his name. As in the case of Tulsa, I'm more inclined to believe that the man was under the influence of something to have him behave the way he did. I'm not saying the shooting was entirely justified, but he was strangely going towards his car for whatever reason and the fact that witness say he ran out of the car saying it was going to blow. If it really was just a simple case of the car breaking down, why would he think it was going to explode? We'll have to wait for toxicology reports I guess. And what makes you assume that it has to be the cops who provoke them first? It could easily have been any of the protesters, or even some maniac who just wants to see the world burn, who attacked first. But I'm finding it difficult to properly compare the two since the man in SF was attempting suicide and even called the police about it. There's a whole different mindset when it comes to handling the situation and the police were aware of the type of situation and were able to take the time to plan things through in SF, whereas Scott was a complete unknown to the officers who came up to him and things happened fast. Perhaps, but the vast majority of civil unrest in the US in 2013-16 that did occur stem from protests against police shootings. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_incidents_of_civil_unrest_in_the_United_States#2010s

I can't speak for most folks, but to me, it's not the message that I have issues with, but rather the actions of the people who use BLM as a slogan. Like many groups/ideologies that started out from seemingly noble ideas, I feel like BLM has been hijacked by what seems like radical and even racists. From a video of a BLM rally where whites were ordered to go to the back, to a gay pride parade that was stopped unless they made BLM issues the main focus, or a memorial for the Orlando victims interrupted simply because cops where the ones organizing it. The people who have taken up the BLM flag have continuously proven that they cannot be reasoned with, and with them chanting death to cops, it's not hard to see why other people see them in such a negative light. I have to disagree, if society did in fact treat blacks as if they didn't matter then we never would have black police chiefs, black attorney generals, black musicians, black movie stars, black supreme court judges, and even a black president. I don't think it's so much a matter of race or skin color, but rather an individual's own upbringing and will to achieve in life. Regarding the "SCORES" of unarmed blacks, just in 2016 alone, according to The Counted, only 26 "unarmed" blacks have been EDIT: shot dead (not just killed) by police. However, the "unarmed" bit is usually given in a literal sense. Some of these cases involved suspects where unarmed but went to reach for a weapon when shot, so the real number of true unarmed killings might be lower. Someone will have to dig deeper for that number. But let's say it's really just 26, BLM seems to always say how unarmed killings by police officers are so prevalent. But 26 killings in just one year out of the thousands of police interactions everyday? It doesn't really scream "epidemic" to me. Didn't the police chief say in a press conference that the police videos were inconclusive to whether or not a gun can be seen? Releasing something like that can only serve to fan the flames. And they were right. Even with the release of the dash and body cam footage, there is still a huge debate on whether or not he was armed. I can't really say much on the 6 hour standoff, I'll have to make some time to research more about it. But if the point of that statement is to say that police take other races into custody more than blacks, then I suggest looking up which ethnicity makes up the majority of our prison system. The problem with that is whenever there's a protest involving police shootings blacks, most of them have turned up into violent riots.