HackerTube.dev

Ferguson, MO and Police Militarization: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

LastWeekTonight · 13.2M views · 2014-08-18 · 15:10

Open on YouTube ↗

If playback is restricted in your region, try opening the original video. Use Mark watched to add it to your marked videos.

Overview

A Last Week Tonight segment on the Ferguson shooting, racial inequality in policing, and the militarization of local police forces in the US.

On Hacker News

HN cites it as a well-made explainer on police militarization that remains relevant years later.

Recommended by 2 HN people across 2 months · HN mentions 2020–2026

Topics

Law, policing & justiceMedia, journalism & propagandaSocial issues & culture
Search by tags
john oliverfergusonpolicingmilitarizationcivil liberties

What people said

javajosh · 2022-07 · Recommendation

John Oliver did a good "writeup" about Ferguson and why it mattered back in 2014. You should watch it, and see if you think it wasn't notable: [VIDEO]

Read the original HN comment ↗
close04 · 2020-06 · Recommendation

BTW, 5 years old but more relevant than ever. It also touches on the difference between police and military: [VIDEO] US citizens deserve the same response in daily life from a police under the "serve and protect" banner that an enemy combatant gets from the opposing military during an active conflict? You can't treat every citizen as if they are the worst possible one. If you got this "you could be the worst ever" treatment in any other situation you would certainly not find acceptable to reference the fact that the army also does it while in a war.

Read the original HN comment ↗
troupo · 2026-07 · Reference

John Oliver did a report on militarization of police 11 years ago . It's only become worse since: [VIDEO]

Read the original HN comment ↗

Sources

Video by LastWeekTonight, played through YouTube.

Data and selection notes

HN summaries and labels may contain AI errors. HN dates refer to discussions, not video publication.

HN Library: HackerTube export (2026-10-31) and open-index/hacker-news. Upstream summaries and classifications may contain AI errors.

Views, duration and playback status refresh separately from the published catalog. When an update fails, existing data remains visible.

Selection checks
  • SaaS & AI candidates: Topic keywords do not match
  • Editor-approved picks: Editorial review is required

Rule matches identify candidates. They do not guarantee video quality or financial results.

About the library and its sources