How many riots does it take...

[Timsup2nothin]

...to screw in a light bulb?

Or, from a more practical perspective, to get cops to stop killing citizens on a regular basis?

I suspect Baltimore will be even harder to quell than StLouis has been, though I suspect the authorities will handle it without the glaring stupidity so it may not.

 

[Berzerker]

how many stores must be looted and burned to bring justice to the neighborhood?

so a few dozen people wont have jobs tomorrow, wonderful

 

[nc-1701]

Almost certainly more than 2

 

[Smellincoffee]

This is why I live in the woods. Cities make mobs and mobs are bad news.

 

[Berzerker]

one of the places that got torched was new construction for an old folks home

that'll show 'em

 

[Wolfbeckett]

how many stores must be looted and burned to bring justice to the neighborhood?

so a few dozen people wont have jobs tomorrow, wonderful

Yes, solid long term planning skills are not a common feature of angry mobs.

All the burning and looting is certain to raise everyone's standard of living, leading to future prosperity for the whole community.

I also like how the gangs in the area are making a big deal about coming together in support of this. Truly a PR coup, the only thing more certain to get average American citizens on their side would be if Al Qaeda came out in support of the protesters.

 

[Antilogic]

Right, they should just be burning down police stations and prisons.

 

[Arwon]

No cameras or attention for weeks of peaceful protest. Heaps now. What lesson does that teach?

 

[Berzerker]

they're calling it a community center that was under construction

 

[Antilogic]

I mean, why do protestors go on hunger strikes?

Only the protestors go hungry.

Why did those silly Tibetan monks light themselves on fire in public?

Only they burned.

 

[Wolfbeckett]

The lesson that I already knew: the news media is in the business of selling ad space and peace doesn't glue eyeballs to the TV.

 

[Arwon]

The boss of the Orioles had good things to say:

That said, my greater source of personal concern, outrage and sympathy beyond this particular case is focused neither upon one night’s property damage nor upon the acts, but is focused rather upon the past four-decade period during which an American political elite have shipped middle class and working class jobs away from Baltimore and cities and towns around the U.S. to third-world dictatorships like China and others, plunged tens of millions of good, hard-working Americans into economic devastation, and then followed that action around the nation by diminishing every American’s civil rights protections in order to control an unfairly impoverished population living under an ever-declining standard of living and suffering at the butt end of an ever-more militarized and aggressive surveillance state.

The innocent working families of all backgrounds whose lives and dreams have been cut short by excessive violence, surveillance, and other abuses of the Bill of Rights by government pay the true price, and ultimate price, and one that far exceeds the importances of any kids’ game played tonight, or ever, at Camden Yards. We need to keep in mind people are suffering and dying around the U.S., and while we are thankful no one was injured at Camden Yards, there is a far bigger picture for poor Americans in Baltimore and everywhere who don’t have jobs and are losing economic civil and legal rights, and this makes inconvenience at a ballgame irrelevant in light of the needless suffering government is inflicting upon ordinary Americans.

 

[BvBPL]

Or, from a more practical perspective, to get cops to stop killing citizens on a regular basis?

Mu.

That's not the change violent riots effect.

 

[Antilogic]

You guys shouldn't be condemning all the rioters. I'm certain there are a just a few bad apples, the rest are all good.

 

[BvBPL]

There's at least one violent rioter who has her priorities straight.

http://coed.com/2015/04/27/baltimore-riots-mom-slap-video-freddy-gray-protests-looting/

 

[Labtec600]

Yawn. Black man killed by Police. Blacks riot and loot stores with smiles on their faces.

 

[BvBPL]

If anyone is reacting to these events with a yawn then there is a serious problem.

 

[Commodore]

Or, from a more practical perspective, to get cops to stop killing citizens on a regular basis?

I don't know. When are people going to stop sympathizing with local thugs who get killed by the police?

You and I have had this discussion before so you know I don't 100% endorse the excessive use of lethal force by the police, but at the same time I have a very hard time feeling bad for criminals whose lives end staring down the barrel of a police officer's pistol.

Again, I do not condone the unnecessary use of lethal force by the police, but I also do not condone thuggery. So if engaging in thuggery causes one to be the victim of unnecessary police force, well....

 

[Truthy]

...to screw in a light bulb?

Or, from a more practical perspective, to get cops to stop killing citizens on a regular basis?

Infinity, because onlookers will always commiserate more with the damaged property and injured police than the guy the police unnecessarily killed. I can't substantiate this with hard data, but it's clear to me that the vast majority of Americans don't care very much when the cops kill a thug, but are deeply concerned and troubled when rioters destroy property. They'll tend to defend their position by saying things like "well, it's bad PR for the cause and they're just hurting themselves," but this is usually disingenuous, as their first concern was, after all, damaged property.

 

[Commodore]

Infinity, because onlookers will always commiserate more with the damaged property and injured police than the guy the police unnecessarily killed. I can't substantiate this with hard data, but it's clear to me that the vast majority of Americans don't care very much when the cops kill a thug, but are deeply concerned and troubled when rioters destroy property. They'll tend to defend their position by saying things like "well, it's bad PR for the cause and they're just hurting themselves," but this is usually disingenuous, as their first concern was, after all, damaged property.

That's because destroying someone's property who was not involved in the incident being protested in any way, shape or form is just abhorrent behavior that is simply inexcusable.

Also, destroying property shows just how selfish and immature these "protestors" really are. They are basically telling the world they feel it is perfectly okay to destroy someone else's livelihood and rob, loot, and set buildings on fire simply because they are angry at the system.