To riot? The case of political vandalism...

[dgfred]

Hitting the liquor store and the pharmacy didn't seem too random.

 

[JollyRoger]

The American Revolution was born in taverns, so at least they are respecting the alcohol-fueled legacy.

 

[dgfred]

 

[Traitorfish]

Really..? "White America" ?

What is White America?

 

[warpus]

Okay, but there's so many different kinds of white people in the U.S. Do they have a spokesperson or something? You make it sound as though they're all batting for the same team or something.

 

[JollyRoger]

TF, we held a Constitutional Convention to combat that segment of white America. Some haven't got the message yet.

 

[Traitorfish]

Okay, but there's so many different kinds of white people in the U.S. Do they have a spokesperson or something? You make it sound as though they're all batting for the same team or something.

I wouldn't equate "white Americans" to "white America". The former simply describes the aggregate of Americans who happen to be white; the latter describes that part of American society which is self-consciously white to the exclusion of being anything else.

 

[Tahuti]

the latter describes that part of American society which is self-consciously white to the exclusion of being anything else.

The Tea partiers are hardly white-supremacists. The thing is that the Tea partiers' suport base are rural areas with tightly knit family units, while most blacks are city-dwellers. Thus, the Tea Party cannot cultivate any support from the black communities, because they don't derive any support from city-dwellers to begin with.

 

[Azale]

who cares about the individual boston tea party, it was just the seminal political act that began a wave of thuggish behavior, like tarring and feathering, burning down loyalists houses, etc. (I can't remember if that kind of stuff happened before the tea party)

I will say though, I really wish rioters energies were funneled into some kind of actionable political program. Sign 'em up with The Party, maybe then they wouldn't burn down HIV testing facilities and affordable homes for old people. Those are the only incidents which have really annoyed me from their side so far.

 

[Wolfbeckett]

So I take it, Wolfbeckett, that you are saying that theft and destruction of private property can be a part of legitimate protest?

Absolutely. As long as the targets of the destruction are legitimate "combatants", so to speak. Knocking over and vandalizing police vehicles is valid in such a protest. Vandalizing the police department building would also be valid. Burning down your neighbor's house wouldn't be.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

Absolutely. As long as the targets of the destruction are legitimate "combatants", so to speak. Knocking over and vandalizing police vehicles is valid in such a protest. Vandalizing the police department building would also be valid. Burning down your neighbor's house wouldn't be.

"Validity" is less of a concern than "effectiveness".

 

[JollyRoger]

The Tea partiers are hardly white-supremacists. The thing is that the Tea partiers' suport base are rural areas with tightly knit family units, while most blacks are city-dwellers. Thus, the Tea Party cannot cultivate any support from the black communities, because they don't derive any support from city-dwellers to begin with.

There are plenty of Tea Party city dwellers and plenty of blacks living in rural America.

 

[Wolfbeckett]

"Validity" is less of a concern than "effectiveness".

If the point is to win the support of mainstream America, the two are one and the same. Your average American is a lot more likely to be sympathetic to "this group wronged us, so we're strking back" than "this group wronged us, so we're randomly burning everything we can throw our torches at".

 

[civvver]

The problem with looting and burning the cvs is it hurts the community. I live near detroit and baltimore and detroit aren't too drastically different. You can't realistically live in detroit with a family because there are zero pharmacies and grocery stores. What do you think is going to happen now with that cvs? Well, the owner will probably collect an insurance payout and then his premiums will spike so he won't bother to rebuild. Anyone else who wants to bring a business to that area won't be able to afford it either. So the looters aren't being practical at all. They are hurting the sick and elderly in their community who will probably have to take a bus 20 mins away to find another pharmacy. A cvs is not just some corporate linchpin of the local government, a lot of the stuff they provide is needed. A lot of us take it for granted cus we don't live is awful areas like downtown baltimore and have a ton of drugstores to choose from, but they're just sending a signal, hey businesses, screw you guys don't bother investing in our community at all.

Baltimore does have a huge police problem though. Go watch the wire. It was written by guys from there, it's not some fantasy world, a lot of it is based on actual politicians and police.

That said though, couldn't they have found a better candidate to riot over? This guy who died had been arrested over 20 times in 7 years for dealing cocaine and other offenses. He's not exactly an upstanding, contributing member of the community and while I absolutely do not condone the police actions, no one is going to miss him outside of his immediate family.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

If the point is to win the support of mainstream America, the two are one and the same. Your average American is a lot more likely to be sympathetic to "this group wronged us, so we're strking back" than "this group wronged us, so we're randomly burning everything we can throw our torches at".

Since you skipped it before this is redundant, but watching you skip it has its own effectiveness.

Inaccurate. In the first place, directly attacking the police doesn't send a message, it just gets you killed. In the second place, the local government that is supposed to be overseeing the local police generally only really cares about the concerns of citizens who contribute politically. Nothing is more likely to force change than a clear "there is no such thing as police protection" message sent via those people.

A hundred protestors or a thousand will be ignored as rabble, but business owners saying "this confrontation is bad for business" will always have the mayor's ear. The mayor may listen to the chief of police, who will say that the answer is "crack heads," but if the riot runs into overtime it demonstrates that the chief of police is wrong. Ultimately, the existence of the riot is the single undeniable demonstration that the police have failed.

 

[Berzerker]

what other offenses

cuz selling cocaine aint offensive to me

 

[JollyRoger]

Only licensed pharmacists can sell drugs. Thus CVS is an appropriate target.

 

[Berzerker]

Freddie Gray was killed for trying to compete with CVS

 

[Arwon]

Link to video.

 

[Wolfbeckett]

Since you skipped it before this is redundant, but watching you skip it has its own effectiveness.

I didn't address it because it strikes me as irrelevant to this conversation. Your comments are relevant if they are trying to send the message "the police are ineffective", but I was under the impression that the message was "the police are corrupt and abusing their power". I don't see how random violence helps sell that message at all.