When White People Riot

Ferguson protests v. white people's riots (Opinion) - CNN.com:
(November 20, 2014)

CNN has fulfilled it's mission once again.  By the clever manipulation of Moral Equivalence (even before the riots started) they have assured rioters that anything they do is just fine with their friends in Major Media.

 Just days after the Pumpkin Fest, riots erupted in the largely white town of Morgantown, West Virginia. Why? Because West Virginia University's team beat Baylor at football. The rioters "lit fires, pushed over street lights and threw rocks, beer bottles and other items at police," reported the local news. Police and fire vehicles were damaged. Eight people were arrested.
  Were the riot police, the National Guard, or a state of emergency declared? No. the city is just considering a law to ban upholstered furniture from outdoor areas, since the "tradition" of setting fire to couches apparently fueled the protests.
  Could you imagine a news story about a black community with a "tradition" of burning couches? The media would be pointing out how they're "destroying their own community" and the right would make assertions about black people not deserving public assistance.

[emphasis added]

No, I think that "... a news story about a black community with a 'tradition' of burning couches" would be a welcome relief.



In Ferguson, they're burning police cars.  And stores.  And looting.   And threatening other citizens.  And beating up old white men whose oxygen tank is the chosen weapon of assault.

Both instances of mob mentality are egregious.   Participants in both riots should be required, at least, to pay for their crimes, both judicially and financially.

The difference is, drunken college kids who destroy public property will probably be arrested and be penalized.  And when they sober up, they will probably have learned something from their negative experience.

What's the lesson in Ferguson?   We can do anything we want to, because we have a "Just Cause" and that gives us license to do it.   Arson, assault, anything ... they can't jail us all!

Many of the Ferguson rioters wear masks to protect their identity.  They know that their "Just Cause" is not sufficient justification for their actions.  They know they are primarily looters and arsonists; they went into their acting-out behavior not because of a political, racial or societal motive, but just because they want to rape, pillage and burn.

Oh, and a dozen boxes of Designer Shoes (most of which aren't even in their size) are a strong incentive.

Drunken college kids are like puppies who will pee on the carpet until they have their noses rubbed in it.   They are sometimes capable of learning that their individual actions will carry a penalty, and they may even change the way they act in the future.

Looters and arsonists who are confident in the sure and certain outcome of their actions ... they will NOT be penalized, they will NOT be arrested, they will NOT have to pay for the property they stole, destroyed ... what they will learn is that 'bad behavior' will be rewarded.

And that's the way it is.