Riots: Society's Hissy Fits
Don't stomp your feet... on my car!
The L.A. protests have turned into riots.
Protests bring a cause into the light. They raise public awareness. Riots, however, tend to alienate the public.
Hence, demonstrations become counterproductive when they turn violent.
Are riots ever justified?
In the rioter’s mind, the injustices against him justify injustices towards others. Whatever has hurt the rioter is “so severe” that he is allowed to hurt the world. That is how government policy leads to smashing private cars.
The car company Waymo has not deported any illegal immigrants lately. But it still pays the price.
At a surface level, riots seem senseless.
When a child throws a tantrum, it is usually because of some perceived injustice. It starts kicking and screaming irrationally. Through violence, the child brings the house into disarray.
Riots are different, yet the same. Adults (not children) use violence, and they bring society into disarray.
Both stem from an uncivilized instinct.
Demonstrators try to get their point across. Rioters disturb the peace required to get that point across. Demonstrating and rioting are therefore not just incompatible, but oppositional.
Riots mark where speech ends and violence ensues.
Arguably, violence is not always wrong. Dictators are best removed, even by force. Sometimes, the rebels are indeed the heroes.
Some L.A. rioters believe Trump is like Hitler. This is how they justify getting violent.
But even if he were, riots would be the worst course of action.
By nature, they produce few results and a lot of mayhem.
Americans got their freedom through organized resistance, not mindless destruction. The Boston Tea Party was not spontaneous, but planned. The War of Independence was not a mob-based uprising, but a strategic rebellion.
Violence, without strategy, rarely achieves anything.
It is driven merely by emotion.
Injustices produce trauma. Trauma leads to despair. The rioter channels that into violence.
He harms innocent people (and their properties), perpetuating more injustice. Hence, he goes from victim to perpetrator.
The rioter fails to transcend the negativity and passes it on instead.
His efforts are pointless.
If an authority is not legitimate, society might rebel. If an authority is legitimate, society should follow the law. Riots leave them stuck in between: with all the downsides of violence, but none of the upsides of change.
It is an instrument of chaos: a net negative.