Let's start a riot

This reminds me of any type of sporting event riot.

For example: my freshman year we won the second in a row national hockey title (U of M). Because of this, everyone poured into the street to celebrate. Yeah, we blocked off a street, but it was peaceful with everyone high-fiving.

Then came in the people from the suburbs and the others who weren't watching the game. They took this as a reason to start breaking shit because there were a group of people on the street. Once this started happening, almost all the original people had disbanded but left the troublemakers who decided that breaking windows, ripping down signs, looting liquor stores and harassing everyone was a good idea.

By the end of the night, a bunch of fucks had flipped over cars (in the lot directly behind mine) and caused hundreds of thousands in damage (if not more). Hell, I got teargassed and maced just trying to protect my car and fraternity house I lived in at the time.

Bottom line is, people do it because they don't think they'll get caught and they're being retards. The only way to fix is to either catch them or scare them from doing it.

Added bonus: When the RNC was here in 2010 (the whole Palin fiasco) all of the anarchist protesters took to the streets of St. Paul. There were police out in force but that didn't stop the riots. Cop cars and businesses downtown were destroyed for no reason. However, I got to contribute. As some little fuck threw a bunch of shit out in the intersection in front of cars, and sprinted off away from police, I got to throw a well needed shoulder/close-line into him to knock him on his ass. I'm 6'2" and 240 lbs so this was very entertaining as he was around half my size. The cops came up, arrested him, and gave me a pat on the back. I would have done more if they hadn't showed up.

EDIT - I hate hippies.

 

If there was ever an argument for supporting the spread of cricket, this is it.

 

I'm not sure what your situation growing up was, but if your parents were able to reliably put nutritious food on the table then you would have had a huge leg up on kids that didn't have proper nutrition.

Here is a nice little fact-sheet:
http://www.sboh.wa.gov/Meetings/2003/10_15/documents/pmTab08-Factsheet.pdf

All of my success (which isn't much, but I'm not prone to theft or arson) came at the expense of my parents.

That's hugely important to remember, in my opinion.

If I grew up in poverty I think my chance at success would be exactly the same as the chance for success for those currently in poverty.

 

"Keep calm and carry on"

 

My parents were in LA for the LA riots. They were watching the news, which was showing an area of town where every shop had boarded up their windows and was getting ready to throw down... except one place. It was a small bookstore, and the elderly owner was just sitting out front in a rocking chair, enjoying the view.

"Excuse me, sir, aren't you worried about the rioters and looters?"
"Of course not! They can't read, why would they come in here?"

The riot eventually reached that street, and sure enough his store was spared.

 

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=londoners-vow-to-defend-themselves" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.scientificamerican.com/artic ... themselves</a>

Interesting to see the demographics of the response groups. Not sure how to interpret it, but it's interesting.

 

Luckily, those riots don't look as bad. It appears to be thugs who are just piggybacking off of flash mobs. In that case, the best thing to do is contain them and arrest them. If they get out of hand, beat the shit out of them. Not too hard.

Also, the mentioned stuff happened more than a month ago.

In regards to the mobs of kids going into stores and stealing stuff, that's what security cameras are for. Take pictures, go to the local school, and pull them out of class. Offer one kid immunity to squeal on his buddies. Personally I think we should bring back public flogging for such offenses, but apparently that's "cruel." Poor things.

 

Eagles fans are rioting after winning the offseason.

 

I'm done here, but I did want to respond to this, because it gives me a deep and everlasting faith in the intelligence of our self made men.

Apparently when we look at statistics showing the percentage of the world's wealth/income claimed by various groups, we can make it add up to more than 100%.

Cool, huh?

 

blah, already posted by NettData. I actually kind of want one of the extendable tonfa's that are trending up on Amazon. They look fun.

 

Being used to higher water makes low tide seem worse. Psychologically, it's even worse when you're aground on the rocks and others around you are still sailing on by, oblivious and/or uncaring to your misfortune.

 

I think perhaps you don't understand that metaphor.

 

I think I understood it well enough. What was unclear about mine?

Boring explanation/dissection of the metaphors mentioned above follows.

Spoiler

There's a baseline of survival needs, and an improving economy (read: rising tide) improves the lives of all/almost all members of that economy (boats). We can assume that just scraping by is, say, living on a liferaft, whereas a comfortable existence with some minor luxuries is an actual ship. When the economy takes a downturn (low tide), some people, having become accustomed to a nicer way of living (and a ship with a deeper draft), suffer a significant grounding, whereas others seem to just glide on by, whether due to deeper channels or expertly crafted vessels. Being abandoned in distress while others continue, apathetic to your plight, is infuriating.

To leave someone in distress to their fate when it is easily within your power to change that is usually regarded as cruel or evil.

 

First court appearances have started for those arrested:

http://www.theage.com.au/world/wellheeled-join-downtrodden-in-looting-spree-20110811-1insa.html

So not all poor people then (or life rafts if we are still running with the metaphors above)... There's a few yachts in there slumming it with the life rafts, for shits and giggles apparently.

These fuckers should have the book thrown at them. Im not excusing this dickhead behavior for the real poor people involved but if you have the means to buy all this shit without robbing someone you are an even bigger asshole and deserve to be someone's bitch in prison for the next 15 years.

 

Bullshit. You could easily save a starving Somalian child right now. Why don't you, are you evil?

Just because you don't want to wear the troubles of the world on your shoulders and don't feel responsible for helping people who can't/haven’t/won't help themselves doesn't make you evil. Now if you hunt poor people through the night time forest with a compound bow and an erection, that kinda makes you a bit evil.

There will always be rich and poor in any society, some people just aren’t born with the tools required to be successful in a competitive environment. Unfortunately in western society these same people are the ones having the most children because social security makes it possible. 200 years ago only those with successful attributes could keep large families fed. Now it seems only those with unsuccessful attributes are having large families.

Where is this huge angry underclass coming from? We are breeding them.

 

A) the percentage hasn't stayed the same, it has grown further skewed.
B) it doesn't happen in a year, and that 20 cents wouldn't be worth double what they had before even if they had it
C) I was kidding anyway. The point I wanted to make is that the comment shows a schoolbook understanding of economics, and little to no understanding of social systems and realities.

The worst kind of privilege, to me, is the kind that doesn't know it's privileged. "I did this all on my own, no one ever gave me anything," is a myth that doesn't exist, and more importantly I've never been talking about handouts and charities - I'm talking about being given a fighting chance and being able to do for yourself, which is not a reality for much of the world. If I can't get an education or a decent job or a loan or nutritious food or an awareness of the world outside my shitty looking bubble, I'm a whole lot less likely to "do it all on my own" or even know what the fuck that means.

I sat on my balcony last night watching a kid from the projects nearby walking his dog. The dog clearly had no training at all, it was walking him, and when it got too far ahead he yanked the leash really hard and the dog fell backwards. I literally stood up and yelled at the kid and called him an asshole, and as I sat down I thought of this thread and thought, "that kid has absolutely no idea why I just yelled at him or what he should do instead of yank on the leash."

And the fact that I just yelled at him instead of actually teaching him even the slightest thing about how to train a dog, in my mind, makes me just a little bit complicit in hurting that dog. Because I DO know how, and I DO have the means to learn, and I DO have time to spend 15 minutes explaining how a dog will respond if treated properly.

 

Philly's mayor, flanked by other leaders in the African-American community, blasted the parents for not taking responsibility for their kids. There's a 10:00 pm curfew imposed. If a kid gets caught breaking it, the parents will get a warning the first time, then fined on subsequent curfew violations, with the fines starting at $500. In his speech, he told the black kids that they were a discredit to their race (or words to that effect) and regardless of anyone's socioeconomic status, it wasn't justification for such behavior. That was refreshing to hear. But I still like Netdata's idea better--SWAT teams on the roofs.

And apparently, there's been some escalated delinquency in Wisconsin as well, and 3 very young teens turned themselves in.