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Paying the Piper
We locked everyone down, each person in their own cell. And those of us who opposed the lockdown kept saying that it was not good for people or communities or society, that there would be a price to pay — not just in physical health, but also in mental wellbeing. We even denied them the opiate of the masses: spectator sports, civilization’s way to bleed off the extra competitive and destructive energies.
Now here we are. What we are seeing is nothing more or less than a prison riot: what happens when people who have been locked up see an opportunity to break out and rage.
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Or when the earning opportunities are suddenly reduced to the ones that pay for violence and destruction. Any excuse will do in a pinch, it all gets shoved under “consciousness raising”. The instigators moving through the crowds trying to pass out bricks and stones to peaceful protesters are not an organic response to a murder by police but an attack on the protesters and the fabric of our society.
No question, the ham handed antiscientific response to Covid-19 by politicians and bureaucrats set conditions where any provocation could beget rage, but that is not the only force at work here.
Yes. This is not about Floyd. Ask anyone in a prison riot why they are rioting, and the answers won’t make any more sense.
@ltpwfdcm, any thoughts on this?
It’s unfortunate for Atlanta that the rioters didn’t know that Gov. Kemp did quite a bit to reopen the state over five weeks ago.
Just as the left was incredibly nimble in “weaponizing” the WuFlu, I think it has activated its forces in response to this police incident. And, it’s one they have a ready script, cast, crew and props for. They’ve even been doing out of town shows in Portland to get the thing tuned up or just keep in training. I think it’s one of the well established tactics used by radicals. The response to Occupy Wall St blessed it and made it a franchise operation that anyone could buy into. I remember the 1968-ish atmosphere pretty well and some things are in common – read Days of Rage for a refresher if you need – and this is similar but much more solidified if you will. It’s far more practised and assured in execution and not just a buncha committed guys n gals making a statement. There weren’t so many “extras.” This feels solidly orchestrated, where that era did not – even allowing for my own age difference and awareness.
I’ve observed that as we’ve locked things down further here, that there has been an overall tension increase that is often palpable. There’s the usual spread in the display of anxiety – some are much more openly anxious than others – the PTB have done some good things to mitigate the downsides. The big difference between inside prison and iWe’s analogy is that in the prison, they crackdown immediately as soon as things start. (Its funny how quickly “tough” guys hit the floor when they hear a shotgun being racked or one of the K-9’s barking.) On the outside, the fine line becomes in properly drawing the line on observing people’s 1st Amendment rights.
The “prison” is not just the literal lockdown. The media assault on our minds, stoking our fears, has created a prison in our own minds. People are emotionally keyed into that mindset. And it leads to explosive episodes.
“You don’t need locks to have a prison. You just need prisoners.” (Life episode)
We are all locked down, but the rioting and looting seems to largely be occurring in certain areas and certain specific demographics. Like it usually does, lockdowns or not. My town is in no more danger of breaking out in riots than it was six months ago. In fact, people seem to be taking the opportunity to enjoy the free things in life: A lot of couples out walking in the evening, a lot of family gatherings.
I have a feeling a lot of the riots are being fueled by heavy drinking, in which case, the government has things backward. Instead of imposing an evening curfew, we should be waking up these people at 7 in the morning. Loud neighborhood bullhorns and clanging symbols.
For the Antifa types, they were simply looking for an excuse to riot, whether there were COVID-19 lockdowns or not. For others, it comes back to if you don’t give people something to do, people will find something to do, and in many cases, it’s counter-productive to their own neighborhoods in the long-term, because homes won’t be rebuilt or businesses reopened for an extended period of time.
I agree. So the question arises as to the extent to which the Antifa people controlled the entire agenda of rioting, and the extent to which the others would have followed, lockdowns or not. I’m guessing the followers didn’t have much to do anyway.
So I guess the shoplifters begin looting because of weak political leaders and others will blame it on the lockdown. I don’t even begin to get the logic.
There have been several reports of black protestors going after Antifa rioters attempting to escalate the violence in their neighborhoods (because Antifa types for the most part don’t live in those neighborhoods, so no skin off their nose if the place is looted and burned down). But you’re always also going to have the career criminals who also see an opportunity and take it, and mingled in with the legitimate protestors. Hard to tell how much of the violence and looting was sparked by those types of people and how much was Antifa, though the latter was more designed to heighten the conflict with law enforcement, in hopes of getting police or the National Guard to start killing protestors (other than themselves, of course).
all by design.
I imagine these groups are a mishmash of a lot of activists who always have a go bag in their car. During the antiwar protests in 2003 it was really obvious that the people who showed up in droves were lifelong activists who belonged to political groups as a way of life. That was their social life.
propagandaapparatus, many ordinary criminals claim, and some believe, that their crimes are politically justifiable.Ferguson and Baltimore happened with no COVID lockdown. Lessons were learned. Some were sort of good; some Black Lives Matter protestors realized that it doesn’t help them when their neighborhoods and their stores get burned down and have tried to stop the looting and vandalism. Some may generalize this to the property of others, some won’t.
What the lockdown did was to create a large number of young, underemployed white males. This is important. This is Antifa’s key demographic. Antifa is the Democrat party’s SA for white youth; the violent faction of Black Lives Matter is the SA for black youth. Antifa and BLM both have their own agendas, but they serve the Democrat goal of getting rid of Trump. Should the Democrats succeed, some Antifa and BLM will enter the Party, and there will likely be some form of a night of the long knives for the others; this would make a useful “law and order” moment to lull the defeated Constitutional party into inaction while the Left consolidates power.
The lockdown definitely made things worse. But there were plans ready to go to make things worse without the lockdown.
Contributing factors. The one cause theory of complex social events is a fool’s game. Even Jonah Goldberg understands that much. The lockdown creates the destitution and helplessness that leads to an aggressive response. Weak leaders fan the aggressive response by effectively declaring carnival, a relaxation of norms where anything goes with no consequences. Aggression met with fear begets more aggression. Corrupt leaders are paid to respond weakly and expect a place in whatever new political order emerges thanks, at least in part, to their efforts.
If Pelosi took the virus as an opportunity to load up the Left’s gravy train, imagine what she will try to do with this. Much of this may have been sponsored by what she was able to stuff into those big virus relief bills.
The one thing left out is that the prisons were also cleared. It would be interesting to know how much this is contributing, but that statistic is likely to never be known because it might make a weak, leftist politician look bad and the press would never allow that.
That was a consequence of the Wuhan flu, but it’s not what @iWe had in mind. That’s the one bit of ground I would have conceded.
Nonsense.
This has nothing to do with the lockdowns. It would have happened if Covid had never existed. Here’s a hint. Those rioting and looting were not exactly likely to follow the lockdown rules. And those organizing and instigating have no need to be angered or upset, they are perpetually agrieved.
It was just waiting for an excuse, and unfortunately the police in Minneapolis gave them one.