Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. In addition, the Ricochet Audio Network offers over 50 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
Riot Destruction Far Worse Than We’ve Been Told
NRO posted an interview with progressive journalist Michael Tracey today. Tracey drove across the country to view the damage that was done and is being done by the BLM and Antifa rioters. Tracey noted that he was surprised by the extent of the destruction and the number of towns and cities that have been affected:
The number of boarded-up or destroyed structures I’ve seen across the country — commercial, governmental, and even residential — is staggering, and keeping an accurate count has been impossible. Given that I’ve managed to personally observe only a small fraction, this raises questions about the true scale of the wreckage.
He also noted that African Americans are often the victims of the rioting. Not surprisingly, the people impacted have a very negative view of what is going on:
I don’t know if I was “surprised,” but the divergence in opinion — between local black and minority populations about the ethical implications of the riots, and the activists/journalists who claim to speak on their behalf — is striking. Locals are almost uniformly condemnatory of riots, and often harshly so. They wonder why the destruction wrought in their neighborhoods has received so little attention. And they are more skeptical about what this suggests for the wider protest “movement” than you might expect. Their views don’t tend to be represented in media narratives.
Here’s his take on Portland:
Portland has a culture of perpetual protests that is distinct — almost as a kind of recreation. It’s also an overwhelmingly white city, which partly explains the zeal to keep a nightly protest going in perpetuity — one recent speaker compared their efforts to the Montgomery bus boycotts, so don’t expect this to cease any time soon. The anarchist element clearly calculate that the longer these actions go on, the more opportunity there is for a catalyzing event on the order of the George Floyd killing, which could spark further nationwide protests and riots. To be at the Portland protest zone on a Saturday past midnight is surreal; it does give the impression of a small-scale insurrection, with black-clad (overwhelmingly white) protesters in full armor and gear, wielding massive shields and wearing industrial-grade gas masks.
I wasn’t surprised by his statement that the progressive media routinely characterizes the protests as “peaceful,” and that it has generally ignored or downplayed the violence and destruction. I was surprised, however, by his claim that conservative media has largely ignored the destruction as well.
Published in General
I wonder what he means by “conservative media,” though. Fox News? I don’t really consider it “conservative.”
Tracey is generally a good read. Not a conservative, but not a big fan of the Democrat Party machine either. And if progressives keep attacking him for telling the truth about them, he’s a prime candidate for being red-pilled. (Of course, every time I think it’s about to happen, he scurries back to the left.)
He clearly doesn’t follow conservative media; I wonder what his sources are–Fox News? Can’t be, because I believe most of the shows are covering it. The only large publication that talks about it sparingly is the Wall Street Journal, and their news stories are becoming questionable. My heart goes out to those whose lives are being damaged by the rioters. Maybe they’ll vote accordingly.
Yeah, Tracey is one journalist I follow. Matt Taibbi is another. Both have a Leftist perspective, but not Leftist “blinders,” if that makes sense. While I may disagree with their interpretations of facts, I never have to question if what they’re reporting as facts are indeed facts. And they’ve occasionally made me rethink my interpretation of certain events.
Thanks for posting. Tracey, who is a Progressive, has been doing great reporting on what has actually happened in these cities as a result of the riots, arson, and looting. This is a piece he wrote (with a lot of photos) on Medium and his twitter feed is full of reporting and videos from cities and towns across America. It’s truly been a disaster for people living in these neighborhoods and terrible to see the destruction of these small businesses. On the other hand, think how much worse it could have been if these were not “mostly peaceful protests”!!!
This might explain his assessment of the “lack of” conservative media coverage:
Some photos of the riot damage in Portland.
What the media has “privileged” are the voices of white and black radicals over the voices of our fellow Americans who have suffered at their hands.
Mr. Tracey also wrote an article at The Federalist with numerous photos of the level of destruction across the country.
Someone, somewhere, must have compiled a simple LIST. Numbers of people hospitalized/killed (cops & innocent bystanders vs protesters/looters/rioters), properties destroyed or merely looted, people who have lost jobs or life savings consequent to the material destruction., and so on.
I’d think a newspaper would do this for its home city, and the government (local, state, and national) would do it almost reflexively.
Has anybody seen anything remotely like this, for a single riot or a regional or national total?
Which begs the question: why not?
The Trump campaign could put such a list to good use. If they were so inclined.
Once again black Americans are being used by white people, this time neo-Maoists, in the pursuit of white liberal political power.
Nancy Pelosi says she hopes “protests” like Seattle start elsewhere. Jerry Nadler calls Portland violence “a myth”. Boobtube news lies through omission to the nation about 50+ days of violence.
Conservatives are not white supremacists, Democrats and their apparatchiks are.
That all depends. They could decide to purge all the cis straight whites. If your intersectionality score is zero, why would they keep you around? Because you’re a good person?
Thank you for covering this. On my twitter feed, I keep getting little 90 second snippets of footage of what our nation lost between May 31st and June 12th. I have heard via the grapevine that people in the southside of Chicago are having a hard time getting food. The very few grocery stores and convenience stores that existed prior to the riots all were taken down across such a wide swarth of that area that getting three meals a day will be a challenge.
Cal.: Once again black Americans are being used by white people, this time neo-Maoists, in the pursuit of white liberal political power.
This is the real takeaway from these riots.
I wish President Trump would focus on these effects more.
Graffiti? That’s a nuisance to be sure, but not serious damage.
The linked source is playing this down, making it look more like a kid’s prank than something more serious.
Yesterday, the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) posted an article by Brad Polumbo about claims by left-wing journalists and activists that property destruction is not violence. Their argument is that “real” violence means assault on human beings. As Cat Brooks, an Oakland-based “racial justice organizer” explained:
Similar arguments have been published in journals such as, The New York Times, The Nation, and Current Affairs.
As the FEE piece notes, however, the Left has set up a straw man; no one is arguing that property damage is equivalent to hurting human beings. But, property destruction can easily result in physical harm to people:
In all, at least 15 people have been killed in the riots so far. Moreover, property destruction impacts real people:
Finally, property rights are human rights; a key argument against slavery in the antebellum years was that people have the right to the fruits of their own labor.
Could it be that he’s talking more about breadth of coverage, not depth? I’ll admit that I don’t review a lot of “conservative media” sites. RedState, HotAir, PowerLine, and here are pretty much the only conservative sites I look at on a regular/semi-regular basis. But out of that handful of sites, I’ve seen more reporting about the riots in Portland and Seattle than other places. This guy’s driven across the country – at least visited more places than Portland and Seattle, so is it possible that that’s what he’s talking about? That way more than just Portland and Seattle has been damaged, yet just a few areas are talked about?
Here’s a link to a map of cities and towns that have had protests:
https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/graphics/2020/06/03/map-protests-wake-george-floyds-death/5310149002/
Looks like there are hundreds. Most have been peaceful.
This link claims to list all of the cities in which violence has erupted. 20 are listed, but cities that Michael Tracey mentioned (e.g., Atlantic City and Fargo) are not included:
https://www.nj.com/news/2020/05/these-are-all-the-cities-where-protests-and-riots-have-erupted-over-george-floyds-death.html
Look, I buy it that the vast majority of demonstrators are peaceful. But if you have 10,000,000 demonstrators of whom 99% are peaceful that leaves you with 100,000 who . . . aren’t. That “small minority” can and has done a hell of a lot of damage.
We talked about the riots in Virginia that you never hear about with Sisyphus on Land of Confusion this week. So many places are hit and they are never talked about.
Let he who has driven a Fox news van to a BLM protest cast the first stone.
HINT: Keep your eye on Weatherford, TX in the coming days (or hours?) for the spark that expands this beyond the friendly neighborhood playgrounds with cooperativs local executives.
On Thursday July 30th, BREAKING: @SeattlePolice Dept Chief Carmen Best announces that the search warrant served on a van impounded from last Saturday’s riot yielded an improvised explosive, improvised spike strips, tasers, and bear spray.
Chief Best claims items from van were being handed out to crowd. (!!!!)
Keep in mind that in Seattle and in Portland, the Lefties do not want a police department.
Handing out explosives to random people in a mob could be a Darwinian act.
Excuse me xir, could you hold my grenade while I go to the bathroom? Oh no, I can see how you would be confused, but this is one of the new pinless types.
StarTribune, here.
Well, now. That should make black lives better.
Can you interpret the map for us – that is to say, why this this cluster and that thoroughfare?
The east/west street in Minneapolis appears to be Lake Street. The cluster is downtown. Better loot downtown.
The long line on the left is Lake Street, a main thoroughfare. Retail serving the neighborhoods, which get wealthier the more you go west. The cluster on the right side of that line is where the 3rd Precinct / Target destruction occurred. The big blob to the north, where it says “Minneapolis,” is downtown. The long line on the right in St, Paul is University Avenue, a variegated neighborhood that has been adding new apartment buildings along the new light rail corridor. Lots of glass to break.