> This then is the general pattern of riots: An event occurs that signals to would-be rioters that they may soon be able to riot. This event gathers a crowd.

> This then is the general pattern of riots: An event occurs that signals to would-be rioters that they may soon be able to riot. This event gathers a crowd. A significant percentage of this crowd—though rarely, it seems, the majority—are eager for destruction. An entrepreneurial would-be rioter tests the crowd for the presence of other rioters by engaging in a minor (yet easily perceived) act of carnage. Other rioters follow suit, and as the number of offenders grow so do their willingness to take increasingly brazen acts of vandalism, theft, or violence. ... > It is supremely important to understand the sort of era one is in. At the level of the ordinary citizen, the trend of the age may prompt a family to fill their larders or purchase arms. At the political level different calculations must be made. Just how durable is the order? How many people will willingly oppose it, given the opportunity to do so? Have they begun to do so? How will I act differently in world where no one believes the center will hold? There is a whiff of the self-fulfilling prophecy in these decisions; once the signal is sent out, each small defection from the order is evidence that the broader mandate has gone up in smoke. The world united shifts to the world divided, and the struggle for the future begins. > But a signal must first be sent. In this respect fallen mandates and roving mobs differ little from each other. No civic order can be breached until the ambitious have broken a few windows.