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Because rioting isn’t free speech. All conservatives support peaceable assembly and protest. They also fiercely believe in property rights as inherently tied to

by rpiguy 6y ago

Because rioting isn’t free speech. All conservatives support peaceable assembly and protest. They also fiercely believe in property rights as inherently tied to the concept of liberty. It is right in the Declaration of Independence. No conservative worth his or her salt will defend theft, property destruction, etc.

Barrin92 6y ago
rioting is indeed not free speech, but surely attacking the press, one of the fundamental institutions in any democracy, is a violation of free speech. And not only have the people in question not spoken up in defense of the press, they've actually routinely declare them the enemy of the people.
- rpiguy 6y ago
  Fully Agree. The press should not be attacked. There is no excuse for it.
  - Drybones 6y ago
    When everyone has a camera, social media audiences, live streams, YouTube channel, websites, and blogs/micro-blogging, what is the definition of Press and why do Press get to ignore restrictions and closed off areas? Are the only Press allowed to be Press those that are part of a large national news network? Is Alex Jones Press if he shows up to these with a guy with a camera and enters areas civilians are not allowed to be in?
mcguire 6y ago
Anybody remember the Clinton administration, when the popular cry was "Charlton Heston is my president!" and "The purpose of the Right to Bear Arms isn't for hunting, it is so that politicians fear the people!" Yeah, I don't either. Yes, rioting isn't free speech. Unfortunately, nothing short of rioting seems to work---the people in question are poor and already at the bottom of the social pile, so their options seem limited.
- rpiguy 6y ago
  But rioting doesn’t work. The first comprehensive study of riots was just done at Princeton and riots are found to result in crackdowns, not reform. Occupy Wallstreet, Ferguson riots, 1968 riots, LA Riots, Camden riots, all had opposite the intended effect. Democrats already had the African American vote and the cities. Rioting will swing the suburbs back to Republicans, completing the cycle again.
  - mcguire 6y ago
    Likely true. But a peaceful demonstration results in no media coverage and no changes at all. This all will not end well. P.s. Were there significant riots with the Occupy thing? I seem to recall it being mostly quiet (and completely ineffectual).
    - leetcrew 6y ago
      I guess we'll have to wait and see if it results in any changes, but baltimore is currently making national news for having some of the most peaceful protests of this last weekend.
chillwaves 6y ago
This is such utter fucking bullshit. You can watch hundreds of videos of peaceful protesters being attacked by police. They are not looting. What you are saying is an outright lie. Conservatives are just practicing the same racist tribalism t hey always have. There is no structural logic to how they behave except "us vs them" and right now the police are hurting the right people. It is not and has never been about principles.
- rpiguy 6y ago
  There are videos of people carrying property out of shops en masse. You are delusional. An officer was shot in the back of the head, a black pawn shop owner was killed by looters. The only people practicing tribalism are on the left who encourage everyone to identify with their own tribe (black, gay, etc.) instead of identifying with each other. You are ridiculous.
  - iso947 6y ago
    A black shop owner was arrested at gunpoint, live on Fox News for asking for help because of some looters, but again some people don’t see the problem.
- neeleshs 6y ago
  err.. There are so many videos of people grabbing stuff from stores and running. That is looting. Now, If you make the argument that these people are not protesters but opportunistic thieves, then we can all move on. Looting & destroying someone else's property as a response to injustice is almost as bad as the injustice itself. This is not to say all protesters are looters, but that thieves take this opportunity to insert themselves into these situations masquerading as protesters.I have no sympathy for these people.(Not that anyone cares about my opinion)
  - chillwaves 6y ago
    I'm talking about protesters. Deflecting to looters isn't really that helpful when cops are attacking people who are peacefully demonstrating and kneeling in the street.
MisterBastahrd 6y ago
I hate to break it to you, but the Boston Tea Party that conservatives were so fond of hijacking for their own partisan purposes destroyed over a million US dollars (in today's money) in other people's property. YOU are comfortable sitting there and "defending property" because it props up a system that benefits you.
- rpiguy 6y ago
  And after the revolution the government immediately cracked down on similar tax protests like the Whiskey Rebellion. So what? On its own I agree the Tea Party is wonton vandalism. The patriots knew that too. They wanted to start a war. They also knew it was lawless and it was debated afterwords until it set of a wave of similar vandalism. No one outside of a very small group looks back on the race riots of 1968 with pride, or the burning of LA, or Camden. Are the rioters trying to start a revolutionary war? I hope not. There will be a lot of death everywhere. The rioters don’t even have a plan or goal for if they “win.” They aren’t making demands. “Fix the police“ and “end systemic racism” isn’t something that can just happen. The rioters don’t have Federalist Papers or any plan for what’s next (unless you count the Communist Manefesto). Personally I’d like these things to happen too. The police shouldn’t be terrifying. When I was growing up they were likable Andy Griffith types. Everyone knew them. Now they are shaven headed paramilitary. I have no idea who my local cops are. Wtf?
  - MisterBastahrd 6y ago
    The rioters aren't trying to start a revolutionary war. They're trying to start a conversation that will never happen with a bunch of hand holding and song singing. We're FAR past that point, and the reason that comfortable white people are so taken aback by this is because they've been given the freedom to ignore it all. Just watch the alternate dimension that is OAN or Fox News, and you will never have to worry about how a minority is ever treated in this country, because they will either tell you it's all bullshit or they will wring their hands for a segment and then go right back to bashing Obama or Clinton for things that are happening 3.5 years into Trump's presidency. RIGHT NOW cops are shooting tear gas and grenades at peaceful protesters. RIGHT NOW photographers are losing their vision because police officers are firing rubber bullets at their heads. RIGHT NOW cops are destroying property and blaming it on imaginary groups of paid protesters. RIGHT NOW cops are hiding their badge numbers because they don't want to get fired. RIGHT NOW cops are assaulting and arresting the press. RIGHT NOW cops have the right to wander into a woman's apartment and shoot her stone cold dead because they didn't read the number. RIGHT NOW people in this country watch with baited breath to see whether people like that woman who murdered Botham Jean in his own home would even get charged. It seems to me that a large portion of the conservative side of this country is more than happy with "coming down hard" on people to try to scare anyone else from trying to upset the apple cart. Because it "works." These protesters? They're just reciprocating what "works."
mcv 6y ago
Not at all. When Kaepernick protested in the most quiet, peaceful and respectful way possible, conservatives were screaming bloody murder. They also did that when MLK was leading protests. Conservatives support protests by white people, but never by black people.
- lol2143651 6y ago
  Respectful? Most definitely not. He chose one of the most provocative ways he could.

by rpiguy 6y ago

Barrin92 6y ago

rioting is indeed not free speech, but surely attacking the press, one of the fundamental institutions in any democracy, is a violation of free speech. And not only have the people in question not spoken up in defense of the press, they've actually routinely declare them the enemy of the people.

rpiguy 6y ago
Fully Agree. The press should not be attacked. There is no excuse for it.
- Drybones 6y ago
  When everyone has a camera, social media audiences, live streams, YouTube channel, websites, and blogs/micro-blogging, what is the definition of Press and why do Press get to ignore restrictions and closed off areas? Are the only Press allowed to be Press those that are part of a large national news network? Is Alex Jones Press if he shows up to these with a guy with a camera and enters areas civilians are not allowed to be in?

mcguire 6y ago

Anybody remember the Clinton administration, when the popular cry was "Charlton Heston is my president!" and "The purpose of the Right to Bear Arms isn't for hunting, it is so that politicians fear the people!" Yeah, I don't either. Yes, rioting isn't free speech. Unfortunately, nothing short of rioting seems to work---the people in question are poor and already at the bottom of the social pile, so their options seem limited.

rpiguy 6y ago
But rioting doesn’t work. The first comprehensive study of riots was just done at Princeton and riots are found to result in crackdowns, not reform. Occupy Wallstreet, Ferguson riots, 1968 riots, LA Riots, Camden riots, all had opposite the intended effect. Democrats already had the African American vote and the cities. Rioting will swing the suburbs back to Republicans, completing the cycle again.
- mcguire 6y ago
  Likely true. But a peaceful demonstration results in no media coverage and no changes at all. This all will not end well. P.s. Were there significant riots with the Occupy thing? I seem to recall it being mostly quiet (and completely ineffectual).
  - leetcrew 6y ago
    I guess we'll have to wait and see if it results in any changes, but baltimore is currently making national news for having some of the most peaceful protests of this last weekend.

chillwaves 6y ago

This is such utter fucking bullshit. You can watch hundreds of videos of peaceful protesters being attacked by police. They are not looting. What you are saying is an outright lie. Conservatives are just practicing the same racist tribalism t hey always have. There is no structural logic to how they behave except "us vs them" and right now the police are hurting the right people. It is not and has never been about principles.

rpiguy 6y ago
There are videos of people carrying property out of shops en masse. You are delusional. An officer was shot in the back of the head, a black pawn shop owner was killed by looters. The only people practicing tribalism are on the left who encourage everyone to identify with their own tribe (black, gay, etc.) instead of identifying with each other. You are ridiculous.
- iso947 6y ago
  A black shop owner was arrested at gunpoint, live on Fox News for asking for help because of some looters, but again some people don’t see the problem.
neeleshs 6y ago
err.. There are so many videos of people grabbing stuff from stores and running. That is looting. Now, If you make the argument that these people are not protesters but opportunistic thieves, then we can all move on. Looting & destroying someone else's property as a response to injustice is almost as bad as the injustice itself. This is not to say all protesters are looters, but that thieves take this opportunity to insert themselves into these situations masquerading as protesters.I have no sympathy for these people.(Not that anyone cares about my opinion)
- chillwaves 6y ago
  I'm talking about protesters. Deflecting to looters isn't really that helpful when cops are attacking people who are peacefully demonstrating and kneeling in the street.

MisterBastahrd 6y ago

I hate to break it to you, but the Boston Tea Party that conservatives were so fond of hijacking for their own partisan purposes destroyed over a million US dollars (in today's money) in other people's property. YOU are comfortable sitting there and "defending property" because it props up a system that benefits you.

rpiguy 6y ago
And after the revolution the government immediately cracked down on similar tax protests like the Whiskey Rebellion. So what? On its own I agree the Tea Party is wonton vandalism. The patriots knew that too. They wanted to start a war. They also knew it was lawless and it was debated afterwords until it set of a wave of similar vandalism. No one outside of a very small group looks back on the race riots of 1968 with pride, or the burning of LA, or Camden. Are the rioters trying to start a revolutionary war? I hope not. There will be a lot of death everywhere. The rioters don’t even have a plan or goal for if they “win.” They aren’t making demands. “Fix the police“ and “end systemic racism” isn’t something that can just happen. The rioters don’t have Federalist Papers or any plan for what’s next (unless you count the Communist Manefesto). Personally I’d like these things to happen too. The police shouldn’t be terrifying. When I was growing up they were likable Andy Griffith types. Everyone knew them. Now they are shaven headed paramilitary. I have no idea who my local cops are. Wtf?
- MisterBastahrd 6y ago
  The rioters aren't trying to start a revolutionary war. They're trying to start a conversation that will never happen with a bunch of hand holding and song singing. We're FAR past that point, and the reason that comfortable white people are so taken aback by this is because they've been given the freedom to ignore it all. Just watch the alternate dimension that is OAN or Fox News, and you will never have to worry about how a minority is ever treated in this country, because they will either tell you it's all bullshit or they will wring their hands for a segment and then go right back to bashing Obama or Clinton for things that are happening 3.5 years into Trump's presidency. RIGHT NOW cops are shooting tear gas and grenades at peaceful protesters. RIGHT NOW photographers are losing their vision because police officers are firing rubber bullets at their heads. RIGHT NOW cops are destroying property and blaming it on imaginary groups of paid protesters. RIGHT NOW cops are hiding their badge numbers because they don't want to get fired. RIGHT NOW cops are assaulting and arresting the press. RIGHT NOW cops have the right to wander into a woman's apartment and shoot her stone cold dead because they didn't read the number. RIGHT NOW people in this country watch with baited breath to see whether people like that woman who murdered Botham Jean in his own home would even get charged. It seems to me that a large portion of the conservative side of this country is more than happy with "coming down hard" on people to try to scare anyone else from trying to upset the apple cart. Because it "works." These protesters? They're just reciprocating what "works."

mcv 6y ago

Not at all. When Kaepernick protested in the most quiet, peaceful and respectful way possible, conservatives were screaming bloody murder. They also did that when MLK was leading protests. Conservatives support protests by white people, but never by black people.

lol2143651 6y ago
Respectful? Most definitely not. He chose one of the most provocative ways he could.