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Riots happen when the social contact is broken. For some people the primary social contact that is broken is long running systemic racism. For some it's milit

Riots happen when the social contact is broken. For some people the primary social contact that is broken is long running systemic racism. For some it's militarization of the police. For some it's the US seemingly slowly sliding in facism For some it's the economic Injustice of being told "the economy", i.e. the stock market is doing great while unemployment is at an all time high. Etc

RcouF1uZ4gsC 6y ago
> Riots happen when the social contact is broken. Were you saying the same things during the lockdown protests?
- pstuart 6y ago
  The social contract was to isolate to keep us all safe. The other entry in the social contract is that our leadership should work to keep the country safe, and it failed at the very top. Does that help clear things up for you?
- Cthulhu_ 6y ago
  Did those protests end up in riots?
- X6S1x6Okd1st 6y ago
  I think the social contract for many were broken during lockdown, however the lockdown protests were allowed to continue peacefully. There was no major attempt to forcibly end them and no major case of loss of life or injury to propel the protest into true rioting. My current mental model is that rioring both needs a reactant, but also a catalyst. Imo there was plenty of reactant sitting the lockdown protests, but no catalyst. My thinking on the matter will likely change as I learn more. And to answer your question literally: no, I wasn't really thinking about riots then
Pinegulf 6y ago
>Riots happen when the social contact is broken. This strikes me as too simplistic solution. I tried to find papers on how demonstrations become riots, but my google.scholar-fu has failed. Anyone got good review papers on this? (If none exist, there is a goldmine there for social scientists.)
- gremlinsinc 6y ago
  How about picking up a history book. In 1773, King George was upping taxes while not providing adequate representation. Colonists thought this was an abuse of power, so they robbed and looted a huge boat filled with tea, which set off events that led to the American Revolution. Look it up, I'm sure there's a wikipedia article or something, it's pretty famous event in history.
  - dTal 6y ago
    They did not rob or loot. They destroyed the tea, and only the tea, which belonged to the East India Company, a defacto arm of the UK government. They did not steal any tea. They did not break anything else.
    - gremlinsinc 6y ago
      So, if I just go into a store that sells Armani suits or something, and destroy the suits, but I don't take them.. that's okay. Correct? Edit, are you also insinuating that's the only 'rioting' they did and then magically the USA just formed out of nothing?
      - dTal 6y ago
        I'm not insinuating anything, or making any value judgements on what is "okay". I'm correcting the record. "Looting" is stealing. They did not loot. This is HN. You don't need to project motivations on people when pedantry is sufficient. (Your Armani analogy doesn't work however - a better analogy would be destroying property owned by, say, Halliburton.)
  - Pinegulf 6y ago
    Good call. This would be the second part to study 'how riots escalate to revolution'. First things first; from demonstration to riots. Which book and author would you suggest? (Wiki, I've already read and it had little about the actual mechanism.
- Cthulhu_ 6y ago

RcouF1uZ4gsC 6y ago

> Riots happen when the social contact is broken. Were you saying the same things during the lockdown protests?

pstuart 6y ago
The social contract was to isolate to keep us all safe. The other entry in the social contract is that our leadership should work to keep the country safe, and it failed at the very top. Does that help clear things up for you?
Cthulhu_ 6y ago
Did those protests end up in riots?
X6S1x6Okd1st 6y ago
I think the social contract for many were broken during lockdown, however the lockdown protests were allowed to continue peacefully. There was no major attempt to forcibly end them and no major case of loss of life or injury to propel the protest into true rioting. My current mental model is that rioring both needs a reactant, but also a catalyst. Imo there was plenty of reactant sitting the lockdown protests, but no catalyst. My thinking on the matter will likely change as I learn more. And to answer your question literally: no, I wasn't really thinking about riots then

Pinegulf 6y ago

>Riots happen when the social contact is broken. This strikes me as too simplistic solution. I tried to find papers on how demonstrations become riots, but my google.scholar-fu has failed. Anyone got good review papers on this? (If none exist, there is a goldmine there for social scientists.)

gremlinsinc 6y ago
How about picking up a history book. In 1773, King George was upping taxes while not providing adequate representation. Colonists thought this was an abuse of power, so they robbed and looted a huge boat filled with tea, which set off events that led to the American Revolution. Look it up, I'm sure there's a wikipedia article or something, it's pretty famous event in history.
- dTal 6y ago
  They did not rob or loot. They destroyed the tea, and only the tea, which belonged to the East India Company, a defacto arm of the UK government. They did not steal any tea. They did not break anything else.
  - gremlinsinc 6y ago
    So, if I just go into a store that sells Armani suits or something, and destroy the suits, but I don't take them.. that's okay. Correct? Edit, are you also insinuating that's the only 'rioting' they did and then magically the USA just formed out of nothing?
    - dTal 6y ago
      I'm not insinuating anything, or making any value judgements on what is "okay". I'm correcting the record. "Looting" is stealing. They did not loot. This is HN. You don't need to project motivations on people when pedantry is sufficient. (Your Armani analogy doesn't work however - a better analogy would be destroying property owned by, say, Halliburton.)
- Pinegulf 6y ago
  Good call. This would be the second part to study 'how riots escalate to revolution'. First things first; from demonstration to riots. Which book and author would you suggest? (Wiki, I've already read and it had little about the actual mechanism.
Cthulhu_ 6y ago