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The author doesn't really tackle "extra legal" (lawbreaking) so let me try. If you see someone burn down a building or beat someone to death, your first though

The author doesn't really tackle "extra legal" (lawbreaking) so let me try. If you see someone burn down a building or beat someone to death, your first thought is "Huh, that could be my home or me". Thus violent acts tend to turn the population against rioters. Defenders of rioters will usually say something like "but you have nothing to fear unless you are X!" but it's trivial to understand that rioting mobs are not rational, that they attack the wrong targets or the innocent. This is plain. Violence against innocent people can not be just. Riots never act in a limited capacity, they are not controlled. They are like hand grenades which harm everyone around them regardless of allegiance.

beepbooptheory 5y ago
Importantly, to even have that thought, you need to own a home in the first place!
- cafard 5y ago
  Because nobody every burns a rental unit?
  - beepbooptheory 5y ago
    Mostly they'll just burn down because the landlord doesn't maintain them.
    - teakettle42 5y ago
      Mostly they don’t burn down at all. From what you’ve posted throughout this thread, you have a very stark, one-sided, reductive view of the world.
      - beepbooptheory 5y ago
        I think you might have me confused with someone else! I do admit that last comment was snarky, but it has just been on my mind since last week when there was, in fact, a fire in a rental apartment building in my city, killing a bunch of people.
- AnimalMuppet 5y ago
  No, I don't have to own a home to see someone beaten to death and think "that could be me". I just have to be still living.
boomboomsubban 5y ago
>If you see someone burn down a building or beat someone to death, your first thought is "Huh, that could be my home or me". So the exact same mentality that lead to the riots? When a member of your community is killed by the police wouldn't your first thought be "that could be me?" Same with when you hear about your neighbor starving, another frequent historical cause of rioting. The difference is the available optiobs. People that don't riot as a response have some expectation that the establishment will help them.
- vorpalhex 5y ago
  It's not the thought, it's the action. "I feel a miscarriage of justice has happened" does not mean torching buildings. You may not feel that you have options. Burning your neighbors house down is still wrong.
bobthechef 5y ago
"rioting mobs are not rational, that they attack the wrong targets or the innocent." This is true, and this alone makes justice incompatible with rioting, never mind the arrogance and viciousness of riotors. But even if the rioters did attack the "right" people, it would also not be licit for we would fall into vigilantism which puts the self-righteous vigilante in a state of war with the state by denying their moral right to govern and to stop him from carrying out acts of vigilantism. So just rioting is a contradiction in terms.

beepbooptheory 5y ago

Importantly, to even have that thought, you need to own a home in the first place!

cafard 5y ago
Because nobody every burns a rental unit?
- beepbooptheory 5y ago
  Mostly they'll just burn down because the landlord doesn't maintain them.
  - teakettle42 5y ago
    Mostly they don’t burn down at all. From what you’ve posted throughout this thread, you have a very stark, one-sided, reductive view of the world.
    - beepbooptheory 5y ago
      I think you might have me confused with someone else! I do admit that last comment was snarky, but it has just been on my mind since last week when there was, in fact, a fire in a rental apartment building in my city, killing a bunch of people.
AnimalMuppet 5y ago
No, I don't have to own a home to see someone beaten to death and think "that could be me". I just have to be still living.

boomboomsubban 5y ago

>If you see someone burn down a building or beat someone to death, your first thought is "Huh, that could be my home or me". So the exact same mentality that lead to the riots? When a member of your community is killed by the police wouldn't your first thought be "that could be me?" Same with when you hear about your neighbor starving, another frequent historical cause of rioting. The difference is the available optiobs. People that don't riot as a response have some expectation that the establishment will help them.

vorpalhex 5y ago
It's not the thought, it's the action. "I feel a miscarriage of justice has happened" does not mean torching buildings. You may not feel that you have options. Burning your neighbors house down is still wrong.

bobthechef 5y ago

"rioting mobs are not rational, that they attack the wrong targets or the innocent." This is true, and this alone makes justice incompatible with rioting, never mind the arrogance and viciousness of riotors. But even if the rioters did attack the "right" people, it would also not be licit for we would fall into vigilantism which puts the self-righteous vigilante in a state of war with the state by denying their moral right to govern and to stop him from carrying out acts of vigilantism. So just rioting is a contradiction in terms.