In the dystopian world of Soylent Green, protesters and rioters are scooped up by garbage trucks.
The protest and rioting thing has gotten out of hand. Yes, we get it, some injustices have been done - some moreso than others, of course. But not every person ever killed by a police officer was killed unjustly, and in some cases, the facts are murky and it isn't clear whether deadly force was justified. In other cases, it is little more than murder. However, this doesn't mean that deadly force is never justified, and we are finding out the hard way that when you say "fuck the police!" that the criminal element takes over. Crime rates are soaring in this country - jails are releasing prisoners because of Covid, and many arrested are merely given appearance tickets. The movement to "abolish bail"is gaining steam, and people let go prior to trial are often caught doing the same crimes - or worse - again and again. Word is out on the street - do the crime, you do no time, and the police are too afraid of a lawsuit or bad press to do anything.
This is how Trump might get re-elected.
The problem with these protests is that they have no strong national leader and what's more, a lot of people are piling on - just showing up to cause trouble and smash things. Oddly enough, although the issue stated is "Black Lives Matter" many of the troublemakers are young white people, often college-educated or in college. Hey, white folks have stolen and monetized every other aspect of black culture (I'm looking at you, Marshall Mathers!) why not steal the protests and injustice as well? WOKE LIVES MATTER!
So why are these protests going on for week after week? I think there are a number of reasons:
1. College is out: School is out for the summer, and young people can't find summer jobs. Under normal circumstances, if someone said "Hey, let's drove 200 miles to a riot!" their friends would say, "Well, sounds like fun, but I have an exam tomorrow" or "I'd love to go, but I have to work!" Lots of kids with nothing to do equals trouble, in any culture, in any era.
2. The Consequences of Woke Culture: College professors have been indoctrinating our young people for years with ever greater sorts of communist nonsense. My elder siblings came home from college in the 1960's spouting all sorts of Marxist bullshit and touting Chairman Mao's "little red book" - and actually reading from it! They talked loud and long about the rights of the "workers" or the plight of soldiers in Vietnam, but of course, never worked a day in a factory and thanks to college deferments, were at no risk from actually serving in Vietnam.
Today, we see the same pattern, except that young white and privileged college youth have latched onto current causes which don't affect them personally. These kids have a lot of theories about what it is like to be black, but of course, no experience. But hey, they have a black friend in college! Well, they know a guy, anyway. He was in their Chemistry class. Only a few rows away!
All this nonsense about cultural appropriation and micro-aggressions has come home to roost. The professors who push this nonsense have convinced an entire generation of privileged youth that they are aggrieved - if not because of these various social issues (which largely don't affect them, as they are indeed privileged) then because of the student loan debt they took on voluntarily.
It doesn't help any that the media amplifies this, such as a recent Washington Post article claiming that millenials are "the unluckiest generation in US History!" All those soldiers who died in the Civil War trying to abolish slavery - they were lucky! Those lucky bastards during the depression! The dead at Anzio - dumb luck! We tell people they have it so bad - pretty soon they believe it, and text it to you from their iPhone while driving the new SUV their Mom and Dad bought them. Hey, it's last year's iPhone, right? The shit they have to put up with!
3. Paying people not to work: While a lot of people are suffering and struggling with this epidemic - particularly small businesses who don't qualify for "PPP" loans (or are struggling to get them) many people are yet to suffer financially as a result of the epidemic. Thanks to a generous $600-a-week bonus on unemployment, many are making more money not working than working. If you throw in the "stimulus" check (or checks) it adds up to a pretty comfortable living for doing nothing.
Granted, some are struggling to get their benefits, and others, such as independent contractors, might not get any benefits at all. For example, when I was self-employed, I would not qualify for unemployment benefits of any sort. But others are pulling in money, without having to work. It is Andrew Yang's dream-come-true, and now we are seeing what happens when you pay people not to work - they loot and riot. It is ancient Rome, complete with bread-and-circuses.
4. Lack of leadership: No national leader has emerged of this BLM movement - not on the level of Dr. Martin Luther King. Not even Jesse Jackson, or even a Rev. Al Sharpton. There is no focus to these protests, no goal, no organization, no control. As a result, these suburban white kids, looking for a cheap thrill (or to cause trouble) have hijacked these protests and turned them into riots. Others - on the far right - have gone so far as to murder police officers, hoping to start a race war. This was the same "strategy" employed by Charles Manson. When folks like that start showing up, the legitimate protesters should go home and let the Police use the scoops on the rest.
It is a shame this movement is so undirected and rudderless. It could be turned into something, but instead, will just fall apart over time. As I noted before, it seems every time there is promise of change for black folks in America, the law-and-order faction kicks in, often because of rioting and unrest such as we have seen, and these movements are set back by decades. There's a conspiracy theory for ya, right there.
Don't get me wrong, there are real grievances here. But today, it seems the grievances are just piling on top of one another. People show up to protest peacefully and a few people hijack the protest and start looting and burning. Setting fire to things is no joke, by the way - in addition to the millions in damages is the real risk of people - many people - being horrifically burned or killed.
The police need to restore order - and only the police can do this. But to restore order, more people are injured and even killed (in many instances, the police themselves). So each injury or killing becomes a new justification for more violence and the process feeds-back upon itself.
It is time to pack up the protests and go home. When the rioters take the field, the only real option is to walk off the field. You can't have a protest that is "mostly peaceful" because as soon as the fires start, the looting begins, and the violence occurs, well, all bets are off, and whatever point you were trying to make is lost - and in fact, negated. The tide of public opinion will turn against you - strongly.
And as I noted before, public opinion was in favor of the "BLM"movement. People who I thought would be for "law and order" were sympathetic to this cause. Make no mistake about it - you need the support of the majority if you want to see real change. The abolition of slavery was accomplished not by slaves, but by the millions of whites who went to war and laid down their lives in furtherance of that cause. The vote for women was granted to them by men. The Civil Rights act was passed by a mostly white, male Congress. Yes, protests and activism are important in convincing people of the need to change. But the people you need to convince are not the ones you see in the mirror.
America will eventually lose its patience with lawlessness - every culture does. It is why, thousands of years ago, we banded together into city-states and had Kings rule over us. A King and his army of knights protect the people, who in turn, pay tribute (literally, in taxes) to the King. It may have been an imperfect system, but it illustrates to what lengths people will go to preserve order and structure in their civilization. Without some form of civilization and protection, a town or city can be ravaged by pirates, Visigoths, Vikings, or whoever is raping and looting this week.
The few loud voices of anarchy and violence will be shouted down. History tells us this is so. It is only a question of when and where. Unless the Democrats can put a lid on this - and strongly condemn it - their chances of winning in November will evaporate. It is 1968 all over again. Only this time, we have something far, far worse than Nixon to contend with.
