I think Rioting is what happens when people have been protesting and fighting and trying hard to just bear it and hope for the best for so long and nobody heard them. So you riot. You wreak havoc. And it's awful but people are finally paying attention. You get to see people's unrestricted pain and utter frustration. Everything they're hearts have had to suffer. And cities fall apart and buildings burns or get torn apart brick by brick (Bastille) people are killed and we're no longer silent. You can no longer turn a blind eye. Riots say we are here and we are tired and you WILL listen until the last of us is gone.
Burning down local businesses, taking away someones lively hood, stealing, threatening violence, how is this doing anything but making a bat situation worse? Sure it gets the medias attention but when its all over who suffers? The business owners do, they have to spend months rebuilding (if they bother) all because a bunch of thugs think rioting is the only option. Very sad.
For all of you comparing riots to what we are doing its 2 fucking different things. We are protesting our voice our opinion without even hurting anyone. In a riot they voice their opinion usually leading to violence and causing havoc. -_- Fucking learn the difference. Secondly people riot because some people express that they are upset in different ways. Rioters prefer the violent approach and want what they want. If they don't get it then they will want to force you to give them what they want by any means.
Crowd mentality. It only takes one overly angry and aggressive person with similar views of a larger group to start a riot.
Ok, well if you are truly in Missouri, what do you call the vandalizing of buildings, burning of many buildings and cop cars, looting whatever you went just because "you can and it shows you are serious about your beliefs"? That's just protesting your voice? Also, we can all agree that majority of the protestors/rioters were African American correct? That is completely understandable. But they were protesting the justice of Michael and that white cops are always unfair with African Americans. Wouldn't this just make everything worse? First, much of the town is destroyed, burnt, and looted. Now, won't the cops be more hesitant? Do you think maybe they will be given a reason to suspect African Americans? They are pretty much causing a portion of what they are fighting for. We are all watching while you guys were just protesting anyway. All rioting does is make things worse
They should just shoot everyone who's rioting. Black, white, yellow, purple, green, all of them. The world is a better place without idiots like that. The officer obviously wasn't guilty.
People riot usually to lash out back against a governmental injustice for example the Vietnam war, Bastille and the Rodney king trials give it time and the rioters will slowly disperse
There shouldn't need to be time for them to disperse. They should not have been allowed to form at all. You're given the right to peaceful assembly, I still say they should of started shooting each and everyone of them 16 buildings burned gtfo.
Calling them "thugs" is passing judgement and I think you and most of us are not in the position to even go there. There are some very hurt people in that crowd. They feel as if their voices are not going to be heard without drastic action. I am typically a pacifist but I do believe that sometimes more than a peaceful protest will get results. We have seen this throughout history. If anyone is a "thug" or anything close to that, I'd say they are the individuals that have become opportunists, and are looting and things like that. I do agree, however, that at the end of the day, the property damage etc does a lot of harm to "innocent others". They had the world's ear yesterday not because of the protests, but because of the riots. It was sensationalized via media and in a way, had things been left there, their actions wouldve meant more. With the looting and physical violence toward other beings though, the cause was lost.
Riots are not needed, protests are enough. If you join in on destroying something that an innocent person spent years building, then yes in my eyes you're a thug. I don't care what the issue is, the way SOME of these rioters have acted is disgusting, it helps no one, they get a few days of bad publicity and that's all. You can physco analyse it any way you want but there is a right and wrong way to do things, clearly this is wrong. Who is going to listen to the message they are trying to send out when they act this way? Sure silent protesting doesnt get the media attention like breaking the law does, but to become a criminal to prove a point, thats not something I can support,
Because it is effective in certain cases. Sometimes the extreme way is the only way, people become desperate. Are you one of those close-minded people?
Bunch of thugs that need to be dealt with harshly by the national guard and be eliminated once and for all
Raven, No, actually, protesting is not enough in many instances. Once again, take a look at history. Within American history, for instance, some pretty violent events (even upon private property-- those thugs!) DIRECTLY led to freedom from British tyranny. I could give more well-known examples, but that seems sufficient for making my point. SOMETIMES it is appropriate to stick to a peaceful protest and non-cooperation and SOMETIMES these tactics do not work. In the case of Ferguson, I think the outrage could have been better focused, but I don't want to get into debates about the ethics of private property when, ultimately, (if you really insist on going there) nearly everything we deem as "private property" is ethically and fundamentally not even all that private. (You didn't say that in my response, but in another of your responses, you're clearly confusing private property with personal property. No one said to destroy personal property, but "private property" in a Marxist sense, perhaps).