My Policy on Riots

I want to say something about riots, in general.

Seems to me that people are feeling the need to either be for or against riots. I see no need to do so. That, to me, is a black and white interpretation of the world. I live, in the grey and I think we all do.

In my perfect world, there would never be riots. Nobody would ever have their small business burned to the ground. Neither Black nor White people would get unjustly murdered by their government, and the sweat from burger flippers at Mcdonalds would be more reasonably valued against the sweat of CEO’s or the lack of their sweat, thereof. In my perfect world, there would be no riots because no one would ever feel the need to riot.

It’s clearly not my perfect world and when you pair that with the fact that I hate putting myself in the driver’s seat for someone else’s actions, I am neither for or against rioting.

That happens to be the exact same policy I have with hurricanes. I hate that you lost your house but announcing that I’m against hurricanes in general, would be silly. Hurricanes happen. They will continue to happen for one reason or another. If you want to minimize their impact on American life, the only real way to do that is to analyze WHY they happen, the same thing we should do with riots.

I am creative enough to imagine reasons why a hurricane may be necessary to the world ecosystem. Just like I’ve seen images in other countries where they had riots that I actually applauded.

I can say this for sure, cops have a very difficult job. We should probably make it a white collar job and actually pay them, instead of treating them like a bunch of union guys. Maybe we should pay for them to go to law school? That would be a great investment, I think. Why not invest in education for people who have the power to take you off the street and throw you in jail?

I actually know a LOT of lawyers who would be a cop, if it paid decent money. Private attorneys absolutely hate paying for malpractice insurance and their own healthcare benefits and would love a pension.

Good cops help keep society, civil. We background check them, we talk to their neighbors when they apply to be a cop. We train them in academies for months. Why do we do this? Because every time you interact with a cop, THE CONSTITUTION IS AT PLAY. We pay them to hold the line between civil and uncivil. They are the face of government.

When the people who are supposed to keep society civil show themselves as corrupt, then society breaks down.

Listen people, I can’t speak for everybody in the streets who are rioting. Maybe some of them are kids looking for something to do. Maybe some are criminals. Maybe some of them have been severely abused in their lives. Maybe some are suicidal. Some are mentally ill and not on medication cause they cannot afford it, or they just don’t like taking it. I can’t possibly affix a judgment that applies to ALL of them. But I can say that when society breaks down, riots happen. And all of these people hit the streets at the same time. This is why we must prevent societal breakdown, in the first place.

This is why we must expect the highest ethics from law enforcement. So at least THESE types of riots, don’t happen again. To scorn all riots, would be like saying that there’s never a reason to riot. And I don’t believe that.

And the next riot can at least, be about something else. Because they will be others. People riot. That’s what they do.