Any crowd can turn it into a riot. It's happened
at rock concerts and after major sporting events. One guy throws a beer can,
some others think that looks like a good idea, and it grows from there. And
that's a spontaneous event.
It's more likely during a protest.
Protestors are already angry. That's why they're protesting. Because it's
more likely, the police might show up in full riot gear. The protestors see
that and are insulted. They might even feel the urge to do what they feel
they're being accused of. So what happens when the first punch is thrown
or window broken?
There's been talk, and not entirely without
basis, that the riots of 2020 were caused by outside agitators. They
joined a BLM protest and deliberately incited it. Deliberately. This was a
BLM protest, but a disproportionate number of those arrested was white. Many of
them were found to be sympathetic to causes that directly oppose BLM.
The bricks thrown by rioters were already there,
usually at construction sites. There's not much weight to stories of them
being shipped in by the opposing political party of the one telling the
tale. There's very little weight to the notion of the conspiracy rising
to those levels. I have no doubt, however, that the riots were the result
of someone's psychological manipulation of the crowd.
But who?
Many people are pointing their fingers at “Antifa”. To the best of my knowledge, Antifa is a
loosely affiliated group who collectively stands against fascism. Their
definition of fascism is unclear, but their methods… well, let’s just say rioting
is within their skill set. If these
riots are not the work of Antifa, they’re the work of someone similar.
It might even be as simple as “Hey, let’s go
down to that protest and start some crap. It’ll make them look bad.” It could even be “Cool, a riot! Let’s go break
stuff and steal something!” I can find
no reason to believe these riots are anything but a symptom of America’s larger
problem.
The Great Trump Divide. I’m not blaming any of
this on the man himself, at least not directly.
Had Clinton won in 2016, I’d be calling it the Great Clinton Divide. I
believe the Russian Meddling in the 2016 election was not to help either
specific candidate. They have profited for decades from the Divided States of
America, and saw us uniting behind maverick politicians like Bernie Sanders and
Gary Johnson. So they stepped in. Before that election, we were a protest. They
turned us into a riot.
And we let them.
We’re continuing to let them. Shame on us.
