Riots Don't Work
Megan McArdle writes at Bloomberg:
But regardless of justification, rioting is incredibly destructive, mostly in the neighborhoods where the rioters live. In my own city, Washington, D.C., the major retail corridors that were destroyed in the 1968 riots have only really begun to recover in the last five years (and one of them still hasn't). Who suffered because of that? The store owners, obviously, and their insurers. But the people who suffered most grievously were the mostly black people who lived in those neighborhoods.
Instapundit notes:
The question to ask isn't who suffered from the riots. It's who benefited.
McArdle didn't actually seem to say anything in her hairball of a jeremiad. You properly noted the money quote at the end. Who suffered the most? The people who rioted.
I was in L.A. for the Rodney King riots (Was even temporarily detained by the police. Thankfully, the crowd outside a vandalized liquor store vouched for me.) Rioters seem to be limited in their imagination. Cigarettes, liquor, electronics. Then they go back to their lives, only in a burned out neighborhood.
Instapundit's question about "Who benefits?" is a bit facile, and also meaningless. Like they are standing under the penumbra of a vast, right-wing conspiracy.
Canvasback at May 2, 2015 5:32 AM
Riots don't work? Who the fuck are you kidding? 6 officers charged = success. Think that was going to happen without the riots? Want to get rid of the TSA at LAX? Have 10,000 people riot at LAX about it. Result - no more TSA. The people in government are scared shitless when they encounter large groups of people they cannot control.
Matt at May 2, 2015 8:56 AM
I'd hardly call that success Matt. Burning down police stations would have been a far more rational choice. As you point out, want the TSA out of LAX go threaten LAX. Burning down Abdul's liquor store 10 miles away, not so much.
Ben at May 2, 2015 9:56 AM
"I'd hardly call that success Matt."
Well, I never claimed they were efficient.
matt at May 2, 2015 10:58 PM
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