In connection with recent events in Baltimore, a number of my friends, both real 3-D friends and the facebunk variety, have observed, in more or less this form of words, “Of course I don’t condone riots, but…”
Since most of my friends are sensible and fair-minded people, what follows the ‘but’ is usually some fairly intelligent observation on the order of ‘Whaddya expect, you treat people like this? Of course they’re gonna riot.’
I began to wonder why we feel obliged to issue this pre-emptive caveat about not ‘condoning’ something. What danger are we guarding against by saying that? The observation is nonsensical on its face, of course; what we ‘condone’ or don’t condone has absolutely no effect in the world. It’s like saying ‘I don’t condone hurricanes.’ To say that you don’t ‘condone’ something that’s inevitable and under no one’s control is just incoherent.
Does the language of ‘condoning’ suggest some sort of unitary agency, some single collective will we can blame for bad decisions? (Zionists, by the way, love this line of argument: The Palestinians collectively fucked up back in 1933, or whenever, so therefore….) Or are we preserving our liberal bona fides by suggesting, implicitly, that some kind of Gandhi schtick or (worse yet) electoral activity would be better?
Let the record show that for what it’s worth, I do condone riots. They’re not my first choice, of course. What I would prefer is a well-armed and well-organized insurrection, led by relentless, bloody-minded Bolsheviks. But until that comes along, riots are a great deal better than acquiescence.
“Are you now a riot sympathizer or have you ever been a riot sympathizer?”
That’s what they may ask before they shepherd you off to a nice cozy little FEMA cottage. Gettin’ bolder as we get older.
Riots are in fact the only way we have of communicating with our masters because of the giant noise machine the political scientists, Wikipedia, etc. have built around that thing I am usually not allowed to speak about on blogs.
I am going to protest this weekend. Going to hold up a sign “Wikipedia is Fascist – Is Anti-democratic”. Or maybe I should just go riot instead?
Far be it from me to incite a riot; That Would Be Wrong(© Richard Nixon). But if you should decide to hold a riot, I will decline to discondone it.
I live in the wild wild west of Western Massachusetts. So there!
Hey, nobody was paying attention to Baltimore before the riots. So they seem to have worked.
http://crooksandliars.com/2015/04/rush-limbaugh-riots-will-continue-until
So of course all the usual fuckheads are going to engage in fuckery over it. It’s what they do – but what is becoming obvious is that riots are the only way to get the attention of the goobers who run this fucked up joint – aka the US of Fucking A.
Riots? They happen when suppressed people just get sick of it one day. That’s all it is. If the people of Baltimore had nice jobs, an economic future, weren’t subject to draconian police and had a nice white life then none of this rioting would occur.
Facebunk (or Facesuck, as a friend calls it) it mostly tedious, but lately my feed has produced a few gems.
This one from a black mother in Bed-Stuy:
***Let’s SHIFT the narrative from CVS looting and Moms whuppin sons to POLICE SNAPPING SPINES #JUSTICE #Baltimore #FreddieGray***
This one from someone I don’t really know:
***For all those white folks who say shit like “we don’t burn down our neighborhoods when we get angry,” this is true… We burn other people’s, in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Panama, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, etc (and for that matter, plenty of black and brown neighborhoods in THiS country–check the history of white-on-black race riots before engaging your uninformed, uneducated but always running mouths next time…) You’re welcome for the clarification…***
And I’m noticing Malcolm X making quite a few appearances — interestingly, far more than the Hallmark-card-variety MLK who usually makes appearances aimed at comforting the comfortable.
I gave up on the weasly “I don’t condone rioting, but…” dodge long ago, after the Rodney King police beating verdict came in.
These days, I’m like, “fuck, yeah, let ‘er rip, it needs to happen more.”
Another infomercial for the police state, courtesy of mass media manipulation.
I won’t condemn the use of violence as a social tactic, if it’s directed at the right people. I will condemn foolishly dancing to the enemy’s tune and giving them exactly what they want.
The ruling elite welcomes and encourages rioting just as it does terrorism as a means of scaring people into supporting the security state. Much as US-backed terrorists have created sectarian divisions in the Muslim world that may take decades to heal, the divisions between whites and blacks created by endless racial provocation and propaganda make it unlikely whites and blacks will unite in their common interest anytime soon. That is a bigger tragedy than a CVS being burned down.
As usual all we will see from this are calls for “reform” and “accountability” of the stormtroopers and who knows, maybe this time they will throw a cop under the bus just to show how committed they are to “healing” the community. Give them body cams so they can spy on us, and hire more black stormtroopers. Then business as usual procuring bodies for forced labor and handing out summonses.
No one will question why we need cops in the first place and if you do, the SJW concern trolls will be the first to denounce you as a lunatic. Yeah man, fuck the cops, but don’t disband them, we need them to keep us safe!
Urban Dictionary:
Social Justice Warrior [SJW]. A pejorative term for an individual who repeatedly and vehemently engages in arguments on social justice on the Internet, often in a shallow or not well-thought-out way, for the purpose of raising their own personal reputation. A social justice warrior, or SJW, does not necessarily strongly believe all that they say, or even care about the groups they are fighting on behalf of. They typically repeat points from whoever is the most popular blogger or commenter of the moment, hoping that they will “get SJ points” and become popular in return. They are very sure to adopt stances that are “correct” in their social circle.
I Am A Bona-fide Social Justice Warrior! See:
http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2014/12/428766.shtml
Portland eh? Why we’re nearly neighbors! Saint Helens, OR area myself.
Always good to hear from fellow Oregonians – well, most of the time anyway.
;^)
Regards.
Uh-Uh. See above; I live in the wild wild west of Western Massachusetts. Portland Indy is simply one of the few sites that is not moribund. Even the Seattle one went dark. There are thousands of “right wing” and libertarian blogs — and about ten that are reasonable and “progressive” (I prefer “equalist”; it says something). By the way, the libertarian doctrines were developed by a consortium of super-high funded think tanks, like Cato institute and the von Mises Austrian School what-ever-it-is. Americans have become intellectual prostitutes — They are now so unsophisticated they can be sold slavery wrapped in fake “freedom.”
I stand corrected!
UpStreeam Baby:
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/61712938?utm_campaign=portland.indymedia.org&utm_source=ustre.am/:4aWlY&utm_medium=social&utm_content=20150501003454
Why does this site take 60 minutes to load?
This is organized Disinfo!
Not what I wanted to covey at all!!!
Above comment went to the wrong blog. I gotta slow down!
Maybe I need a vacation.