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{"id":1867,"date":"2015-04-30T11:34:57","date_gmt":"2015-04-30T17:34:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?p=1867"},"modified":"2015-04-30T11:34:57","modified_gmt":"2015-04-30T17:34:57","slug":"the-unanswered-why-of-the-baltimore-riots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/04\/the-unanswered-why-of-the-baltimore-riots.html","title":{"rendered":"The unanswered “why” of the Baltimore riots"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

This is more of a question than anything else:<\/p>\n

What causes a riot?<\/p>\n

Sure, we\u2019re hearing that, in the case of Baltimore, and in particular the part of Baltimore that\u2019s \u201cground zero\u201d for the riots, is especially impoverished, either as a result of longstanding segregation, according to Slate<\/a>, the combination of corrupt city government and failed Great Society programs, according to Rich Lowry (National Review contributor writing in Politico<\/a>), or Congress\u2019s unwillingness to appropriate new sums of money for child care\/universal preschool and other programs, per Barack Obama, as cited by Ramesh Ponnuru<\/a>. \u00a0And we\u2019re likewise told by some on the left that the people of Baltimore are rightfully rising up, infitada-style, against their oppressors (see Slate, again<\/a>), while the right criticizes\u00a0the mayor\u2019s infamous \u201cspace to destroy\u201d comment<\/a>\u00a0and the seeming indifference to property destruction evidenced in the delay in calling in the National Guard<\/a>, while some on the left and right are eager to tell us that the arsonists and looters were only a small minority, thus hardly relevant.<\/p>\n

But none of that really answers the question: \u00a0why a riot? \u00a0Why looting? \u00a0Why arson? \u00a0Were the rioters simply garden-variety criminals, who saw a chance and took it? \u00a0Were the arsonists here no different than the arsonists who set fire to abandoned homes every night of the year (if not in Baltimore, then certainly in Detroit)? \u00a0Or were ordinarily law-abiding people sucked in?<\/p>\n

Did the protests, here and in Ferguson, simply inexplicably, almost as a force of nature, mutate into violence, or was it the nature of the protest, and the protesters, that the violence and destruction was inevitable and it was just a matter of when that first window is broken?<\/p>\n

And defenders of the Baltimorians have been saying, \u201cwhite people riot, too, and for even dumber reasons, like their team losing, or even winning, a championship game.\u201d \u00a0Which is true, though I haven\u2019t read of any such riot lately. \u00a0But here, too: \u00a0why? \u00a0What is that moment when the first car is set on fire? \u00a0Is it someone who, \u00a0minutes ago, was truly just giddy about the victory or angry about the defeat? \u00a0Or is it someone who sees an opportunity?<\/p>\n

Certainly, in any case, politicians speaking as if rioting is a \u201cnatural\u201d response to whatever event they\u2019re nominally protesting would seem to fuel this further, by providing justification.<\/p>\n

Anyway, another topic I\u2019d research if I didn\u2019t have a day job on which I\u2019m just taking a lunch break. \u00a0As always, your comments welcomed.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"