A Serious Talk About the Recent Riots

In all honesty, I wish I could’ve talked about something else. Something happier. Something nicer. Something… well, whimsical. But after the events of the past couple of weeks, I feel I have to talk about this topic, to get my two cents in, so to speak.

From where I stand, two facts are apparent:

George Floyd, a man who didn’t deserve to die, died. Yes, we can talk about the drugs in Floyd’s system, but he didn’t deserve to have his neck knelt on for eight minutes straight. I’ve heard rumors that the police officer in question and Floyd knew each other personally. Perhaps there was some personal vendetta going on? We’ll never know. Either way, it’s a good thing that the officers responsible for Floyd’s death are being charged and investigated.

Riots are occurring, and violence and destruction is the result. There are those who have obfuscated this, calling for revolution from the comfort of their apartments. They dismiss the burning of small businesses with a pithy quote that the burning of America is “just how forests grow.” Meanwhile, neighborhoods are being irrevocably ruined, as is what usually happens after these kinds of riots, according to the available data. Worse yet, the rioters have committed several, horrifying attacks on innocent civilians.

The answer to these problems are simple: minimize police corruption/overreach while maintaining social order. No person in their right mind could disagree with this, right?

So why is this so complicated?

The reason why can be summed up with two words: “Civil Rights.” We’re taking a problem of police corruption and turning it into an issue about racist police operating in a system that’s out to kill black people because they are black, even though there’s no evidence for this assertion.

Does this “Civil Rights” narrative help bring corrupt police officers to justice? No, because turning the issue into one of political polarization will force the police to close ranks. Also, if the judges feel like they are being heavily pressured, they might even drop the case against the police officers. It takes a while to create a case against them, and this sort of mass political movement isn’t helping.

Does this help maintain social order? Judging by all of the smoldering ruins of what were once small businesses and the several people nearly beaten to death, I’d say the answer’s a definite “no.”

Do the people who push “Civil Rights” have an alternative solution to my proposal for the problem of innocent black people getting shot by murderous cops? No, because if they did, they’d be giving actual solutions rather than spouting platitudes about slavery, creating conspiracy theories about hidden white supremacists, and calling for violent revolution. Or worse, claiming that those who oppose burning down small businesses somehow don’t care about the life of George Floyd or others like him. Such demagoguery is decidedly unhelpful.

If you can do something to help someone, do it. If you can say something to help bring justice, say it. But pouring verbal gasoline on this bonfire isn’t helping anyone.

So why is this unhelpful “Civil Rights” narrative being pushed when its net result is human suffering? For my money, it’s because the truth-makers of our society – the media and academia – are, quite frankly, out to lunch. They seem to think that, since the original Civil Rights program was so successful, they could accomplish anything if they recreate that original magic. But winning some political contest using this tactic isn’t going to reach any kind of resolution to the conflict, but prolong it. It only creates a climate of resentment and paranoia. Since the truth-makers don’t see this, and they aren’t trying to create this climate of resentment and paranoia, we must conclude that they are, in some way, delusional.

I mean, if the truth-makers are to be believed, then for the past four months, we’ve been needing to stay under quarantine in order to prevent the outbreak of a deadly disease. But now, since one man was killed by a bunch of corrupt cops in one police district, black rioting is being defended, nay, encouraged. All while Covid-19, a disease that requires social distancing to contain, a disease that disproportionately affects black people, is still a problem. If somebody smarter than me can explain how to square this circle, feel free to do so. In the meantime, I’ll assume that it isn’t me who’s detached from reality, but the institutions busy contradicting themselves.

This systematic insanity tells me that there ought to be radical changes in the way our society deals with problems. Because until the people in charge of delivering information to our society and managing the public square are replaced by people who are willing and able to consider the problem as it actually is, our democracy will be torn apart.

Of course, people like me or you can’t do anything about this. We can’t tell multi-million-dollar media conglomerates or prestigious universities like Harvard or Yale what to do. All I can help inform people of what’s happening.

There’s an old Russian catchphrase useful for this situation: “trust, but verify.” While it’s not a universal rule, it’s useful in situations in which “the outcome is essential and matters more than the relationship.”  In other words, the kind of situation we’re in right now. Find sources you can trust that can get you the information on the ground and try to come up with the opinion yourself. You can’t rely on the truth-makers anymore, and so long as we continue as a society to rely on truth-makers, more innocent people like George Floyd will be killed, and more small businesses will burn.

Rather than interacting with these sorts of institutions, interact with family, friends, and neighbors. This is a bit difficult in the age of Covid-19, but a call, a Zoom meeting, or a handwritten letter can make someone’s day. It’s important to be able to find meaning in the small, warm things. Things are getting crazy out there, after all.