Making Light:  Open thread 162 ::: August 09, 2011, 04:28 PM

Abi @ 384:  Who has standing and ability to lecture the looters?
Does vox pop count?  I expect we'll hear interviews from people
whose home or workplace is burned or looted and whose communities
become wastelands from the lack of commercial services and economic
opportunity.  I'm not saying they were living in a capitalist paradise
to begin with, but pillage doesn't improve the situation.  I live in
Washington, DC, and there are still areas depressed from the riots
of 1968.  A lot of neighborhoods have recovered greatly in the last
couple of decades, but we are still paying the price.  I'm pretty
torn by the whole demonstration/mass action dynamic.  I really want
to see justice done in the case of police, business, and political
misconduct, and I'm unsure how that can be accomplished without
taking it to the streets.  On the other hand, there is a lot of
room for riots to make things worse than they were before.