All over TV news at the moment are the riots by people protesting the death of a death of a teenager at the hands of a police officer. The thing that completely baffles me however is the destruction of property. The protesters are burning businesses, cars, houses, not those belonging to the officer or his colleagues, but instead as I understand it, they are burning property in their own neighbourhoods. If I wanted to protest I’d find it counter-productive to do that. Rioting takes away the protest’s impact and focuses it on the destruction. And burning or otherwise destroying the property of your neighbours (possibly out protesting too) is – well – rather silly. And again, if I was out seriously protesting something I saw as an injustice and returned home to find my car or business torched by my fellow protesters, next time someone wanted me to march in protest, I be staying home instead, to see that I didn’t lose my car, business or whatever, again. It makes me wonder how genuine most of those protesters are? Or are they merely out to riot, burn, loot, and wallow in excitement, uncaring of the real object? Because burning down your next door neighbour’s business doesn’t exactly emphasize how keen you are to highlight and prevent further injustices – committed by someone of a different ethnicity and in a totally different area!
