Subject:
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Re: Libertarian stuff (Was: Re: Art Debate Was: [Re: Swearing?])
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Thu, 13 Jan 2000 19:34:46 GMT
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Viewed:
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1640 times
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Frank Filz writes:
> > Every morning when I stand on the trolley to work I see very elderly people
> > likewise forced to stand because young, able-bodied individuals refuse to
> > give up their seats.
>
> So a few people are jerks.
A very convenient piece of gerrymandering.
> I don't remember reading about riots when the recent ice storm which
> paralyzed New England and Eastern Canada.
>
> Please point me to some examples here.
Okay, now it's my turn to have painted with too broad a brush, and you point
out some powerful counterexamples. The unifying factor I see in your cases is
some natural catastrophe or extremity of circumstance, and in any case not too
many riots happen during ice storms.
How about the riots during the New York blackout of (I think) 1968? How
about the post-Rodney King riots in Los Angeles? How about the post-Dr. King-
assassination riots? How about the idiocy riot at Penn State in 1998? How
about the recent riots in Seattle?
> Again, I point you to Raleigh North Carolina after Hurricane Fran. I saw
> a society quite able to act in a reasonable manner. In fact, I invite
> you to investigate the community response after almost any disaster in
> the world. What I have overwhelmingly seen is communities responding to
> the disaster in positive ways.
How about in situations not brought on by catastrophe? I will agree that,
when confronted with a truly awesome disaster of nature, people can be
galvanized to act in concert. However, National Guard forces are typically
deployed in the US to prevent looting in the aftermath--is this just because
the government wants to be heavy-handed? Once the unifying factor is
eliminated or has passed, I doubt people will continue to be so community-
conscious. Likewise, people can be united under one principle for periods of
time, but I don't think it's reasonable to base society as a whole on the hope
that people continue to band together.
In addition, plenty of non-natural catastrophes can generate mob mentality;
any stereotypical football/soccer riot comes to mind, as well as the lynchings
of the earlier 20th century. All of these took place in otherwise law-guided
societies--does Libertopia suggest that the removal or lessening of a
governing force will reduce this sort of occurrence?
Dave!
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