[baguasquirrel]

Whatever dude. Just ask anyone who grew up in anything resembling a ghetto. There's lots of us who begin to think that shooting rioters on sight is not a bad idea. Where do you think Boondock Saints came from? Honestly, at some point, you just get sick of the shit and you want it to stop, and solutions like the military become appealing.

And therein lies the problem. We know it's inhumane. We know it degrades us further to succumb to that shoot-the-fuckers mentality. It is understood then, that for riots like this to happen at all, we've already lost. That there are scarcely any viable solutions merely brings to surface the existing societal decay.

The point then, is not that you are right and he is wrong or vice versa. The point is that ultimately, the military is brought in for riots of LA-scale intensity because the people want them to be brought in, because in a lose-lose situation, you'd prefer the choice that affords peace.

p.s. It is interesting then, that folks like Jefferson were against standing armies because they were only necessary for oppressing the populace.

p.p.s. Looks like people can't handle the notion that society can slide into nihilism. =P

[waitwhat]

Where do you think Boondock Saints came from?

Hollywood. Where do you think they're from?

Please leave cinematic fantasies where they belong: on the other side of the silver screen.

[baguasquirrel]

I was pointing out why people think the way they do. No need to get condescending or shoot the messenger here. More than that, you are merely being pedantic.

It makes little difference that Hollywood made it when it was people who made a cult out of it.

[waitwhat]

Pointing out that your (literal) fantasy is not reality is hardly being pedantic. In fact it worries me that this even seems to be necessary.

[barrkel]

This is the path to totalitarianism. The scary thing is that the people actually want it; it doesn't take much to push them into its arms. And that's why it's so important to fight against it, at all costs.

[temphn]

I respectfully submit that your priorities are misplaced.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/8692110/London-...

In one incident, a man suffered life-threatening injuries when he was attacked by rioters after he tried to extinguish a fire they had started in a bin.

Other residents told how they barricaded themselves into their block of flats as more than 200 masked rioters bent on burgling houses tried to smash down the doors.

Classical composer and musician Leni White told how she escaped her blazing flat in Ealing with nothing but her violin after it was torched by thugs.

Shopkeepers were also robbed and one was left with stitches after looters beat him up and demanded his money.

[barrkel]

I'm sorry, but I don't think democracy is outweighed by thuggery.