[hugh3]

Really? You're a non-violent, non-rioting good person because of the law? I think you meant "civility loses its grip for a moment."

I'm not a non-violent non-rioting good person because of the law, and I'm prepared to give the grandparent the benefit of the doubt and assume that doesn't apply to him either. However...

Most people, I think, are fairly good, and are restrained from rioting and looting by their own consciences. But some people are just arseholes, and are only restrained from crime by the thought of punishment.

Civility doesn't have a "grip". Either you've got it in you or you haven't.

[rgraham]

I think the 'grip' is referring to the power of social proof. People are capable of both good and evil. You take a lot of cues from what you see around you.

[ChuckMcM]

I think it is a bit more nuanced than that. Some people, myself included, don't take stuff that isn't ours or destroy property even when we know that there would be few if any repurcussions for doing that. Call it a moral compass, a sense of right and wrong, whatever, we just don't.

There are people who, given the opportunity to do so without consequence, engage in such activities for the 'thrills' (or the lulz I suppose if that vernacular applies to meatspace vandalism). When the Rodney King verdict was handed down in LA there were a lot of people who were very angry and lashed out. However there were also some people who could care less, but were clearly exhilirated at the opportunity to be 'bad.' There were looters in New Orleans who took some supplies to use while they evacuated, there were looters who destroyed televisons and stole knick knacks.

The bottom line is that when you shut down the legal system, effectively removing the rule of law for a time, whether by latent rage against injustice, or by disaster. There are some deeply, truly, evil people out there and they come out and they do their evil and it is not 'cool' and it is not 'fun' and it overwhelms the people who are trying to survive.

I thing gburt was just trolling here, perhaps there is some subtlety I missed in the phrasing.