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by justinclift 558 days ago
> We have a system of laws and courts to decide what is criminal.

Good when it works, but what happens when it fails?

1 comments

yeah, blood in the street and mass death and destruction. Everyone killing everyone.
So, what do you propose to do to fix it? I don't think scolding people on HN is going to accomplish much.
I dont know how to talk people from normalized murder.
Forget the individuals. How do you fix the system that lead people to feel this way?
No way. Humanity since the dawn of time has always had the potential to mob when things became dire. We still have it today, only it is more controlled via technology and rationality. This killing will not start anarchy. But it does have the capability to start a resistance against existing power structures, and that is what everyone is actually (consciously or unconsciously) worried about. We are only conditioned to believe that anarchy might ensue as that is the easiest way to instill fear of rebellion against the power structure.
Yes, and mobbing often leads to mass deaths and people worse off than the state before. I dont think this is the straw that breaks the camel's back or anything. It just seems like one more incremental step in the wrong direction.

Maybe I'm sensitive because I have been reading about the french revolution, and how mob rule lead to mass murder which left everyone worse off.

> mob rule lead to mass murder which left everyone worse off.

From your point of view was the "everyone left worse off" a short term thing, or did it eventually come good for most, or something else?

I think the french revolution left everyone worse off than if it didnt happen, The first republic didnt address any one the underlying economic issues. The failure of populist mob governance lead to first empire, and the Napoleonic wars which killed several percent of Europe's population (~6million) in France's attempt to loot its way back to economic prosperity.
Sounds like a reasonable way to look at it.

How far along the path do you reckon the US is to the same kind of thing?

That sounds pretty extreme. There's a large amount of possibility between those two positions. ;)
Jumped the shark there, dude! But some of these posts are hilarious over-the-top horseshit. Seriously...

Get a grip. For all we know the shooter was pissed b/c his girlfriend was banging the health insurance executive while babysitting for him!

[I would loooove for HN to have optionally-visible meta-threads, so onlookers like me could sit in the gallery, drink a beer, joke and remark about what is posted w/o affecting the stream of thought. Now back to y'all...]

Actually, that'd indeed be pretty funny at times. ;)