the catch 22 of rioting

i don't condone rioting. i don't consider anything that possibly involves violence towards the innocent as a decent way to get things done.

but i get the nature of the beast. i can see why sometimes it comes to rioting.

peaceful protest should be enough. a gathering of people who want to be heard collectively and peacefully to get what they feel is an important message across should be enough. it should at least be enough to get the open ear of someone of authority.

but shit ain't like that. peaceful protest is usually poorly covered by the media (or sometimes mocked by the media), ignored by those in charge, and met with riot police. what should be the chosen, beautiful way to get a point across to your gov't has turned into an orgy of tear gas and plastic handcuff arrests.

how many times can people assemble peacefully and not be heard? what's it gonna take to get someone's attention over here?

and then someone picks up a rock and breaks a window of a bank or a starbucks or the living room window of a state assemblyman... and then it's heard. and then it's on the news. and then it spreads and everyone else is picking up rocks and all of the sudden it's so much noise that the gov't can no longer pretend it doesn't exist.

all our governments ever had to do was listen to the people when they were singing "kumbaya" in the streets. all anyone ever had to do, and should do in the future, is take them serious.

they can damn the rioters for their violent and dangerous acts and feel justified labeling them as the bad guys. but at least you finally paid attention. and maybe now you'll ask, 'why?' and just maybe you'll acknowledge whatever it was that was at the root of all this.

and what's at the root of it all is the same as when they were still being peaceful, when you saw peace signs and smiles and figured they posed no threat.