Like a lot of you I've been watching the riots every night on television, in my living room. When I look out at the protesters and the criminals who hide out among them I see ,not so much misery, but a lot of miserable people. That's somewhat understandable. After two months of lockdown emotions are subject to swings, most of them downward.
For such miserable people they do seem to be having the time of their lives. Nothing rewires the circuitry of boredom and underlying discontent half as well as facing a phalanx of riot police shields ,catching the sting of tear gas in the air, and listening to pepper pellets whizzing past your ears. If the police charge into the crowd, so much the better, it's you and your brothers and sisters against the fascist armies of Donald Trump, the Proud Boys, the defenders of confederate statues and Jim Crow. Now what could be more exciting than that? Is there a better cure for that ennui you need to scratch but can't quite reach? Ennui is not a rash, except metaphorically in this case. It's French for boredom and yet it means more. It implies an deeply routed discontent. The only cure is excitement, a major break from routine. And still they're not much of a cure . They only distract and allow you some passing relief. The ennui is deeply routed afterall. Real relief occurs only when you face real problems inside yourself, but that's hard work that most of prefer to shirk. It's no coincidence that the rioting tearing apart our cities is happening now, after these months of lockdown and after so many unmanaged ,undiagnosed, untreated personal issues have had time to reach a boiling point.
I'm not saying that demonstrations in behalf of Floyd Brown, or calling for greater accountability and reform in law enforcement are illegitimate. I'm not saying they can't perform any useful purpose. I'm saying that that is not what we're seeing . Why was the officer who's now been arrested for kneeling on the neck of Floyd Brown still a cop after a long record of abuses to the public. It's not because he was popular with other policemen. That's really unlikely. No one has more to loose than the good cop from having bad cops on the street. Good cops overwhelmingly out number the bad ones but a police force will be judged on the basis of the worst conduct of its worst cops. There's nothing cops would rather see than all the bad apples driven out. Systemic racism, really? Why tilt after imaginary dragons and monsters when there are actual systemic disfunctions that need to be dealt with like the ones that keep bad cops on the force? The local chapter of the policeman's union might a good place to start.
That the protests we've seen up till now are not asking these questions is an indication of another agenda at work despite the importance of real reforms called for by this and other incidents. The calls for the police to be defunded and disbanded and prisons to be closed is not going to happen. Society as a whole has not lost it's mind as the more radical of the protesters have. There are anarchists at work in these protests. They have planned them and trained for the confrontations with police, the destruction of their vehicles, and all the sideshow that occurs at night. Their disdain for the institutions of law and order is equal to their disdain for capitalism. The businesses they destroy are not collateral damage in their war on cops ,it's part of the point. What do they have to offer in place of the institutions that sustain us? Not much. Maybe they'll get around to that after our cities are a smoldering ruin and the economy looks little better.
For such miserable people they do seem to be having the time of their lives. Nothing rewires the circuitry of boredom and underlying discontent half as well as facing a phalanx of riot police shields ,catching the sting of tear gas in the air, and listening to pepper pellets whizzing past your ears. If the police charge into the crowd, so much the better, it's you and your brothers and sisters against the fascist armies of Donald Trump, the Proud Boys, the defenders of confederate statues and Jim Crow. Now what could be more exciting than that? Is there a better cure for that ennui you need to scratch but can't quite reach? Ennui is not a rash, except metaphorically in this case. It's French for boredom and yet it means more. It implies an deeply routed discontent. The only cure is excitement, a major break from routine. And still they're not much of a cure . They only distract and allow you some passing relief. The ennui is deeply routed afterall. Real relief occurs only when you face real problems inside yourself, but that's hard work that most of prefer to shirk. It's no coincidence that the rioting tearing apart our cities is happening now, after these months of lockdown and after so many unmanaged ,undiagnosed, untreated personal issues have had time to reach a boiling point.
I'm not saying that demonstrations in behalf of Floyd Brown, or calling for greater accountability and reform in law enforcement are illegitimate. I'm not saying they can't perform any useful purpose. I'm saying that that is not what we're seeing . Why was the officer who's now been arrested for kneeling on the neck of Floyd Brown still a cop after a long record of abuses to the public. It's not because he was popular with other policemen. That's really unlikely. No one has more to loose than the good cop from having bad cops on the street. Good cops overwhelmingly out number the bad ones but a police force will be judged on the basis of the worst conduct of its worst cops. There's nothing cops would rather see than all the bad apples driven out. Systemic racism, really? Why tilt after imaginary dragons and monsters when there are actual systemic disfunctions that need to be dealt with like the ones that keep bad cops on the force? The local chapter of the policeman's union might a good place to start.
That the protests we've seen up till now are not asking these questions is an indication of another agenda at work despite the importance of real reforms called for by this and other incidents. The calls for the police to be defunded and disbanded and prisons to be closed is not going to happen. Society as a whole has not lost it's mind as the more radical of the protesters have. There are anarchists at work in these protests. They have planned them and trained for the confrontations with police, the destruction of their vehicles, and all the sideshow that occurs at night. Their disdain for the institutions of law and order is equal to their disdain for capitalism. The businesses they destroy are not collateral damage in their war on cops ,it's part of the point. What do they have to offer in place of the institutions that sustain us? Not much. Maybe they'll get around to that after our cities are a smoldering ruin and the economy looks little better.
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