A few years later, what's the followup assessment? Did the riots "work" for the medium or long run benefit of the marginalized, or only to get some short run appeasement?
Alas, the subjective nature of judging when one's own asserted grievance has been addressed sufficiently (with violence if not) is a rather big sticking point. It alas reminds me of the folks who decide that they should resist arrest unless they agree that they are guilty.
If people's discernment of personal "justice" was intelligent, informed, thoughtful, honest, conscious, and unbiased, then allowing it to override the official rules (made on a one size fits all basis) would be a no-brainer. But we repeatedly see how subjective, biased, and illogical such assessments often are.
Few of the people who want to have this power to over-ride "the system" would like to live in a society which would result if everyone else also had that power.
I think the argument in this post is worth revisiting, especially given the context of Hamas's Oct 7th attack, but I've been stretched for time. The title of this piece really should have been "Riots *can* work", as it's been clear from a policy-perspective that the BLM movement has been a failure given the scale of energy and money involved.
Technically everyone has the power to override "the system" because that's what wars, revolutions, and coups are. Whether or not they're correct to do so will always depend on the specific values you hold.
A few years later, what's the followup assessment? Did the riots "work" for the medium or long run benefit of the marginalized, or only to get some short run appeasement?
Alas, the subjective nature of judging when one's own asserted grievance has been addressed sufficiently (with violence if not) is a rather big sticking point. It alas reminds me of the folks who decide that they should resist arrest unless they agree that they are guilty.
If people's discernment of personal "justice" was intelligent, informed, thoughtful, honest, conscious, and unbiased, then allowing it to override the official rules (made on a one size fits all basis) would be a no-brainer. But we repeatedly see how subjective, biased, and illogical such assessments often are.
Few of the people who want to have this power to over-ride "the system" would like to live in a society which would result if everyone else also had that power.
I think the argument in this post is worth revisiting, especially given the context of Hamas's Oct 7th attack, but I've been stretched for time. The title of this piece really should have been "Riots *can* work", as it's been clear from a policy-perspective that the BLM movement has been a failure given the scale of energy and money involved.
Technically everyone has the power to override "the system" because that's what wars, revolutions, and coups are. Whether or not they're correct to do so will always depend on the specific values you hold.