# Are rioting and looting mainly urban phenomenons? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 1, 2005, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-rioting-and-looting-mainly-urban-phenomenons/319548 "2005-09-01T04:20:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2005, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-rioting-and-looting-mainly-urban-phenomenons/319548/21 "2005-09-02T06:09:05Z")
> [@Wishbone Ash](#): > > You don’t see ghettos in Montana do you? The lower elements of society are attracted to cities because they are lazy, and cities are more convienient. What color skin might these “lower elements” have, friend Wishbone? Ghettos, lower elements, lazy…things that make you go “hmmmm”… ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2005, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-rioting-and-looting-mainly-urban-phenomenons/319548/22 "2005-09-02T06:22:15Z")
Your accusation of racism is meaningless, trite, and more suited towards Great Debates, where I forsee this thread being moved to in the very near future. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2005, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-rioting-and-looting-mainly-urban-phenomenons/319548/23 "2005-09-02T06:27:17Z")
> [@Argent Towers](#): > > Your accusation of racism is meaningless, trite, and more suited towards Great Debates, where I forsee this thread being moved to in the very near future. Not at all. It seems eminently relevant, given the volume of SF code words **Wishbone Ash** is tossing around. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2005, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-rioting-and-looting-mainly-urban-phenomenons/319548/24 "2005-09-02T06:30:20Z")
And it may be more suited to GD, but I call 'em as I see 'em and hiding behind ingenuous innocence so one can place a thinly veiled racist screed in GQ where one can’t be called on it implicitly breaks the understanding by which we divide the fora here. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2005, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-rioting-and-looting-mainly-urban-phenomenons/319548/25 "2005-09-02T06:31:23Z")
_dis_ingenuous innocence… _sigh_ ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2005, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-rioting-and-looting-mainly-urban-phenomenons/319548/26 "2005-09-02T06:34:20Z")
Um…sorry. Let me apologize to **voluble** , the OP, because I conflated him with **Wishbone Ash** , and accused him of falsely placing this in GQ. The OP itself hasn’t a racist bone in its verbiage, and is, in fact, a legitimate, timely, and well-phrased GQ. I’ll be going to bed now…it’s obviously well past my bedtime. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![PBear42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@PBear42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PBear42)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2005, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-rioting-and-looting-mainly-urban-phenomenons/319548/27 "2005-09-02T06:35:33Z")
FWIW, one of the worst communities in which I’ve ever lived mores-wise was a rural town in northeast PA, whereas one of nicest was a neighborhood here in SF bordering on several projects. That’s generalizations for you. Unreliable bastards! Returning to the OP, I think part of the answer is herd instinct. Reminds me of one of those classic experiments they relate in Psych 101. This one was about how long it took for an abandoned car by the road to be stripped. At first it would sit unmolested for days. Finally someone would take something. Then another, and another. At this point, i.e., when it was clear the car was a “target,” the activity accelerated and it was soon stripped clean. So, too, I think with looting. Many of us have larceny in our hearts but are held in check by fear of standing out. But, if enough of our fellows are doin’ it, we’ll join in. Almost by definition, that’s a dynamic more easily realized in an urban setting. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-rioting-and-looting-mainly-urban-phenomenons/319548.md?page=1)