# Does lockdown cause more explosive riots? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [May 29, 2020, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-lockdown-cause-more-explosive-riots/854674 "2020-05-29T15:08:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jim\_Peebles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Jim\_Peebles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_Peebles)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2020, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-lockdown-cause-more-explosive-riots/854674/1 "2020-05-29T15:08:37Z")
It appears the Minneapolis riots are more extreme than in previous similar situations. But it is difficult to gauge as it depends on the media’s choice of how to present things. So first, are the riots more extreme than in the past similar situations? If they are more extreme, is the lockdown a major contributing factor? One obvious contribution is that a person can walk the streets in a mask and no one will give it a second thought. But from a group psychology perspective, does the abnormality and pressure/stress of being locked down lead groups to act more chaotic? From an individual perspective, isolation leads to insanity so maybe there is an analogous effect. And just now, I learned from the news a CNN crew was arrested while reporting, and they were unsure why. Is there a “Stanford Prison Experiment” type of effect going on, where those enforcing the lockdown become more overbearing due to being in a lockdown enforcement mindset for so long? Can any group psychology experts give their analysis? ---
**Author:** ![ratatoskK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ratatoskk/32/2987_2.png) [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2020, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-lockdown-cause-more-explosive-riots/854674/2 "2020-05-29T15:15:11Z")
We have a long history of protests, some of which become riots. This is the only time there’s been a lockdown beforehand. The Minneapolis protests are by no means the most extreme we’ve experienced. I think the obvious answer to your question is “no.” ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2020, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-lockdown-cause-more-explosive-riots/854674/3 "2020-05-29T15:48:29Z")
Oh, the quarantine certainly contributes! The demonstrations which have turned into violent, destructive riots in many major US cities were also intensified by peoples’ frustrations over isolation, unemployment, fear, food shortages. ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2020, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-lockdown-cause-more-explosive-riots/854674/4 "2020-05-29T15:49:43Z")
Keep moving. Nothing to see here. ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2020, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-lockdown-cause-more-explosive-riots/854674/5 "2020-05-29T16:01:42Z")
I had a front row seat for the riots after [Michael Brown was killed in 2014.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Michael_Brown) We weren’t in a lockdown then. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2020, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-lockdown-cause-more-explosive-riots/854674/6 "2020-05-29T16:54:51Z")
Since the riots have grown out of political protests, let’s move this to Politics and Elections from the Quarantine Zone. Colibri Quarantine Zone Moderator ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2020, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-lockdown-cause-more-explosive-riots/854674/7 "2020-05-29T17:40:40Z")
> [@Jim\_Peebles](#): > > It appears the Minneapolis riots are more extreme than in previous similar situations. But it is difficult to gauge as it depends on the media’s choice of how to present things. So first, are the riots more extreme than in the past similar situations? No. To take just one example, the 1992 Los Angeles riots resulted in 63 fatalities and far more extensive physical destruction than has occurred so far in Minneapolis. > [@](#): > > But from a group psychology perspective, does the abnormality and pressure/stress of being locked down lead groups to act more chaotic? From an individual perspective, isolation leads to insanity so maybe there is an analogous effect. I think all you’re going to be able to get regarding this question are opinions. I will point out, however that (IMO) it would be at least as valid, if not more so, to say that to see people that look like you, me, or Bubba, treated as second-class citizens and murdered by authorities with (so far) impunity, could lead to something resembling insanity. Regarding the arrest of the CNN crew, that was pretty mild compared to the blatant head-breaking that tends to take place when some other countries decide that journalists are getting too uppity. Not that we have a clear idea why the arrests were carried out. I’m not a psychologist, so feel free to ignore. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2020, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-lockdown-cause-more-explosive-riots/854674/8 "2020-05-29T22:55:10Z")
You’re heading into summer now. Lockdown probably doesn’t cause more explosive riots, but warm weather does. ---
**Author:** ![What\_the](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f4b2a3/32.png) [@What\_the](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_the)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2020, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-lockdown-cause-more-explosive-riots/854674/9 "2020-05-30T15:58:37Z")
> [@VOW](#): > > Keep moving. Nothing to see here. > ~VOW I don’t know what the above means but if there is nothing to see here then I’m pretty comfortable in proposing an alternative question… Do explosive riots affect whether citizens will accept ongoing lockdowns? ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2020, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-lockdown-cause-more-explosive-riots/854674/10 "2020-05-30T17:09:36Z")
14.7% unemployment certainly does. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_Peebles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Jim\_Peebles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_Peebles)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2020, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-lockdown-cause-more-explosive-riots/854674/11 "2020-05-31T17:03:10Z")
> [@What\_the](#): > > I don’t know what the above means but if there is nothing to see here then I’m pretty comfortable in proposing an alternative question… > > Do explosive riots affect whether citizens will accept ongoing lockdowns? Your question made sense to me this morning while reading about the looting, arson, and riots happening all over the place and virtually no arrests. Meanwhile chuchgoers are being told they can’t go to church or they will get arrested. I can see how with these riots going on, public tolerance of the lockdowns is going to disappear. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_Peebles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Jim\_Peebles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_Peebles)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2020, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-lockdown-cause-more-explosive-riots/854674/12 "2020-06-16T23:14:17Z")
Welp, events have proven me prescient. Isn’t “the Peebs always right, and shockingly so”? Come on, you must admit it: “Jim Peebles? He’s all right.”. Anyway I have a theory. The lockdowns cause extremism; no way to blow off steam via social activites. And I am sure some folks are like: “anything to get out of the house and interact with other humans”. Yea or Nay? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2020, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-lockdown-cause-more-explosive-riots/854674/13 "2020-06-16T23:27:43Z")
Well of course the rioters aren’t getting arrested. The rioters are the ones who are supposed to be doing the arresting. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2020, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-lockdown-cause-more-explosive-riots/854674/14 "2020-06-17T00:11:44Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > 14.7% unemployment certainly does. Yup, or the fact that this is the second major economic collapse a lot of us have experienced in the last twenty years. Plus we’ve seen how the government has all these policies and funds to help the rich and powerful but for everyone else it’s a few months of subsidized unemployment and a $1200 check. I don’t think I’ve seen people take on the cops like this before though. People destroying police cars, taking over police stations, capital buildings etc is new to me.