# Will There Be Riots In The Streets & On the Campuses **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 29, 2008, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-riots-in-the-streets-on-the-campuses/470055 "2008-10-29T05:07:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2008, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-riots-in-the-streets-on-the-campuses/470055/41 "2008-10-29T21:56:54Z")
> [@mks57](#): > > Ruby Ridge. Waco. Neither of which was an instance of “the left killing people who disagree with it.” ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2008, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-riots-in-the-streets-on-the-campuses/470055/42 "2008-10-29T22:00:15Z")
> [@TheLoadedDog](#): > > But there has been no sort of conservative victory at all. On an intellectual level, the Left has succeeded somehow in one of the greatest victories of them all: they have managed to skew the actual rules of engagement to the left, such that you can dismiss somebody by labelling them as a “conservative” without further argument. It’s become an insult. You can almost hear the half-aspirated “Ugh” before it. :dubious: What mirror-universe America are **you** living in? In **this** America, the Right has been successfully skewing the rules of engagement the right and making an insult of “liberal” for at least 28 years. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2008, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-riots-in-the-streets-on-the-campuses/470055/43 "2008-10-29T22:05:18Z")
> [@Green\_Bean](#): > > Oy vey. _Again_ with the “black people are gonna riot” thing? Fourteen replies with no mention of race and you’ve gotta bring it up? Thanks for turning this into another race debate.:rolleyes: > [@](#): > > And don’t give me any baloney about how you just mean “people in general.” Gimme a break. Nobody sits around and frets over whether pudgy redheaded over-educated Jews are going to riot. People aren’t voicing vague fears about store windows being broken in downtown Westfield, NJ. Nobody’s worried about the Upper West Side of Manhattan. They’re worried about Newark. Is that so. I can’t see into your head, but it seems to me that you’re the one saddled with the obsession seeing as you’re the won to bring it up. You’ve obviously forgotten the campus riots of the late 60’s and early seventies. And the Democratic Covention in Chicago. > [@](#): > > It’s like people think that black people are just waiting around for an excuse to go have a riot. When was the last race riot. Its been so long ago. I think you need to let go of this impression. Its long outdated. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2008, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-riots-in-the-streets-on-the-campuses/470055/44 "2008-10-29T22:09:26Z")
> [@The Flying Dutchman](#): > > Fourteen replies with no mention of race and you’ve gotta bring it up? 😕 Not reading the posts in your own thread very carefully, are you, **Dutch**? Back in post #5: > [@Interested Observer](#): > > But I’ve no doubt that there would be angry crowds and fires and some vandalism in the streets of our poorer and/or Blacker areas. […] > > Adding in the racial element this time around (a lot of Black folks have been pretty pissed off for a long while already, and some will take it very personally) I think there is a very real potential for some serious mayhem. […] > > So what about the other side of the coin? Will there be rioting if Obama WINS? Right-wing rioting and other acts of violence directed at those seen as the enemy? Personally, I’m more scared of THOSE folks than I am of the “boys in the hood”. ---
**Author:** ![mks57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@mks57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mks57)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2008, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-riots-in-the-streets-on-the-campuses/470055/45 "2008-10-29T22:22:08Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Neither of which was an instance of “the left killing people who disagree with it.” Many people disagree with you. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2008, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-riots-in-the-streets-on-the-campuses/470055/46 "2008-10-29T22:22:59Z")
> [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](#): > > When was the last race riot. 1. ---
**Author:** ![Acid\_Lamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Acid\_Lamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acid_Lamp)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2008, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-riots-in-the-streets-on-the-campuses/470055/47 "2008-10-29T22:23:10Z")
Screw it. I’ll answer the Op and try to wrestle this thread back onto track. In the event of a mass Obama win in the popular vote and an electoral overturning in favor of McCain, I would not in the least be surprised to see riots, protests, and possibly outright insurrection. There are a lot of people who have been walking a razor’s edge in all aspects of their lives. Things suck, and nobody cares. The courts will back the banks, regardless of how shady the deal was. If you don’t have money, you can’t win. There are plenty of people turning to shady work just to feed their families, and many just can’t take it any longer. hell, I’d probably be out there with them. There is a huge disparity between those who just squeak along with their bills, pruning back to the bone to make ends meet, and those who don’t have many financial cares. People don’t want _Order_, they want Justice. Many don’t give a good goddamn any longer what is _Legal_, they want what is Right. I don’t think it’s too far of a stretch to imagine this same situation in the event of significant voter fraud either. We have become extremely polarized as a country lately, and it makes for a bad climate. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2008, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-riots-in-the-streets-on-the-campuses/470055/48 "2008-10-29T22:24:32Z")
> [@mks57](#): > > Many people disagree with you. And those people also think the U.S. has a Zionist Occupied Government. Less said of them the better. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2008, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-riots-in-the-streets-on-the-campuses/470055/49 "2008-10-29T22:47:09Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > 😕 Not reading the posts in your own thread very carefully, are you, **Dutch**? Back in post #5: I’m confused too. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2008, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-riots-in-the-streets-on-the-campuses/470055/50 "2008-10-29T22:48:14Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > 1. Damn near a whole generation ago. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2008, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-riots-in-the-streets-on-the-campuses/470055/51 "2008-10-29T22:58:24Z")
> [@The Flying Dutchman](#): > > Damn near a whole generation ago. Well, a “generation” is usually considered [more like 25 years](http://www.ancestry.com/learn/library/article.aspx?article=11152), not 16. And what about the [Cincinnati riots of 2001](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001_Cincinnati_Riots)? I’m not sure why **BrainGlutton** excluded those, or if he just missed them. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-riots-in-the-streets-on-the-campuses/470055/52 "2008-10-30T01:38:52Z")
> [@Tristan](#): > > [QUOTE=Der Trihs] > Only potent for idiots and scum. Or for the vast majority of folks throught the majority of human history, you know, when slavery was common and widespread. [/quote] Like I said; idiots and scum. The majority of people supporting slavery just means that the majority of people were evil and/or fools. There’s no rule that says good has to be popular, you know. > [@Tristan](#): > > But to think that the folks that believed the stereotypes of the day were idiots and scum is just foolishness. That’s the “The idea of making excuses for bad behavior was invented in the last fifty years” argument." When someone, for example, in the Old South said that the Golden Rule justified slavery because if he was black, **he’d** want to be a slave, do you really think that he was doing anything but making a really transparent excuse ? When some ancient Greek warrior claimed that the strong had the right to exploit the weak, do you really think he was doing anything but making an excuse that he thought he’d never be on the wrong end of ? ---
**Author:** ![Tristan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tristan/32/18058_2.png) [@Tristan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tristan)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-riots-in-the-streets-on-the-campuses/470055/53 "2008-10-30T03:02:25Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > That’s the “The idea of making excuses for bad behavior was invented in the last fifty years” argument." When someone, for example, in the Old South said that the Golden Rule justified slavery because if he was black, **he’d** want to be a slave, do you really think that he was doing anything but making a really transparent excuse ? When some ancient Greek warrior claimed that the strong had the right to exploit the weak, do you really think he was doing anything but making an excuse that he thought he’d never be on the wrong end of ? No. They weren’t making excuses at all. They honestly believed that. It was taught to them from the youngest age. It was prevalent in the society they lived in. For those times, in those circumstances, it was “correct”. We “know” that it is wrong today, but I guarantee that if you had lived then, you would have felt the exact same way. The dissonance comes in when there is a new way of thinking coming in, sweeping away the old. That happened in the 1870’s, and again in the Civil Rights era of the 1960’s in regards to African Americans. I am not, for the record, endorsing or agreeing with the old ways of thinking. Might does not make right, noone should own another human being. But at the same time, calling them evil for thinking that way is taking an exceedingly narrow view. If you’d like to discuss this, we should start a new thread. We’re gonna derail this one. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-riots-in-the-streets-on-the-campuses/470055/54 "2008-10-30T03:10:31Z")
> [@Tristan](#): > > No. They weren’t making excuses at all. They honestly believed that. It was taught to them from the youngest age. It was prevalent in the society they lived in. For those times, in those circumstances, it was “correct”. No, it wasn’t. In my example of the South, they were easily sophisticated enough to know better, and slavery obviously violated their own morality; thus the excuses, and the level of craziness they reached in attempting to delude themselves about the obvious. People don’t spend so much time and effort trying to excuse evil unless they KNOW that it’s evil. And in my example of the ancient Greeks, it was stupid to support a system that could turn around and bite you like that, regardless of morality. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-riots-in-the-streets-on-the-campuses/470055/55 "2008-10-30T03:16:15Z")
Oh stop it. Nobody knows what will happen. I suspect nothing one way or the other. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-riots-in-the-streets-on-the-campuses/470055/56 "2008-10-30T03:18:10Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > Well, a “generation” is usually considered [more like 25 years](http://www.ancestry.com/learn/library/article.aspx?article=11152), not 16. Just an aside - the “generations” as defined in the context of Boomer, X, Silent, etc. have ranged as 17 to 23 year cohorts. Carry on. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-riots-in-the-streets-on-the-campuses/470055/57 "2008-10-30T16:16:11Z")
I expect riots no matter **who** wins. In fact, I **intend** to riot no matter who wins. Come with me! It’s fun! Get a free TV set! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-riots-in-the-streets-on-the-campuses/470055/58 "2008-10-30T16:23:17Z")
I just bought a new TV. Can I riot and loot a new stereo instead? ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-riots-in-the-streets-on-the-campuses/470055/59 "2008-10-30T16:24:44Z")
I need a new gaming laptop… -XT ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-riots-in-the-streets-on-the-campuses/470055/60 "2008-10-30T17:02:22Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > I expect riots no matter **who** wins. > > In fact, I **intend** to riot no matter who wins. > > Come with me! It’s fun! Get a free TV set! 🙂 > [@](#): > > \*Got a Glock in the bedside table > Machine gun leaning by the bedroom door > Kevlar vest in the closet > Well, I wear it when I go to the store … > > … Don’t knock on my door > If you don’t know my Rottweiler’s name\* **Warren Zevon,** “Rottweiler Blues” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-riots-in-the-streets-on-the-campuses/470055.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-riots-in-the-streets-on-the-campuses/470055.md?page=4)