Complete And Utter Madness

Tell me something... If I come to your house, invited or not, and demand that you feed me, what would be my best course of action if you have the audacity to say no? Say please? Evidently—judging by the vast social intelligence of the modern generations—my best course of action would be to throw bricks through your windows, set fire to your lawn chairs, and paint various vulgar body parts on your walls. Apparently, this will get me that sandwich I asked (demanded) for.

Explain that to me, please. Where did anyone get the idea that: If I want people to listen to me and care for the causes I support, I have to reenact the penultimate scene from The First Purge? Just absolute destruction and chaos is exactly what is needed to get people to care about due process.

This, obviously, being in reference to the most recent outbreak of peaceful violence in Los Angeles concerning the mass deportations... but this mentality has reared its stupid face many a time in the past few years alone. Even back in the 60s, the "peace and love" brigade took up arms against the bobbies in what is known as the Sunset Curfew Riots. Although no deaths were reported, it still shows that even the Peace Platoon was not immune to the mentality of tantrum-ism. Throw your toys out of the cot and through the window of a family-owned bakery, and you will get your way.

Peaceful protests work. And I mean—ACTUAL—peaceful protests. The 1913 Suffrage Parade being one of the more iconic instances where solidarity and peaceful protest led to incredible social reform. They even call it a parade, for crying out loud. It works. But somewhere along the line, a portion of our population has forgotten that kicking and screaming gets you a smack on the bottom.

There seems to be a very suspicious—heavily insinuated, by me—correlation between the abolishment of corporal punishment in schools and the drastic increase in violent riots. Ever since little Timmy stopped getting a smack on the hand for spitting on Sally’s shoes, the streets have become a war zone when all the Timmy's don't get their way. Sure, you can blame violent video games and the ever-increasingly visceral installments of Final Destination for all this shattered glass and lit cars.

I, however, am not so sure... I have seen every single Saw film that has ever released, and I have yet to receive my subscription to violent tendencies when I disapprove of my surroundings. Perhaps the problem lies deeper than my mid-range thinker can fathom. What I can say, with absolute certainty, is this:

Breaking stuff will not magically make me think you are right.