Targeting the innocent

I'll take it as a given that pretty much everyone reading this recognizes that the murder of George Floyd was an atrocity worthy of protest, even revenge.  My topic here is the problem of people who can't seem to distinguish between protesting and committing further crimes against innocent people who have nothing to do with the original murder.

Blogger Bob Felton made part of the case on Saturday.  Even those businesses which are part of national chains provide goods and services which would otherwise be in short supply in some communities.  They employ local people and do some of their spending locally.  If those businesses are destroyed or suffer massive losses from looting, in some cases the chains may decide it's not worth re-opening in the same area, damaging the local economy.  In the case of small locally-owned businesses, some individuals -- who, again, had nothing to do with Floyd's murder at all -- have lost everything.

Blocking roads and stopping traffic is, if not violence, harassment aimed at equally innocent people.  Those victimized by it who didn't already have very strong feelings about whatever issue such "protests" are about, are likely to be turned against the perpetrators' position.  Remember, what matters is not how you think people should react, but how they actually will react.  Such tactics, like the destruction and looting, foster hostility to the protesters' cause, not support for it.

That may even be the intent, in some cases.  There's evidence that much of the violence is actually being committed by white supremacists who have infiltrated the protests.  Videos have shown masked white men committing vandalism while ignoring black protesters who were trying to stop them.  Infiltrating provocateurs into protest movements to foment violence and thus discredit the protests is an old tactic, and there's a subset of white supremacists who advocate bringing about chaos and anarchy in the belief that their cause would eventually win out under such conditions.

Besides undermining the fight for justice against police violence, targeting the innocent bolsters support for right-wing reactions.  I've seen it pointed out that the riots make a strong case for ownership of powerful guns -- if your business is targeted for destruction and the police can't or won't protect it, you need to be able to do so yourself.  Recall how Korean shopkeepers during the 1992 Los Angeles riots formed armed resistance units to defend themselves after being abandoned by the police.  Fear of violence also leads to demands for a tougher law-and-order stance by authorities, to protect the vulnerable, which is likely to translate into more votes for Republicans.  Again, what matters is not how you think people should react, but how they actually will react.  Electoral-Vote today has a discussion of how the riots will likely boost Trump's chances of re-election.  Expect this to become a prominent issue -- the rioting is a huge opportunity given to the Republicans on a silver platter, and they'd be fools to not exploit it to the hilt.

Unrestrained venting of anger is usually counterproductive.  Recall the enraged gangs of armed, creepy thugs who descended on state capitals in April, protesting against the lockdowns that most Americans actually supported.  They didn't do their own cause or image any favors -- and if they'd engaged in large-scale vandalism and looting, they would have alienated far more potential support.

It's not only a few bloggers who are pointing out these things; the mayor of Atlanta has done so as well.

There are ways of resisting police violence that will actually do some good.  Peaceful protests build public sympathy, without which efforts to curb police behavior can't succeed.  More effective is voting for Democrats at every level, since Democratic officials are much more likely to enact effective legislation and rules about the problem, especially if there's a strong demand for it from constituencies vital to the Democratic voting base.  Some progress has already been made -- the cop who killed Floyd has been fired and arrested, something which rarely happened in such cases until recently.  Targeting the innocent alienates potential support and ultimately benefits only the enemy.  It's what Trump and his gang want to see happen.