[ExI] communism/authoritarianism

[Dan TheBookMan]

On Sun, Sep 20, 2020 at 1:01 PM John Grigg via extropy-chat
<extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
> > People/groups seem to demonize each other, rather than being able to
> > communicate with those of differing views. This is not a good thing. A
> > classic belief is that when this happens, those at the very top are pleased,
> > because their game is divide and conquer.
>
> When I wrote the above statement, I was referring to the average angry person
> on social media, or in a heated argument on the street. I fully agree with you
> in regards to the police and how they are often out of control and dangerous.
> When I talk about those at the very top, I mean those who see the police
> themselves as their useful pawns to keep the proles in line.

If you look at the origin of the police, it's not too far from the
truth to say they were originally formed 'to keep the proles in line.'
Like many state institutions, there's the sort of immaculate
conception view of how they originated that doesn't match actual
history. The immaculate conception view tends to be what most people
think about the institution -- for instance, the War of Drugs -- when
the actual history is usually messier and bad. In the case of the
police, see:

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/the-origins-of-policing-in-the-united-states/

>> I wonder if that's not being overstated or if it's ignoring the past.
>> From my reading of history, the riots of the 1960s and 1970s seem far
>> worse. For instance, I live in Seattle (and not in Oz as someone here
>> thought) and I don't see a city wrecked because of the protests.
>
> And yet insurers are saying the damage from the vandalism and looting
> exceeds one billion dollars. And this included a science fiction bookshop
> I had always hoped to visit.

That was the supposed cost of one riot in 1992:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1992_Los_Angeles_riots#Rebuilding_Los_Angeles

I'm not sure if that's inflation-adjusted. If it isn't, then it's over
$1.85 billion. So, put that into perspective: the rioting now all
together is the cost of one riot in 1992. And 1992 wasn't back in the
1960s and 1970s. My guess would be riots back then would be as
costlier than the 1992 riot.

This isn't to minimize the damage caused by vandalism and looting. But
your earlier statement was diagnosing the current riots as 'a
permanent
part of the new normal.' I think they're not. I believe this because
of what happened with rioting that was far more extensive in previous
times.

Regards,

Dan
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