You make a great point about the fact that people after the riot realized how much potential violence lay below the surface of civilization waiting to break free. It reminds me of Dr. Roy Baumeister's seminal work "Evil: Inside Human Violence and Cruelty" in which he writes, "To produce violence, it is not necessary to promote it actively. All that is necessary is to stop restraining or preventing it. Once the restraints are removed, there are plenty of reasons for people to strike out at each other" (p.263) (https://www.amazon.com/Evil-Inside-Human-Violence-Cruelty/dp/0805071652). It's the removal of social constraints rather than an actual trigger that releases the torrents of violence. Many people do not really need an excuse for violence or crime; instead, they just need to think they can get away with it unharmed themselves. Also, what is up with the Latvians? The Latvian Rifles (Company 328) were the regiment that personally guarded Lenin and the Simony Institute, which during that critical moment in the coup enabled these people to keep power. I'm calling for a total and complete shutdown of Latvians entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what the hell is going on.
Coolidge is possibly the 20th centuries most underrated president. I recommend Amity Shlaes' biography Coolidge to anyone looking for a better appreciation of the man
Oftentimes it takes events like these to remind people that civilization is not some inevitable force but rather a thin, tenuous fiction that stretches over and holds down chaos. People of our age are so accustomed to civilization and their education reinforces the assumption that civilized life is some fixed thing that cannot be overturned, even as their media is all themed around disaster voyeurism.
Fact is that force alone is what keeps the beast at bay and those people who keep civilization alive are seeing that all the force of society seems determined to wipe them out. Civilizational suicide has never been so easy or so celebrated
The rapid onset of rampant criminality draws my attention more than anything else. I suppose 10-20 thousand rioters might be a small portion of Boston's total population, but it disheartens me that a society as Christian and prosperous as 1920s Boston would fall to the level of roving gangs so easily.
President Coolidge would’ve done unspeakable things to free subscribers
You make a great point about the fact that people after the riot realized how much potential violence lay below the surface of civilization waiting to break free. It reminds me of Dr. Roy Baumeister's seminal work "Evil: Inside Human Violence and Cruelty" in which he writes, "To produce violence, it is not necessary to promote it actively. All that is necessary is to stop restraining or preventing it. Once the restraints are removed, there are plenty of reasons for people to strike out at each other" (p.263) (https://www.amazon.com/Evil-Inside-Human-Violence-Cruelty/dp/0805071652). It's the removal of social constraints rather than an actual trigger that releases the torrents of violence. Many people do not really need an excuse for violence or crime; instead, they just need to think they can get away with it unharmed themselves. Also, what is up with the Latvians? The Latvian Rifles (Company 328) were the regiment that personally guarded Lenin and the Simony Institute, which during that critical moment in the coup enabled these people to keep power. I'm calling for a total and complete shutdown of Latvians entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what the hell is going on.
So much instability from such a small country. God’s most troublesome Baltic people.
"The Beginning (of the end of the Free Subscribers)" by Based (Paid Subscriber) Kipling
It was not part of their blood,
It came to them very late
With long arrears to make good,
When the Paid Subscribers began to hate.
They were not easily moved,
They were icy-willing to wait
Till every count should be proved,
Ere the Paid Subscribers began to hate.
Their voices were even and low,
Their eyes were level and straight.
There was neither sign nor show,
When the Paid Subscribers began to hate.
It was not preached to the crowd,
It was not taught by the State.
No man spoke it aloud,
When the Paid Subscribers began to hate.
It was not suddenly bred,
It will not swiftly abate,
Through the chill years ahead,
When Time shall count from the date
That the Paid Subscribers began to hate.
Coolidge is possibly the 20th centuries most underrated president. I recommend Amity Shlaes' biography Coolidge to anyone looking for a better appreciation of the man
Oftentimes it takes events like these to remind people that civilization is not some inevitable force but rather a thin, tenuous fiction that stretches over and holds down chaos. People of our age are so accustomed to civilization and their education reinforces the assumption that civilized life is some fixed thing that cannot be overturned, even as their media is all themed around disaster voyeurism.
Fact is that force alone is what keeps the beast at bay and those people who keep civilization alive are seeing that all the force of society seems determined to wipe them out. Civilizational suicide has never been so easy or so celebrated
The rapid onset of rampant criminality draws my attention more than anything else. I suppose 10-20 thousand rioters might be a small portion of Boston's total population, but it disheartens me that a society as Christian and prosperous as 1920s Boston would fall to the level of roving gangs so easily.