[Neurons] 2020 Neurons #25 PROTEST OR RIOT

[Michael Hall]

From: L. Michael Hall 

2020 Neurons #25

May 30, 2020

Thinking for a Living series #11

 

PROTEST OR RIOT?

 

Protesting and rioting are not the same.  To protest something is to
verbally express a disagreement with something and to let your ideas be
known that you think there's a better way or that it's time for a change in
some policy.  Protesting is an time-honored way of bringing about change.
Rioting is an entirely different matter.  One is a thinking response, the
other is not.

 

To riot is to create chaos and destruction.  When people become a mob and "a
mob mentality" arises, people do things that they would never think of
doing.  As personal inhibitions break down, people engage in immoral
activities- hitting, fighting, lighting fires, looting, stealing what
belongs to another, destroying a person's business, home, car, or personal
property. 

 

Whereas protesting is a legitimate form of action that can bring about
creative change in a society, rioting is an illegitimate form that
undermines civil life and civilization.  Often it aims at destroying the
very structures and institutions of society that keep order and peace.  It
is not only the opposite of thinking, it is a form of anti-thinking- of
mindless mob mentality.

 

With regard to George Floyd's death, I have not heard a single person defend
what happened to him.  Quite the opposite.  Everybody from every group, from
every government agency has condemned what happened to him and have said in
no uncertain terms that it was wrong.  And every agency in Minnesota has
said that justice will be done.  The officer or officers will be arrested.
So what is anyone protesting?  Who are they protesting against?  Who is
pushing back to their protests?  As far as I can tell - no one, and thank
God, no one is arguing the opposite.

 

The Governor of Minnesota, Tim Walz, said that Monday and Tuesday nights the
protests were mostly peaceful and were actual protests.  Then things
changed.  Then outside agitators stirred things up and began the destruction
that has now destroyed 170 businesses.  Videos on all of the media channels
shows a mob mentality in action and people swept up in completely irrational
actions.   People looting the stores are not thinking.  People throwing
objects through windows, burning cars, and yelling are not thinking.

 

Recommendations -

1) Think!  If you are protesting, do that.  Do not riot, do not say
irrational things, do not act irrationally.  Don't encourage those who are
not thinking.

2) Schedule protests to occur from 2 to 4 pm.  That will allow full
expression and freedom of speech for people to express themselves and
protest current practice or policy.  It will keep the protests in the light
of day.   Riots occur in the dark-when people think they can escape
accountability.

3) Put a limit on the protests at 4 pm.    This will curtail those who would
stir up negative emotions so that they cannot induce a mob-mentality and
irrationality.  All of the gapers who come to see only make things worse.
It feeds the chaos of the situation.

4) Establish a firm curfew and enforce it.  This will prevent people from
getting worked up into a mob mentality. 

5) Open up the economy.  With 40 million people out of work for the past two
or three months, no wonder we have a powder-keg of frustration that's ready
to explode.

 

 

 

 

 

 




 

 

 

L. Michael Hall, Ph.D., Executive Director 

International Society of Neuro-Semantics 

P.O. Box 8

Clifton, CO. 81520 USA                             

               1 970-523-7877 

 

    cid:261CED33-4408-4124-862B-B9A4B37A367A

 

cid:image002.png at 01D6149D.5CB2A1C0

 

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