Media Encouraging Riots, Looting
In August 2014, in the immediate aftermath of a violent incident wherein police officer Darren Wilson fatally shot a young black man named Michael Brown, outraged and agenda-driven agitators — many from out of town — seized on the news as an excuse to run wild, steal, destroy property, and more. Businesses were burned to the ground and looted. Even a local church was not spared by the frenzied and violent mob. According to news reports, more than 160 gunshots were fired by “protesters,” too. At least one man died amid the chaos. Pictures that emerged after the late 2014 round of rioting and looting revealed an American suburb that looked more like a war zone.
In response to the tragedy, Time magazine published a pro-rioting piece by Darlena Cunha, who also serves as a contributor to a wide array of other establishment media, including the Washington Post. “The violent protests in Ferguson, Mo., are part of the American experience,” reads the sub-header for the Time “Ideas” column promoting riots and senseless violence as a proper and effective means of achieving political goals. “Peaceful protesting is a luxury only available to those safely in mainstream culture.” Cunha then goes even further: “Riots are a necessary part of the evolution of society.” To defend her thesis, she even cites the Boston Tea Party, equating it with the current mayhem enveloping Ferguson.
Since the grand jury’s decision was announced, Ferguson faced even more violence, which was stirred up by many groups and organizations, although the looting and burning merely makes life more difficult for local residents who the media say are already oppressed. Media, such as Time and the Washington Post, that sympathize with and encourage the destruction in majority-black neighborhoods ironically at the same time chastise efforts of political groups that push voter registration initiatives because those initiatives supposedly create hardships for poor minorities, making their lives more difficult. It’s very questionable about whether those initiatives make minority lives harder, but it is undoubtedly a fact that burning local businesses makes minority lives more difficult. Yet the encouragement to loot goes on.
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