Spamature
President
The main factor in this equation is not race. It is the age range of the participants. You generally aren't going to see 40 yr olds going to jail for throwing a bottles at the police. Because someone that age is generally not going to throw a bottle at a police officer. They have too much to lose and little to gain in from acting rashly. Nor are they likely to be the targets of police actions that lead to these kind of protest in the first place. You more than likely are not going to see middle aged people looting or burning businesses in their community either. They are much more likely to recognize the investment it takes to establishment a business and the value of its resource in their daily lives.
When you have teenagers and young adults involved in protest this dynamics changes. Not only are they the people more likely to lash out in senseless acts of aggression without regard for the consequences. In turn law enforcement also has little respectful of any standing they may perceive themselves as having in the community. Their defiance combined with their relative youth is likely to be seen as a sign of disrespect and is less likely to be tolerated.
Another factor that leads to violence is the real vs the philosophical nature of the action being protested. If people are directly affected by actions of the government. Their investment in the protest is tangible. It's something they live with and tolerance for it has been worn to the point where anything resembling those actions during the protest are taken as a direct insult to the concerns the protesters are expressing.
If you compare Ferguson with the Bundy protest all of these factor come into play. In the case of Bundy you had mostly established adults protesting a philosophical concern about govt overreach One which did and most like would ever not directly affect their lives. In the case of Ferguson you have young Black males in the crowd who are on a daily basis directly affected by the actions of law enforcement They are also a group for whom law enforcement has little respect for their position in the community.
It is really all about power. Even if a group is directly affected by the actions of the government. They will use their layers of power in society to effect change. When you have a group that has no power in society. They will use the last vestige of power human beings have left of exercise , violent confrontation.
When you have teenagers and young adults involved in protest this dynamics changes. Not only are they the people more likely to lash out in senseless acts of aggression without regard for the consequences. In turn law enforcement also has little respectful of any standing they may perceive themselves as having in the community. Their defiance combined with their relative youth is likely to be seen as a sign of disrespect and is less likely to be tolerated.
Another factor that leads to violence is the real vs the philosophical nature of the action being protested. If people are directly affected by actions of the government. Their investment in the protest is tangible. It's something they live with and tolerance for it has been worn to the point where anything resembling those actions during the protest are taken as a direct insult to the concerns the protesters are expressing.
If you compare Ferguson with the Bundy protest all of these factor come into play. In the case of Bundy you had mostly established adults protesting a philosophical concern about govt overreach One which did and most like would ever not directly affect their lives. In the case of Ferguson you have young Black males in the crowd who are on a daily basis directly affected by the actions of law enforcement They are also a group for whom law enforcement has little respect for their position in the community.
It is really all about power. Even if a group is directly affected by the actions of the government. They will use their layers of power in society to effect change. When you have a group that has no power in society. They will use the last vestige of power human beings have left of exercise , violent confrontation.
