posted on Nov, 13 2005 @ 06:34 AM
It is a social phenomonon that has existed for centuries. Why do we destroy our own properties out of protest? In my opinion, during moments of
societal mania (e.g. rioting), people acquire the "flight or fight" syndrome, and bounce back and forth between the two. During moments of mania, a
person's adrenaline level rises, and they have little regard for both the immediate and distant future.
They believe they are in survival mode, and the more their immediate environments get destroyed, the angrier they become.
It is a cycle that is very difficult to maintain. Administering authority figures merely increases the mania, as opposed to making the rioting
populace feel "secure."
I believe the founders of the constitution took such actions into consideration when giving us the right to free speech and the right to assembly.
They did their best to create a social Utopia, and I think they did a dam good job considering the United States' low occurrences of rioting, and an
almost non-existent record of coup d'etat's.
Of course, there are exceptions. The most recent being the Gulf Coastal Region during the flooding. But this was due to a trigger beyond both the
government's and the population's control. The government has responded poorly.
This is why the citizens affected by the flood request government aid, yet denounce the authorities providing/not providing the needed help.