Can you point to examples of some of this stuff?
What specifically here? Left leaning riots? Or Left Leaning Gang Beatings? Or a Left Leaning Kidnapping?
Because it is easy to cherry pick these, I am not sure examples would be a good direction for this conversation. Heck where I live we had Left Leaning terrorism as they fire bombed shops.
by conservative influence on institutional forces
The behavior at riots which happen in response those killings are not anywhere close to equal in gravity, and much of the worst examples of violence at these are instigated or directly carried out by agent provocateurs.
I often feel like this is a cop out. It is easy to just start a riot and say "Well, obviously what we did is no where close to as bad as what the conservative government is doing to us right now!" especially when a lot of the claims just end up unfounded or the claims are founded but there is a misdirection of force.
Or you know, it is just a way to blame an outward enemy for everything.
But YES some riots do happen because the police themselves do instigate it. Though it isn't to say this is always the case and sometimes all the police did is show up (and often for good reasons). They DID find that less riots happen if the police don't show, even if the police do nothing wrong, but at the same time you are also asking for less police protection with groups that have proven to immediately result in riots.
Heck there was the Left Leaning Race Riot where it turned out absolutely nothing bad actually happened... But DANG IT I need to remember the details...
Someone help me. It was a Canadian Race Riot, some kid was caught shop lifting or something like that, there was some sort of slap on the wrist... And then a race riot happened because the imagined story was completely different.
Then again I guess instead of finding a story I can barely remember I could just bring up Sports Riots.
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I guess my opinion is: I have a low opinion of Riots and those who instigate them.
I do not make excuses for riots and the only excuse I make for rioters is that group consciousness makes it hard to resist rioting when you are part of a riot. I also find that with groups that riot often their goals are very chaotic, imprecise, and often unhelpful (Something bad happened. Lets make everyone pay!)
That and I don't think either the Left or the Right can claim the unapproachable high ground... Which I have heard the Left preach they have far more then the right, which is why I focus on them a lot more often nowadays (I mean it isn't true... they both claim the highroad constantly... But I don't want to watch anymore Christian movies!)