Everyone knows -- or I hope they know -- that a penchant to riot is suggestive of an underlying pathology.
Rioting -- by which I mean full-on vigorous civil disorder by disorganized rabble lashing out in a sudden and intense rash of violence against authority, property and other persons -- is not an every day occurrence.
Leastways it isn't in my family.
I can safely say that within my pedigree we have gone several generations without some family black sheep (and I grant you that we have had our share of those) taking up rock throwing as a lifestyle.
We write letters. We vote in elections. We take home our pay and make the best of it.
We grin and bear what life throws at us.
We do not riot.
Maybe we get a little testy now and then -- and think we've been hard done by. Who doesn't? But in my family, one and all share an ingrained respect for authority and the goods and chattels of others.
The seeming ready ease with which those of darker skin complexion or shallower income become obstreperous, suggests to me that they must have something volatile within them, something that may cause hot blood and obstropolousness (as the Greeks say).
All I can say is that we do not carry that gene.
We're accepting of our lot.
...unfortunately.
