The Deeply Immoral

I didn’t want to let some of the reactions to the rioting in Ferguson go by without commenting, either. First, when you throw rocks or Molotov cocktails or set cars or businesses on fire, you are no longer a demonstrator. You are a rioter and a criminal.

Second, when you defend rioters and criminals on the grounds that people are angry or that it highlights persistent racial tensions, it is deeply immoral. The people who’ve been injured or whose property has been destroyed or damaged are persons. When you take the side of the rioters in the name of some putative higher good you are turning persons into means rather than ends and that is immoral. President Obama muffed that on his remarks on Monday evening but got it right yesterday.

Third, the people have spoken. Our system of law has now cleared Michael Brown’s killer of criminal charges and you weren’t present for the grand jury’s deliberations. Criticizing the grand jury at this point undermines the system, fanning the flames. Let it go, for goodness sake. Why are there so many would-be Madame Defarge’s? Are they just thirty for blood? I don’t hear a desire for justice but a desire for vengeance.

2 comments… add one
  • Guarneri Link

    This is one of those blogposts that you think will get traffic but…….

    This certainly reflects my views with the exception of Obama “muffing” it. I just don’t think someone so typically on message or skilled at speaking muffs that. Let’s call it a subtle muff with intent.

    The second point is one I think horribly underrated. (See CNNs despicable coverage on the night of.) This was just an excuse for the professional protester class to have a venue. Further, burning and looting made the incident about the protesters, not M Brown. Not to mention doing incalculable damage to the very people the rioters purport to care about. After the first few minutes of Obama speaking that night I thought he was going to do a really good job. Then he drove into a ditch.

  • ... Link

    I just don’t think someone so typically on message or skilled at speaking muffs that. Let’s call it a subtle muff with intent.

    Obama is skilled at staying on message WHILE CAMPAIGNING and while using a TelePrompTer. Without that TelePrompTer he has often wandered off message even while campaigning.

    As for his intent, it was largely to hear himself speak. Most people are at least a little bit infatuated with the sound of their own voice, but Obama’s having one of the all-time great love affairs with his own. There’s a reason Michelle always gets that look when listening to him. Most wives have a look like that for their husbands, but her’s is epic!

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