October 19, 2014

Hints of anarchy

 

Sam Smith - Above are just a few of the photos posted by Boston.com of a riot in Keene NH during its annual Pumpkin Fest. Some 30 people were reported injured by those the site called "partiers." The Daily Beast,  which prefers young Americans to kill and maim those overseas. said, "Today the city of Keene, N.H., faces a massive cleanup following a spate of riots that raged throughout much of the day Saturday and into the early morning hours of Sunday as parties celebrating the annual Keene Pumpkin Festival turned into violent chaos, adding that "the rioters seemed to delight in destruction."
 
Keene, incidentally, recently got a $286,000 Bear Cat armored vehicle because of threats "far reaching and often unforeseen." The Keene police also delight in destruction but it didn't seem to help much. 

Although youthful riots are far from unknown, the the size and force of this one was striking, and brings to mind the thought that America is moving towards increasingly anarchistic anger. As one 18 year old participant put it, "It’s fucking wicked. It’s just like a rush. You’re revolting from the cops. … It’s a blast to do things that you’re not supposed to do.”
 
As we try to make sense of the rebels in the Mid East for whom we can't even agree on a name, it is worth remembering that  America, too, can be broken into conflicting cells whose major common ground is anger. For decades, liberals have given the young no conceptual alternative. Progressive activists have tried, but their causes have been too specific to create a general counterculture. If you are growing up in this society you can easily realize that much is madness, but where do you turn for help? Without friends, without a face for the future, it is easy to turn to fury. 
 


 
 
 

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sam, why do you use the tools of the "masters of mankind"? Surely you, of all people, know that words are tools. Audre Lord wasn't kidding when she observed that "the master's tools will never dismantle the master's house".

Anarchism and anarchists have nothing to do with chaos. Anarchists are the most orderly people in the world. We work for a world with no ruling class, not no order or no community functionaries (aka "government"). We work for real democracy.

The kiddies who claim to be anarchists and wreck things while proudly declaring that nobody can tell them what to do are just children regardless of physical age. Delinquent children, enjoying themselves at others' expense while changing nothing.

How is it that you still don't know that, or don't care, after all these years?

Anonymous said...

Are our friends from the Northwestern corner of Arkansas back amongst us?
The diatribe has a certain familiar tone about it.
Halloween approaches and the 'Left Libertarians' have come out to say boo.
How appropriate for an item about a pumpkin festival, and one in Keene, New Hampshire, no less?
Which poses another question, what do the rubes in the Northwestern corner of Arkansas know about New England any how?
Have they any notion of the insights gleaned from the perch of booth 84 at Margarita's overlooking Main Street?
Anarchism in Keene is somewhat akin to the radical graffiti one would encounter in Orange County, California during the 1960's.
LA Metros could be busting heads not more than 20 miles away, but over the freeway overpasses of the 605 the OC radicals decried 'Surfs Up!'.
One must establish their priorities.

Closer to the Northwest corner of Arkansas, anyone care to notice what still continues to go on in Ferguson, Missouri?
Now, are these the protestations of 'children' and 'kiddies'?
Is it really about a ruling class, or rather, an entrenched and systemic prejudice encourage by such 'anarchists' as the 'left Libertarians' embracing yet another iteration of Southern bigotry and neo-fascism?
The Keene story is a distraction and diversion.
Who cares what a bunch of cloistered and over-privileged do to attract attention?
We are, after all, talking about Keene, New Hampshire.
This writer can aver with some confidence that the goings on in Keene, or anywhere else in New Hampshire, has little or no relevance to the real life struggles of the majority of Americans struggling to get by.

Anonymous said...

Of course, others realize the lunacy of the response to the dire pumpkin festival:
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/2014/08/18/john-oliver-pulls-keane-into-police-militarization-debate/nbU17y3w5jG8W40TJpsoAL/story.html

Anonymous said...

This, too, merits perusal:
http://www.commondreams.org/news/2014/10/20/white-pumpkin-crime-mainstream-riot-coverage-ferguson-missouri-keene-new-hampshire