By Cranky Housewife -
I will say this for social media. Twitter certainly makes mob action seem exciting and new, doesn't it? It's like a whole unexplored level of violence and chaos that Chicago is experiencing these days all because we can Tweet about it in real time. Not to cast aspersions. The sadism that occurred on the Magnificent Mile in the Windy City over Easter weekend wasn't anything like the organized rioting that we've seen produced by the Left throughout socialism's reign of terror. Obviously, this was very different. This was simply a case of large, separate, shambolic groups of minors who were all randomly and individually experimenting with community organization when they Tweeted their intentions to meet downtown and have some fun.
And how does today's youth define fun these days? Well, Garry McCarthy will tell you that murder is significantly down from last year so one can only assume that fun didn't include homicide. I've gotta tell you, that sure is a relief. So what should a deprived teenager to do if he or she can't commit a drive-by shooting in Chicago anymore?
Hey, what's a little misdemeanor battery and strong arm robbery among friends. And please, pay no attention to the woman being assaulted on the taxpayer funded CTA Red Line. That's just kids being kids. By the way, if you are wondering what "kids being kids" looks like in this utopian era of violence-free zones? Per the victim's account as quoted by the Tribune online:
"I put my head down between my legs so they would stop beating me in the face, but they were trying to pull my face up and hit me more," she said. "They ripped out chunks of my hair, and I've got a black eye and bruises on my face, and all over my back and shoulder."
This violence occurred because the woman asked some charming young ladies sitting next to her to stop blowing cigarette smoke in her face. Odd that, because the taxpayer funded CTA Red Line is not only a violence-free zone, it's also a cigarette-free zone. Luckily, this poor woman won't have to worry about getting hurt in any unorganized, individualized mob action in the future because the $25 tax on firearms went into effect in Cook County today and peace and harmony have now been restored.
The Tribune – for the record – included information in its story from the victim stating that she believed the violent offenders had box cutters and socks filled with padlocks…just sayin'. We might want to get busy on a proposed $25 tax on hardware and corrugated boxes.
Per ISRA Executive Director Richard Pearson:
"While vicious mobs have been busily destroying Chicago's tourism industry, Mayor Emanuel and Supt. McCarthy have been busy as well – vilifying law abiding firearm owners. If they spent more time thwarting crime and less time trying to take guns away from hunters and sportsmen, then Chicago might be a better place in which to live and work."
Now, as much as I hate to say this, I do take exception to Mr. Pearson's characterization that the City of Chicago is trying to take the guns out of the hands of hunters and sportsmen. I really don't think that Rahm Emanuel has given hunters a second thought in this effort to frustrate Second Amendment protections.
In addition, I don't believe that the City of Chicago worries itself so much about taking guns out of the hands of mobsters and other violent criminals. What would that accomplish?
No. Hear me out. Chicago politicians talk nearly as much about crime as they do about their failing schools and they waste almost as much money trying to improve crime stats as they do trying to raise test scores, but doesn't it seem odd to you? All that money that gets spent to fix Chicago's biggest problems and nothing ever improves; the problems that politicians are complaining about 2013 are no different than those from 1993 or 1973 or 1953.
It's a little like road construction, don't you think? I mean – sure, Chicago spends immoderate amounts of tax revenue fixing its roads. Come summer, no matter what route you take in the city, there will be orange barrels and detour signs frustrating your best efforts to get where you want to go. It, therefore, would appear at first glance like a great deal of effort is being made by the City of Chicago to make the roads passable. Yet, Chicago roads still suck. One then must assume that the real emphasis of Chicago is not so much on improving the streets, but rather in making sure that more money will be spent next year to improve Chicago's streets.
So it is with crime. Chicago leaders aren't really interested in whether citizens enjoy deer hunting – that entirely misses the point and it's not why the Dems work so fervently to control state-wide access to guns. The real point is that if you have a gun and can protect yourself from box cutters and padlocks with that gun then you won't care nearly as much when the Chicago aldermen threaten to reduce police coverage or CTA services if they can't raise your taxes.
I'm not a betting woman, but I might put money on this. Because violence is useful for creating the social pressure needed to advance the Left's agenda, the citizens of Chicago are in for one long, hot and violent summer. And the rest of the state would do well to pay attention to these "broken glass" events as they unfold because Chicago politicians often hold leadership positions in Illinois and what they are doing to their city can also be done throughout the state.
The word "pogrom" is a term of Russian origin which was meant to describe the acts of breaking, smashing and plundering which were typical of the anti-Semitic and anti-capitalist violence of the early 20th century in Europe. That mayhem was not only tolerated by authorities but was frequently encouraged and sometimes even organized by them.
In those days, a night of violence could be started with a phone call but it was difficult to control the mob action from city to city because phone coverage was spotty at best and the results of the violence ranged from barbaric to utterly ineffectual. Young people in those days were organized into gangs and youth groups where resentment and passions were encouraged and then set loose upon the cities to register their dissatisfaction with society over high unemployment and a growing sense of instability throughout their nation.
I don't write this because I wish to suggest that anyone with a viewpoint that is opposite to mine must be a fascist. To this point, I'm trying to remember some history and recall how a little "unorganized" mob activity here and a little "disorderly" gangbanging there can turn into something that is horrific and unstoppable. With a phone call from one official, the pogrom known as Kristallnacht became an important step in the progressive marginalization of Jews as religious and business leaders and the culmination of violence led to Germany's final solution. Imagine what they could have accomplished with Twitter.
And let's not get sidetracked on some bizarro suggestion that we to control social media and telephones. I'm sure someone on the Left will find a way to introduce legislation that will place limitations on the First Amendment because our youth can't be expected to understand that they should not Tweet their friends about the upcoming flash mob action, but the problem isn't actually Twitter. The real problem is that the American ethos is experiencing some odd degenerative disorder.
As far as the ridiculous $25 gun tax – Kristallnacht occurred in a Germany that had long been stripped of its private gun rights, so let's not go pretending that horrors can't happen at the hands of box cutters and padlocks and let's also stop pretending that a disarmed citizenry does well at the hands of a fully armed government.
I know what you are thinking. The first person to bring up fascism loses the argument. I get that. A replay of Europe's systematic social isolation of religious persons and business leaders followed by a wave of monumental and brutal barbarism doesn't seem likely in Chicago because we are all rational people who would never incite violence against people of wealth or any people at all.
But then again? Who is to say that this couldn't change? Who is to say that it hasn't begun changing already?
