Another young man I know responded with a foolish comment:
"How about let's not riot about a single court case that most people know nothing about (including myself). Much worse happens every day. Rioting and burning shit and causing the police to waste resources doesn't help. If you ask anyone rioting, they have no idea what, why or who [they're rioting about]. This happens consistently. They don't take personal responsibility to be educated and civil."
Wow! That's more than just tone-deaf. It's chock-full of race-tinged code. (I've heard this young man drop the N-word, so I can't say I'm surprised by the attitude.) His essential message:
"One dead black kid. So what? It's no big deal, not worth a riot. These black people are irresponsible, uneducated and uncivilized, and when they get all uppity like this, the cops have to go to work and donut shops lose money."
The capper is that he openly admits he doesn't know anything about the issue, but will nevertheless publicly share his ignorance at great length. An opinionated dumbass. Wonderful.
As other calmer, wiser young commenters in the thread pointed out to their misguided friend, Ferguson represents so much more than a single court case (or more accurately, lack of a court case), and the hashtag is intended to raise awareness of the Michael Brown case, not to condone rioting. Amen to that.
Everybody knows that riots and looting are frightening and are not solutions in and of themselves, but they can be a catalyst. If you can't understand why they have occurred, and will reoccur, you're a poor student of history and a callous human being.
Martin Luther King Jr., famous advocate of non-violence, put it this way:
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