Cindy Hamilton wrote:

Well, let's see. There was the riot in Watts in 1992. There was total
anarchy in New Orleans in 2005.

So far this year:
2009 - Protests against BART Police shooting of Oscar Grant, January
7, 120 arrested, Oakland, California
2009 - College Fest riot, Kent State University, April 25, more than
50 arrested Kent, Ohio
2009 - Spring Jam/Dinkytown riot, University of Minnesota, April 25,
Minneapolis, Minnesota
2009 - Palmer Fest melee, Ohio University, May 10, Athens, Ohio
2009 - 2009 G-20 Pittsburgh summit protests, Sept. 24-25, 193
arrested, $50K in damage. Less lethal weapons used, including first
use of sound cannon against demonstrators in U.S.

And the year ain't over.

Looks like those melees all happened where people congregate. I tend
to
avoid groups of people.

And, honestly, I don't think a few college kids getting beered up and
losing
control constitutes "a total meltdown of society".

Of course, I remember '67 in Detroit. We could see the glow in the
sky
from our house. And I'm still not worried about a meltdown of
society.
The reason people were so shocked about the '67 riots was that society
had not melted down; 99.9% of us were completely normative in our
behavior.


To paraphrase the politician, "all meltdowns of society are local." It is
irrelevant to me what is happening across town if a thousand people bearing
pitchforks and torches are on my front lawn.

There are mob scenes a half-off wedding gown sales - people die.

Here's one from just yesterday. Imagine the cops confronted with screeming,
hormonally-overdosed, teen-age girls. Thousands of them.

What did the cops do?

They arrested the owner of a mall music store for refusing to Tweet! Yep,
the owner busted for 'endangering the welfare of children,' 'obstructing
governmental administration,' and several other misdemeanors.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091121/...en_mall_frenzy

Had I been in that melee, I could have been killed. Hopefully it would have
taken weeks, but I'd be dead nonetheless.