As you know, I’m a big believer in personal accountability. Maybe it’s my mid-western upbringing but I believe that I alone am responsible for whatever, good or bad, results from my actions. People doing stupid things and then whining because they don’t like the results really irk me.
The riots have been going on for months now. Let’s not even pretend that they’re protests any longer. They’ve devolved to riots, plain and simple. What we’re seeing is nightly destruction and disregard for pretty much everything and everyone. Buildings are being defaced and destroyed, livelihoods are being ruined and people are getting hurt and killed.
When a business gets destroyed, or an officer hurt by someone throwing a brick, or someone getting killed while trying to protect their property, you rarely hear a peep about it from the media. It’s not considered news.
But if a protester happens to get hurt, that’s an entirely different story. When a protester gets hurt, it’s big news.
Nearly every day we see the media reporting about some poor protester who got injured. The stories typically portray the injured as people not at all responsible for what happened to them. They were merely exercising their right to peacefully protest and then, somehow, they inexplicably got hurt.
It seems some things should be self-evident. Some things shouldn’t need an explanation. But, for whatever reason, protesters seem unable to comprehend the basic concept of cause and effect. So, as a public service, I’m going to help educate people who don’t understand that by doing something, it may produce a certain result. And that result might not be healthy for them.
Here we go:
- If you stand on an Interstate, you should expect that you might get hit by a car.
- If you stand in front of a vehicle, you should expect that you might get run over.
- If you physically assault someone, you should expect that you might get hurt.
- If you point a gun at someone, you should expect that they might point one back at you.
- If you try to start a fire, you should expect that someone might try to stop you.
- If you are destroying a business, you should expect you might meet resistance.
When someone does stupid things, they alone are responsible for any harm that comes to them. They chose to put themselves in danger. No one forced them to be there and they shouldn’t expect sympathy for choosing poorly.
But, we’re supposed to feel sorry for them when we hear the stories of how they were affected by pepper spray or hit by a brick or run over by a vehicle. I’ve read their stories. I’ve seen their videos. I’m not at all moved.
At the end of the day, it all boils down to personal accountability and one simple truth. If you put yourself in harm’s way, you shouldn’t be surprised when harm comes your way.
