• Jiral@lemmy.world
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    10 days ago

    False dichotomy if there ever was one. The small businesses that are burned down or destroyed or emptied don’t have anything to do with the oligarchs or pedophiles, they are often neighbours of the looters. What have they done to deserve that? Sorry, looting them doesn’t further any good cause, indeed, it is just serving the narrative of the opposing side.

    • lennybird@lemmy.world
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      10 days ago

      Some things to remember:

      • Protests, riots are almost never monolithic and desperate people and local organized crime almost always takes advantage of the commotion.
      • There are already reports of Police antagonists stirring up commotion in these.
      • There is a very long history of far-right agitators trying to hijack and smear justifiable legitimate protests. Many examples from the 2020 BLM protests.
      • Foreign adversaries – notably Russia – almost always seizes on these and has a hand in stirring up division.

      So the fallacy is the assumption that the people committing the looting are the same people who originally set out to protest the following grievances:

      • Severe under-funding of schools.
      • Overcrowded classrooms and lack of air conditioning in excessively-hot climate.
      • Teacher shortages and schedules.

      To again reiterate, much of the time legitimate protests are hijacked by outside groups for their own ulterior motives (political optics, theft, etc.)

    • electric_nan@lemmy.ml
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      10 days ago

      You moralizing about what is essentially an uncontrollable phenomenon, is serving the narrative of the opposing side. Nobody is in control of a riot by definition. All kinds of shit is gonna get fucked up. Focusing on individual incidents is falling into a trap that the ruling class lays for a credulous audience.

      • electric_nan@lemmy.ml
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        9 days ago

        I didn’t say they weren’t. I’m just saying that your observation is, at best, pointless, and at worst, serves the state’s narrative.

      • Jiral@lemmy.world
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        10 days ago

        People plundering stores are very much in control of themselves, give me a break. I don’t blame anyone else for those actions than those who commit them.

    • DragonAce@lemmy.world
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      10 days ago

      I hate when people pull out this stupid straw man argument, “Think of the poor small businesses”. Small businesses in this country are all but non existent at this point, most of them have been forced to close their doors thanks to big chains like Walmart and Target. The closest we have to small businesses in most areas are franchisees from the big chain fast food restaurants.

      • Jiral@lemmy.world
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        10 days ago

        Sorry, I thought this was relating to the French unrests. There is no Walmart in France. Have a look at the shops that were destroyed and then count how many of them are large chains and how many were local businesses.

      • Talcosis@lemmy.zip
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        10 days ago

        Eh, small businesses come in all sizes. There’s a dude in town that owns ~100 houses and rents them out. He’s a small business owner.

        So is the Uber driver that delivers food to those houses.

        • LePoisson@lemmy.world
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          10 days ago

          That man is enough of a landlord that a molotov cocktail is probably justified in some way shape or form. That dude is part of the petit borgeousie for sure.

          The guy driving for Uber and getting paid by them as his employer is not a small business owner. He’s a poor proletariat schmuck just like most of us.

          • Talcosis@lemmy.zip
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            9 days ago

            On paper both are small business owners. Most truckers are, too. One sixth of truckers are, too.

              • Talcosis@lemmy.zip
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                9 days ago

                Someone that owns their own income generating property. I.e., a business. Which is small. Local definitions put that at either <500 employees or <7.5m operating revenue.

                I was wrong though, only ~16% of truckers are small business owners. They’re the ones called “owner operators”. Because they own their own truck.

                Technically, anyone filling out form 1099 come tax time is a small business owner.

        • NonconfrontationaI@lemmy.ml
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          9 days ago

          If you own 100 pieces of residential real estate, you’re aren’t a small business, lmao.

          Edit: also, uber drivers aren’t small businesses

    • myyass@lemmy.world
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      10 days ago

      I’m sure that guy that got kicked in the back of the head and has his video game store robbed gives a shit anymore and probably never will.

      • Smaile@lemmy.ca
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        10 days ago

        As much as I like the roof Koreans, they would get firebombed if they were in France, the reason they worked in America was because Americans are pussys and when legit confronted with violence, they piss their pants and run away.

        • shalafi@lemmy.world
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          10 days ago

          Won’t speak for you, but I’m not getting close enough to toss a Molotov cocktail at a man in an elevated position with a long gun. 😬 (Seriously, reread your comment and think out how that would work IRL.)

          • Smaile@lemmy.ca
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            9 days ago

            In a city envorment with tons of cover? see your clearly not thinking past your fear responce.

    • Peacepath@lemmy.world
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      10 days ago

      The business have insurances, and actually don’t loose at being attacked. Many even benefit of the insurance to renew their shop in a more modern way ; it is at the point police sometimes even doubt the shop owner may have asked to be a target. It can also be a good time to burn accountancy documents when some were a problem, and destroy those stock of merchandises they knew they could not sell (so insurance pay for them).

      Yet for some it is a real moral pain to see their shop looted, of course…

      • Godric@lemmy.world
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        10 days ago

        That’s why all the small business owners are chiming in to cheer when their shops are torn to pieces and burned down!

        Do you even hear yourself XD

        • Peacepath@lemmy.world
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          10 days ago

          Most of the times they find it boring, yes. Yet do you know one that has really lost something after the death of Nahel? In my town most burnt shops reopened fast, renewed, and more attractive than before.

          And I can’t remember any casualties for shop owners, beside those who got caught trying to hide the bankruptie of their company as a riot burning (for insurance). Do you know some that had real (unsolved) problems because of riots?