That Nastiness in Sydney

I saw some pretty violent video last evening of police swinging batons and turning the dogs loose on beach rioters in Australia. Commentators described the recorded events as "race riots" or "drunken youth" exacting retribution on people of Middle Eastern origin or descent. After reading the AP reports I went and read the opinions of some actual Australians. Tim Blair has a great post on the subject; if you follow all or most the links you'll be there for a while. I was there for over an hour and it's very interesting reading.

Silent Running offers this:

The mob is the mob, there’s no “our” mob or “their” mob, it’s a single destructive, mindless, useless force and the cops are perfectly within their rights to baton them into submission and hurl them into the back of the paddy wagon with the rest of the local Brains Trust who thought it’d be patriotic to kick a passing girl in the head because she was different.

Now having said that, I would also be very strongly in favour of the selfsame police grabbing any “youth of a certain ethnic origin” who had just called a white Australia girl wearing a bikini a whore and a slut, or who had just bashed a guy trying to protect his girlfirend from being menaced by thugs saying they would rape her; dousing the little bastard with capsicum spray, and hauling him off for a guest appearence before the local beak alongside his equally brainless pals who’ve been doing pretty much whatever they feel like for a long time now.

A couple of American takes: one reasonable, one not. Ace has video and some good background links; the Anti-Idiotarians have creative and not-so-creative racial and religious slurs in the comments. The Nice Doggies are living proof the Right can be just as mean and nasty as the Left.

Apples and Oranges Dept.: I couldn't help but think of the last bit of civil disturbance that got international coverage, i.e., The Ritual Burning of Citroens. The scope is way different, as are the perps. But there are some commonalities: young muslim gangs, inadequate justice before the law, and assimilation (or the lack of it). I also thought it takes a helluva lot of provocation to turn the otherwise pragmatic and rational Australians into rioters.

Just sayin'.