Good Idea, Bad Idea (A Recap)

Yakko, Wakko and Dot were sages. Their animated sketch comedy taught millions of today's 20 somethings that it is fairly tricky to take over the world and that even in pigeon form, it's still Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci are mockable.

If the residents of Toledo, Ohio were aware of the lessons that another Animaniacs character, Mr. Skullhead, imparted on me in my youth, this last weekend would have been a lot more pleasant for many Ohioans.

Since it seems many people missed the lesson, I'm taking it back to '93 with Good Idea, Bad Idea.


GOOD IDEA

Peaceful Protest




BAD IDEA

Angry Protest





GOOD IDEA

Pro Nazi march in your own neighborhood





BAD IDEA

Pro Nazi march in poverty ridden Toledo




Last weekend the National Socialist Movement, an American Neo-Nazi group attempted to march in Toledo. Besides general pro-whiteness, the alleged purpose of their march was to protest the black gangs that harass white students. To prove the NSM wrong about the black gang problem, angry mobs consisting of... black gangs... decided to destroy their city and harass white people. It was reported that when the violence broke out, the Nazis returned to their headquarters and avoided most of the melee.

The mobs destroyed local businesses, parked cars, and threw bricks and bottles at police officers. Whether this accomplished more than firing on the rescue helicopters in the New Orleans aftermath is yet to be seen. A far more suitable option would have been to throw the eggs that were being provided to onlookers by various community groups at the Nazis.

In this Bush economy and post-Katrina climate, racial anger and class disparity are seething and raw. The type of saint-like tolerance it would require to sit quietly and watch Nazis march through your disproportionately unemployed neighborhood and insult you, is unreasonable to expect. But how the always popular yet never helpful tool of the riot becomes the answer is hard to understand.

Following the latest example of police brutality in in New Orleans, it is painfully obvious to most (black) people that cops are not a benign presence in the communities they operate. But these repeated incidences of unproductive energy and extreme irrationality show that there is a large gulf between how black people should express their anger and how they actually do. Someone can take the time to ask why black people are so mad all the time and why this is Ohio's second race riot in less than five years or we can continue the racial waltz until the next hurricane.