On: San Francisco split by Silicon Valley's wealth

[sirkneeland]

And yet, the riots and looting sprees happen not in San Francisco, but in European countries like the UK, France, and Sweden.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Stockholm_riots

Sweden. Not exactly a bastion of savage Randian individualism.

Not to say that generous welfare states are of no value, but the available data suggest they are far from a panacea

[newnewnew → sirkneeland]

That's an inconvenient fact for the standard liberal wisdom to explain. Here's links to information about the French riots:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_civil_unrest_in_France

and London riots/flash mobs:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_England_riots

[bitwize → newnewnew]

Here's an inconvenient fact: Headline-making civil unrest in Europe is "Tuesday" in the American inner city.

The European riots are only significant because they're unusual against such comparatively low levels of background violence.

[sirkneeland → bitwize]

That's a gross exaggeration. Until you show me a number of burned out hulks of cars from a "Tuesday" in a US city, it's your stereotypes against my actual examples.

[Irishsteve → sirkneeland]

I'd imagine the police having guns in America are a great deterrent for rioters

[chrisdevereux → Irishsteve]

Although interestingly, both the London and Stockholm riots were caused by police shootings.