zlacker

I'm pro-protest and pro-police-accountability-reforms, but some of your logic fails.

> Besides, these businesses are all insured

Some of them are. But having to claim on insurance is an expensive proposition that eats into profit margins (which is extra difficult in the middle of a worldwide depression).

> Im certain that Apple and Luxottica, some of the richest companies in the world, can write off the loss.

Most companies aren't multinational megacorps in high profit businesses.

I drove through South Central Los Angeles about 1 year after the Rodney King riots. I don't know what proportion of the businesses were rebuilt, but it was pretty clearly that many of the buildings hasn't been rebuilt. Large scale building damage takes a LONG time to rebuild and probably means the business can't run until it's done.

>>thephy+(OP)
I appreciate the counterargument. I would never advocate looting, especially of small/family businesses. The part of Los Angeles where I live has been hit hard by looting this weekend, including many small businesses, and its painful to see. I would highly prefer peaceful protesting and peaceful policing. But there is really no comparison of a line item on a multibillion dollar balance sheet--the linked video is all luxury multinationals--with peoples' actual real lives. The response of "what about the looters?" is a distraction from exactly that.

>>thephy+(OP)
Yeah, and insurance isn't going to cover the lost income whilst rebuilding - if it even covers rioting at all. For example, America's oldest indie sci-fi bookstore was torched as part of the riots, totally destroyed, and the owner isn't expecting to get a single cent from insurance due to the exclusions: http://www.unclehugo.com/prod/index.shtml

>>ssalaz+t2
> The response of "what about the looters?" is a distraction from exactly that.

Yup.

And I personally think that a lot of the violence isn't the average protesters who care about police accountability, but people who are just using protests as an excuse to wreak havoc with less chance of being singled out for arrest.