Two days ago I wondered aloud if anything resembling the London riots might happen in this country. Not the underclass burning and looting but Average Joes expressing “basic fundamental rage about how the corporate elites are turning this country into South America, and how the radical legislative right has gone completely insane,” etc. Even though I said it could never happen here, I was beaten up for expressing some kind of adolescent excitement buzz. Glenn Kenny, Guy Lodge…they all piled on.

What I was basically saying, to repeat, was that street action of some kind was better than muttering into glasses of beer and making dark fatalistic jokes and watching ESPN.

Now that two MSM outlets have run discussion pieces about more or less the same topic (i.e., could it happen here?), I wonder what Kenny-Lodge will say now. “Get them too! Slap ’em down!” Or will they say, “Oh, well…maybe it’s okay to get into this topic as long as it’s these guys doing it.” Atlantic.com’s Raymond Bonner was written a relatively short piece called “Massive Riots: Britain Today, America Tomorrow?” with a subhead that reads “Joblessness, rising inequality, and a frustrated underclass are all being blamed for the violence that’s sweeping the U.K.” And the N.Y. Times has posted a Bloggingheads discussion about whether American riots could ever happen, etc.