Again, the Moody Blues’ music tells the tale.

“How can we understand riots by the people for the people who are only destroying themselves? And when you see a frightened person who is frightened by the people who are scorching this earth … don’t tell me I’m just a singer in a rock ‘n’ roll band.”

The tumultuous disturbance of the public peace by an unlawful assembly of three or more persons in the execution of some private grievance is a riot. Whenever some cause of uneasiness, complaint, wrong or injustice is found to be, Americans are more than willing to burn, pillage, plunder, spoil, seize booty, advocate open violence, and whatever means they deem necessary to right a perceived wrong.

Americans who advocate for wanton violence want no less than an atmosphere of undisciplined, unruly, arrogant recklessness, lewd, licentious, malicious, unrestrained, immoral, capricious, wayward, spiteful. And they — above all — believe that rioting is the answer to unheard voices.

Michael Boom, Lisbon