Island Dweller has our guest post of the day. Enjoy! You know, you can write guest posts here, too. Just send ‘em in to any one of us and let us know you want it as a standalone piece or if you want us to reply to it.

A recent article regarding the recent SNAP/EBT snafu event at the two Wal-Mart stores in Louisiana got me to thinking, and wondering. The wondering aspect has to do with whether Wal-Mart corporate management has given instructions to store managers to generally let a mob have its way in such an incident if there is no indication of violence or destructive behavior, but rather looting, which is a little more benign. And looting it was. And, the mob was described as “good-natured,“ so why spoil something where folks are having fun?

I can understand corporate’s attitude, if this is the case, as the choices in such a situation really boil down to three:

1. Let the event occur, keep your employees out of harm’s way, and do nothing to incite the mob toward violence—then suck up the losses afterward;
2. Let you floor staff try to stop the behavior, and be prepared for lawsuits and hospital bills following the inevitable beatings;
3. Call in the county mounties and local cops, and prepare for the store to become an urban battleground, followed by it and the stock—and maybe the staff—being carbonized.

The thinking aspect of my post is a little more involved. This behavior occurred among a class of government-dependent individuals when the system experienced a glitch that worked in their favor – with the help of store management. At almost the same time, a different glitch in the same system resulted in SNAP/EBT cards not being honored at all in other stores. There were a few reports of some violence, although I suspect the media is covering up the true extent. What’s going to happen when the funding really runs out for this “bread and circuses“ program Dear Leader has allowed to balloon? Or when that “free” healthcare system experiences a glitch and goes belly-up for an extended period, denying medical care to the underclass it was meant to serve? Just how widespread will the looting and rioting be?

My father, who had seen this behavior up close in his life, warned me years ago about how thin the veneer of civilization is, and what is lurking just beneath the surface of much of humanity. This behavior should be sobering.

It is also sobering to recall Esteemed Associate’s statement that law reflects society’s agreement on what is the minimal acceptable standard of behavior it will accept. The key word is “minimal.” It does not reflect the highest standards of behavior human beings are capable of. The behavior that occurred in these incidents reflects that which can’t even clear the bar of minimally-acceptable behavior.

The Czar of Muscovy

Божію Поспѣшествующею Милостію Мы, Дима Грозный Императоръ и Самодержецъ Всероссiйскiй, цѣсарь Московскiй. The Czar was born in the steppes of Russia in 1267, and was cheated out of total control of all Russia upon the death of Boris Mikhailovich, who replaced Alexander Yaroslav Nevsky in 1263. However, in 1283, our Czar was passed over due to a clerical error and the rule of all Russia went to his second cousin Daniil (Даниил Александрович), whom Czar still resents. As a half-hearted apology, the Czar was awarded control over Muscovy, inconveniently located 5,000 miles away just outside Chicago. He now spends his time seething about this and writing about other stuff that bothers him.