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Here is a very useful scale that anyone can use to determine if any particular community - anywhere in the world - healthy or ill;
Baltimore on Fire - Violent anti-police protests erupt in Baltimore, which blindside the media and CNN's Wolf Blitzer, despite the U.S.'s long history of racially charged riots. (8:04)
Currently we have a two part warning system;
What we need is a basic scale that could explain to us when a society is beginning to fall apart;
Variables for the civil unrest scale;
These is an initial collection of variables that can cause violence in a community;
1. Poverty rate is a measurable factor:
For example;
Moment Of Zen
History has documented poverty destabilizing effect on society to such a point that 2500 years ago the Greek Philosopher Aristotle said;
Example of how to use this: Since economists are satisfied with 5% unemployment as indication of a stable economy (taking into account seasonal workers & people in between jobs or just rich but not income inequality which must also be a factor) - then we should start this part of the scale at 5%, i.e. any unemployment rate above 5% will move that society more and more towards chaos and the possibility in a riot type social unrest eruption. 30% unemployment offers a reliable historical marker of being able to inflame riots. So 5% is green and 30% is red.
3. Graduation rates from schools are a factor;
4. Lack of access to labor markets, healthcare and housing are factors (lets call it "social structure that makes a community function peacefully");
Signs of a problem;
This would be one of the results of high poverty and low graduation rates over a long period of time, i.e. increased crime rate... so this would be a warning sign that that segment of society if beginning to fall apart and resources need to be diverted there;
Triggers with sudden flares of violence beyond normal;
Stuff that causes an already oppressed community, with symptoms listed above, that can make people say "enough is enough, we gotta do something against our oppressors", kinda like the Declaration of Independence but on a smaller scale.
IN this case the cops were the triggers for violence in an already stressed out society;
Historical Trends & Data;
Historical trends of evidence of patterns of behavior (which is why we have so much data on how cultures & societies work), can indicate to us when a society is resembling the level of poverty and lack of opportunity in comparison to other societies with similar figures and statistics;
Moment Of Zen
History has documented poverty destabilizing effect on society to such a point that 2500 years ago the Greek Philosopher Aristotle said;
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