It is. It really is, and I'm not just talking about liberals tut tutting about the black block and conservatives fear mongering about planes full of anteeeefas. I'm also talking about anarchists lionizing riots as a tactic and communists discounting the bravery of rioters because they're not organizing.

But: all. of. this. misses. the. point.

The riot is so prominent because it's the only tactic left.

The American left gets most of its tactics from the 60s. Riots, strikes, electoral challenges, and sit ins (now restyled as blockades).

But most of these are impossible now. The modern equivalent to a sit in would be... blocking a cop car? Felony. Mass resisting arrest? Felony. Prison strike? Gets you in lockup.

Strikes are (for most people) out of the question because Reagan decimated the labor movement, and we're still recovering.

Electoral challenges have always been a dead end.

So that leaves rioting. Easy to whip up, easy to get away with, and most of the time is a misdemeanor.

People riot because it's the last tactic we have in our cultural memory that's still accessible.

People are gunning up and making mutual aid networks. This is the birth of a new culture of activism, one that addresses life and death incredibly directly, but it's still nascent. While we build this new culture, riots are all that's left, so whatever you think of them, they're a reality to be navigated, not an action to be analyzed.