Breaking Stuff

I agree with this concept. A long time ago on a hike with my brother, we were talking about how, as kids, we used to walk through the woods with sticks and just whack stuff. A purely primitive impulse to break things took over. It was tons of fun, but in retrospect, totally destructive and irresponsible. But doesn't every human have that base impulse deep down inside? Doesn't everyone love to just let loose on occasion and break something or watch someone else do it?

The French riots are what I have always observed about riots: just an excuse for bad people to break stuff. Face it, breaking stuff is fun! Most of us don't cave to the impulse because: a) something will get broken, and b) in general, it would be something of our own that we need or it's someone else's stuff, which just wouldn't be right. Riots don't usually accomplish too much besides gaining some disaffected group a little bit of media attention (15 minutes worth typically), a free period to indulge in destructive behavior, and most often, demolition of the rioters' own property. Therefore, riots are generally counterproductive. All that just for the ecstacy of a few nights of breaking things.

The conversation with my brother got me to thinking about an episode of the Simpsons where Homer and Bart are sitting on the couch watching a show called something like "World's Greatest Building Demolitions." Homer and Bart hoot it up as the buildings come crashing down. At the end of the segment, Homer wipes away a tear of joy and says, "Whew! I didn't think that last one was going to come down!"

I have told my wife several times that the recipe for a successful TV station for guys would be one that shows nothing but missles blowing stuff up, massive demolitions, and various other scenes of big things getting destroyed. Like Homer and Bart, I'd certainly tune in.