Moral Distortion In Riots
American
politics have been the enemy of the working man in North America due to unfair
wages, and unfair working conditions. While the men of America have organized
together to riot against the corporations behind the businesses that they work
in, they all have different reasons and philosophies concerning the cause of
each riot. Most men who worked for these companies rioted due to the fact that
they must preserve their masculinity and fulfill their role as a male to
provide food for their families. They are the ones who go out in the world and
do the physical labor, and make money. However, while this may be the main
reason, further throughout the start of the riots, it seems to stem off with a
more complicated reason, which seems to be ethnocentrism and favor among those
who are the same ethnicity. While their morals seems pure and simple such as
feeding your family, it can root down to a distorted nature where it can reach
to heights such as preserving masculinity and a patriarchal society and
oppressing other groups to get what they want.
Men
in America’s history have been known to be masculine, strong and often go
through physical labor in order to do their jobs. Women would be assigned
domestic roles, such as house cleaning and tending to their husbands. This
would make her children and the wife dependent on the man to go out into the
world and provide for them, and to make money (Burn 26). If men were not able
to accomplish their role to feed his family, they would be emasculated in the
society they lived in. If a riot would be one of the reasons to provide for
their families and preserve their masculinity, it would be one that would seem
favorable. In a way, their morals would revolve around honor.
In
order to preserve their honor as men, they would have to create riots to get
what they want. In most cases, it is to increase wages or to gain access to
food. In “The Flour Riot” by J.T. Headley, the story portrays the lengths that
men would go to in order to fight against businesses for their families. “The
Flour Riot” portrays a massive outrage in New York during 1837 due to the
shortage of food and plummeting economy. Soon, in the story, since flour was
getting scarce, business owners decided to raise up the prices in order for the
demand to increase. Their profit would skyrocket since people would be
desperate to feed their families, however, the business owner’s plan backfired
against them, resulting in an all-out riot (Headley). The main moral of the
flour riots was mainly to provide. It can relate to masculinity since they
decided to destroy the city, vandalize the business by ruining everything they
could see in the bakery, and knocking down flour, which they had been desiring.
Men have been seen as brutish, and creating destruction in order to create a
strong, and intimidating image about them. While providing may have been their
first cause, flaunting their anger may be a hidden secondary reason. Not only
does the display of masculinity appear evident in the riots taken place in the
Flour Riots, but they also occur in the draft riots between the Irish and
African-American rioters. By slicing the African-American’s testicles, it robs
them of their manhood, and makes the Irish have power over them, putting the
spotlight on their masculinity.
An
identical situation occurred in “The Railroad Riots of 1877” written by J.T.
Headley, however, while covering several other states added on to it. Men in
states such as West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Maryland who were faced against
corporations behind the railroad industry who wanted to increase profits, and
in order to do so, they lowered the wages of the working class. Instead of
relying on a moral economy, they decided to push these workers too far. A moral
economy can relate to an economical system based on fairness, justice, honesty
and goodness (Kelly 2014). As a similar result to “The Flour Riot” in New York
City, the corporation’s plan to impoverish the poor in expense of their profit
revolted against them, resulting in several riots. However, the people who were
in charge of the railroad industry decided to hire new people who would work at
even lower wages. They were called "scabs." Soonly after, the
original employees started to attack the scabs, who are actually going through
the same situation as them (Headley).
The
scabs and the original workers were divided by two main different ethnic
groups, the Irish and the African-Americans. It indicates a division among the
two groups, although they were aiming to feed their families. The split between
these ethnic groups indicates a moral dysfunction which takes “providing” and
changes the story by altering it to ethnocentrism. Ethnocentrism can be defined
as the belief in the inherent superiority of one's own ethnic group or culture.
It can also block any signs of empathy towards those who are not in their
social or ethnic circle (Barger 2014). Ethnocentrism is apparent in the riots
taken place in New York. According to a PBS documentary series, Irish workers
had a violent feud with African-Americans, who worked for a significantly
lesser amount than the Irish. African-Americans were lynched,hung, tortured and
emasculated by fetishizing parts of their bodies. Some of the Irish mutilated
the African-American’s testicles as a way to portray this (Burns 2014).
Based
on the passaged “The Flour Riot” and “The Railroad Riots of 1877,” the morals
that is mutual between the men of these riots were providing for their
families, and to make sure their children stay fed. However, their motives
seemed to run further than being a caretaker with themes such as conversing
their masculinity in order to be socially accepted, and ethnocentrism, where
they hurt large amounts of men from a different race, because the workers felt
entitled and more important than they were. These riots were justified to a
certain extent where they focused on being responsible adults defying
multi-billionaire corporations who were taking advantage of them. However, when
there is unnecessary violence used to kill innocent people who have done nothing
at all in order to fulfill their egos, it becomes a tainted practice which
probably should not have happened. Society is built on people who feel that
they should feel superior than another in order to feel fulfilled, and these
riots are examples of this tragedy.
Works
Cited
Barger, Ken.
"ETHNOCENTRISM." IUPUI, Barger:
What Is Ethnocentrism? N.p., 31 July
Burns, Ric. "Order and Disorder
(1825–1865)." New York: A
Documentary. PBS. 25 Sept. 2001.
Television.
Burn, Shawn Meghan. "Women's
Low Status and Power." Women across
Cultures: A Global
Perspective.
Third ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2005. 26. Print.
Headley, J.T. "Flour Riot of
1837." The Great Riots of New York
1712 to 1873. N.p.: n.p., n.d.
N.
n.d. N. pag. Print.
Headley, J.T. "The Railroad
Riots of 1877." The Great Riots of
New York 1712 to 1873. N.p.:
n.p.,
N.p.: n.p., n.d. N. pag. Print.
Kelly, James. "Moral Economy." Multitext. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Oct. 2014.
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