Conservatives automatically assume

I think there are dickheads at both ranges of the spectrum, but the there’s only one group that brought a country struggling with a pandemic to a halt by burning people’s property.

Well and there's a few more things buried in there:

- That riots have no justification, cause, or meaning.

- That riots somehow 'ruin' political causes despite history demonstrating the exact opposite.

- That riots are a form of violence. Property damage and looting aren't violence.

- That riots are a GREATER form of violence than say, shooting someone seven times in the back.

There's a basic belief here that the property of white people has greater value than the personhood of black people.

Demeaning the opposition is a central Trumpist tenet, as is ignoring facts that don't fit the narrative.

Although I agree there's certainly a contingent of people who're purposefully using these protests as a shroud for blatant criminal behaviour, I also believe that these groups (i.e. BLM) are comprised of a significant number of individuals who see violence as a vehicle for change, and often as late the line between criminal and protestor is blurred.

Let's not pretend, for instance, that almost every single protest in Portland recently hasn't reliably deteriorated into utter violence and chaos - that simply wouldn't happen if the majority of participants were dead set on a peaceful protest.

In short, I don't believe we're talking a small minority of rabble-rousers here, I think we're talking about a movement who seems to believe that to enact change, there has to be violence. Unfortunately, that violence is severely undermining their goals and I don’t think they have the foresight to see how.

Happy to be challenged on these thoughts, but this is the way I’m currently seeing events, having started out by siding with such movements. I wouldn’t identify as a conservative either; I think Trump is an egotistical narcissist unfit for the position he holds.

Hm, and from your end:

"Antifa? Who? They don't exist, I have no idea what those young men are doing in their black garb and molotov cocktails."

White person murdered by a black person: Who cares
Black person murdered by another black person: Who cares

Black person killed reacting violently to a routine traffic stop??? OH MY GAWD, LET'S BURN THIS SHIT DOWN!!!... and get free stuff to boot... they got insurance.

It’s kind of amazing to me the extent to which people refuse to understand why riots occur. They do not occur in a vacuum. They are not caused solely by a single event. They are the result of built-up frustration, anger, and disillusionment with the system. Scapegoating it all onto agitator groups is a way of not having to deal with the underlying cause of unrest. Yes, of course there are opportunists and riot-for-the-sake-of-riot individuals out there, but they seize on any bit of unrest. Their presence does not mean the reasons people are in the streets is not worth understanding.

It’s funny but liberals always take this view. When BLM protested here there was a huge amount of violence, criminal damage and policemen injured. They even attacked the war memorials which were a memorial to people fighting against fascism. They have been death threats to people who won’t cow-tow to them. And one of their leaders was on advocating all this on the media. Interesting I’m just reading that there are apparently nightly protests for what is called ‘social justice’ which involve mass lootings. People in New York tell of gang robberies at restaurants in broad daylight, of lootings, shootings and boarded-up shops. Funny that people who identify as liberals mysteriously stay away from the city of late.

No riots or civil unrest under Clinton, Bush, or Obama. Trump takes over as President, and the country has been in turmoil ever since. Time to replace Trump with Biden so the country can heal.

It really doesn't matter anymore who is to blame .Innocent bystanders are fighting back people can only take this shit for so long .

Partisian people are not very smart people. Hence their reliance on organizations to think on their behalf.

I was surprised to see how many white people were in both groups.

They both suck. Neither has any interest in racial matters.
Read the BLM website - that's where they are defaming themselves.
Antifa has long been an outfit looking to disrupt law and order.
That tends to rub people the wrong way.

The ones that got pushed into oblivion are the ones that were protesting the wrongful death of George Floyd. I bet if you were to ask any of the knotheads still burning cities down who Floyd was, they would answer 'Dude, they were an awesome band! I still get stoned to 'Dark Side of the Moon!'

I just assume that the cops are on take for not enforcing the law

Accusations are confessions.

Why is that assumption made ? Is / was there any truth to it at one time ???

We have had death threats over here to sportspeople who don’t ‘take the knee’ to this organisation.