RUSH: This Joe in St. Louis. Welcome, sir, and I’m glad you called. Hi.

CALLER: Hi, Rush! I live right there at Chambers and West Florissant, and I’ve been confronted by the police twice, and if you are polite and do what they tell you to do you have no problem. The McDonald’s that they’re talking about is boarded up and closed. Those reporters were trespassing, and if they do what they were told, uh, they would not have had a —

RUSH: Wait, wait, wait, wait. Hold it just a second. Just a second now. The audio sound bite I just played, one of these reporters — Wesley Lowery, the Washington Post — said, “I asked specifically, ‘Under what charges am I being held? Why am I being detained?’ He said, ‘For trespassing.’ So we were ‘trespassing’ as patrons of a McDonald’s where we both made purchases and had been working for a long time.” So you’re telling me the place is boarded up?

CALLER: They shattered the windows there. There’s businesses all up and down that street. The glass has been broke out. They even ransacked Sam’s and Kmart, totally stripped their electronics department. I am glad the police are doing what they’re doing because they’re protecting us people back in the neighborhoods. We’re scared. All of my neighbors are scared.

RUSH: Makes sense.

CALLER: It’s the police that are protecting us from the rioters. We’re not afraid of the police. We’re afraid of the rioters.

RUSH: Wait a minute. Wait, wait, wait, wait. Have you taken the time to understand the rage of the rioters and understand why it is they’re doing what they’re doing?

CALLER: I don’t care whether they’re angry or mad. They’re breaking the law.

RUSH: And you see the cops as trying to enforce it?

CALLER: They are enforcing it. You can’t… Right now, because of what they’re doing, you can’t even drive behind a business. They will stop you, and if you just say, “Yes, sir,” and turn around and go back, you’re fine.

RUSH: Well, this is an interesting point. Let’s talk about human psychology in 2014 for a second, human emotion. I think one of the things in play here, let’s say — and I don’t mean to insult you with this. Please don’t be insulted. But you have to understand, Joe, that anybody can call me here and say anything. I’m not challenging what you’re saying. So when I say, “Let’s take what you say as verbatim,” I don’t mean that as an insult, ’cause I want to make a point off of it.

CALLER: I’ve listened here for over 20 years, and I know (chuckles). I appreciate your humor.

RUSH: Okay. Well, no, I’m not trying to be funny here. I’m trying to explain something. But in order to make my point I have to tell the audience, “Let’s assume that what Joe says is true,” and I just want you to know when I say, “Let’s assume,” I’m not disbelieving you. I’m just setting something up here.

So everything you say is true. The street that you’re talking about, the McDonald’s, places have been looted, and the cops are enforcing the law, and the cops are protecting private property from further damage, vandalism, looting, what have you. The cops are protecting neighborhoods, okay?

Now, some people, Joe, actually believe that because a cop shot an unarmed teenager, that the cops ought to look the other way when there is a reaction to it because people think that the cop shooting an unarmed teenager is wrong, and therefore there must be a price paid for that. Some people look at the price and say, “You gotta do understand that the vandalism’s gonna happen, Rush.

“You have to understand they’re gonna loot. They’re ticked off! The cops killed an unarmed kid,” and so some people expect the cops to look the other way as a means of not ratcheting up tensions even further. Some people, Joe, I’m telling you. I’m not talking about residents. I mean, people not living in St. Louis, looking at the situation — maybe media — would say, “Maybe the cops, for community peace, should just kind of look the other way.”

CALLER: One wrong does not justify another wrong.

RUSH: No, I know. I know. So here’s what happens. When people who think that the cops should look the other way say, “Just, you know, don’t go after anymore people. Just kind of stand aside. Let some things happen. Let them boil over. Let ’em get it out of their system. Let ’em do some looting. Let ’em do this. You know, give ’em a week before you enforce the law.”

When the cops then come in and enforce the law, those people that think the way I’ve just described think the cops are being hard, cold, mean SOBs, ’cause they don’t understand. So when you call and support what the cops are doing and say, “We’re scared. They’re protecting us. They’re trying to keep order and so forth,” a lot of people are gonna think you’re the weirdo.

Not me. I’m just telling you that America 2014 has some very odd ideas about conflict resolution and expectations and how a wrong is dealt with and so forth. Many of them think that a show of force, enforcing the law, is provocative, unnecessary, and mean, given all the circumstances here.

CALLER: Well, just like Israel: If you don’t show force and strength, it only gets worse.

RUSH: Oh, I hear you. That’s why I say, I was not challenging the accuracy of what you said. But I think, folks, it’s an important point. Because these end up being really bad attitudes toward cops who are just doing what Joe said here: Trying to go enforce the law and protect people.