I’ve made fun of the media for soft-pedaling the violence of the “Justice 4 Trayvon” riots, but the L.A. Times report of a looting spree in Beverly Hills on Wednesday night, which resulted in 17 arrests, virtually qualifies as self-satire. With a few minor tweaks, this could be a spoof at The Onion.

We begin with the traditional Mostly Peaceful benediction, bestowed by the same media that blamed the entire conservative movement for the actions of a maniac in Arizona who had nothing whatsoever to do with them:

Demonstrators held a peaceful rally in Beverly Hills against the George Zimmerman trial verdict, but 17 people were arrested during a rally that turned rowdy in Victorville, authorities said Wednesday night.

Protesters rallied at La Cienega Park in Beverly Hills on Wednesday evening and then marched along busy Wilshire Boulevard in response to the Saturday acquittal of Zimmerman of second-degree murder by a Florida jury in the shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.

If anyone was wondering whether the Latino community would come to the aid of a Hispanic man who was assaulted by a black teenager, shot him in self-defense, won acquittal of all charges in a trial slanted heavily against him, and will spend the rest of his life hiding from murderous mobs – along with his entirely innocent family – here’s your answer:

Some carried signs saying “We Are All Trayvon” and “Sin Justicia No Hay Paz,” or Without Justice There is No Peace. The marchers snarled rush-hour traffic in the area but were peaceful, the Beverly Hills Police Department said.

After five paragraphs of dispensing milk and cookies to the protesters who managed to remain peaceful, the Times finally gets around to telling us what the “rowdy” kids were up to:

But 10 to 15 juveniles went into a store at a Chevron gas station near Bear Valley Road and Balsam Avenue and reportedly opened items and left without paying, authorities said. A large group of people gathered at the Mall of Victor Valley parking lot and tried to force their way into the mall. They were stopped by security guards who locked the doors. Deputies from multiple stations responded and ordered the group to disperse, the department said in a statement. Most of the people left, but those who didn’t were arrested.

Because nothing says “justice” like robbing a convenience store, or trying to loot a shopping mall. Looting now qualifies as “rowdy” behavior. All my rowdy friends are coming over tonight, and after we watch some football, we’re going to head over to the Chevron and steal some stuff.

As for the “peaceful” demonstrators, they didn’t secure permits and stage an orderly demonstration in a designated area. They marched down highways and caused traffic jams. As with the Occupy Wall Street movement, they think you’re required to pay attention to them. This is made clear in the local ABC News affiliate’s coverage of the march:

More than 100 marchers protesting the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the Trayvon Martin case took to the streets of Beverly Hills on Wednesday night. It’s not their first protest in the days following the not guilty verdict in the case, but demonstrators gathered where they felt their message should be heard; it’s a place they called “the epicenter of white upper class America.” The group Justice for Trayvon Martin-Los Angeles marched through Beverly Hills, heading north on La Cienega Boulevard, and then west on Wilshire Boulevard. “We think it’s important that every community has the opportunity to express their support for federal civil rights charges against George Zimmerman for violating the civil rights of Trayvon Martin,” said protester Jubilee Shine. Beverly Hills police escorted the group, allowing them to walk in one lane of traffic during rush hour and stopping along the way to rally. The protesters hope their visibility will be noticed by the Justice Department. “It does help to be out here. We understand that public pressure is the only thing that’s going to make them press charges against him,” said protester Keyanna Celina.

Um… Ms. Celina? They did press charges against George Zimmerman. Second-degree murder and manslaughter, to be exact. He was duly acquitted. But like all the other “Justice 4 Trayvon” groupies, she’s using the terminology of law – terms like “justice” and “pressing charges” – as instruments of totalitarian political philosophy. She’s been told by her leaders what the outcome is supposed to be; she doesn’t care how much criminal or constitutional law must be discarded in order to get there.

By the way, are these “Justice 4 Trayvon” marchers filing and paying for permits? Who’s paying for all the extra police protection? Because I remember the Tea Party getting socked with bills for police overtime to guard their 100 percent orderly, peaceful, disciplined, and clean demonstrations, which somehow avoided drawing any of the criminal “outside elements” that infested Occupy Wall Street or these Trayvon rallies. In fact, I clearly recall Donald Trump stepping in to pay the bills slapped on a little grassroots Tea Party group in Florida.

But to this day, the media and Democrat politicians pretend the Tea Party is a shivering, whistling kettle of incipient terrorist violence that has to be guarded as if they were the street-gang nation assembled to hear Cyrus proclaim the dawn of a new age in “The Warriors,” while completely ignoring the “climate of hate” created by irresponsible political “leaders” and celebrities in the wake of the Zimmerman trial – a climate that actually has resulted in vandalism, theft, and violent assaults.

Speaking of which, Drew Cribley – the waiter who got smashed in the face by a hammer while protecting his restaurant from a rampaging “Justice 4 Trayvon” mob in Oakland – is “recovering and glad to be alive,” according to the San Francisco Chronicle. He credits his eyeglasses with absorbing the force of the blow and saving his life. He says he is nevertheless sympathetic to the protesters:

Cribley said he sympathized with protesters and their right to voice outrage, yet feared the violence would overshadow their goals. “It sucks for the people who are really trying to be heard because it starts to take away from their message,” he said. “People around the country look at Oakland and feel like there’s a bunch of vandalism and violence rather than intelligent people with an actual cause they believe in. Instead of talking about that, you’re talking about the guy who got hit in the face with a hammer.”

And yet, the “intelligent people with an actual cause they believe in” who founded the Tea Party managed to completely avoid this message-diffusing violence. Why do you suppose that is? And why do you suppose Democrats and their media allies never stopped accusing them of fomenting violence, right up to early efforts at pinning the Boston Marathon bombings on them?

The signature difference is that the Tea Party respected law and order. They wanted to work within the system to change it. They filed all the necessary permits for their soapboxes, and picked up their own litter when they were done. The socialist Left treated them like outlaws because they cannot tolerate dissent, especially when its objective is the fundamental reform of the socialist order. The Left defines that as “hate,” even when it’s peaceful and constructive.

Actual hatred, on the other hand, is cool with the Left, provided it’s pumped out by duly accredited political allies, and provides useful energy for important statist goals, such as weakening the right to individual self-defense. That’s why you won’t see any media hand-wringing about the brutally real Climate of Hate sustained by every declaration that George Zimmerman has yet to face “justice,” or that Trayvon Martin was an innocent little boy who was executed for his race and choice of sweater, or that Stand Your Ground laws are a hunting license for white racists to stalk and kill black kids… or the establishment of a national hotline to gather tips that Zimmerman secretly harbored racist feelings, to be used as evidence in a federal show trial.