Riots

[ailbhe]

So about these riots.

I've been waiting for them, honestly. I haven't been able to understand how people weren't rioting ages ago. I think the riots are wrong and cruel and stupid and I don't condone them but I've been waiting for them.

I don't know what people should do next, except follow Linnea's plan for the mean boys in the softplay centre; play nicely and share and then they won't want to hurt us again, she said.

Comments

[supermouse]

Judging by the articles linked around the place from last September, this civil disturbance is no surprise at all to anyone who has been paying even the slightest bit of attention. Politicians were warned.

[mecmom.livejournal.com]

Today on NPR an assistant to the Mayor of London (I think that's what I heard) said they were thinking of using "rubber bullets" only he called them something else. I wondered if they didn't learn anything in Northern Ireland.

[the0lady.livejournal.com]

You echo my thoughts as usual. Now that the shock is beginning to recede somewhat my more mischievous side is even experiencing a little frisson of told-you-so. How can we expect to just live in a state of massive Fuck You to so many people and not expect something to crack at some point?

It's hard to know what to think about the rioters themselves; on the one hand I think "bastards", on the other "poor kids". On the one hand I think "so many young lives will be blighted by a stupid looting action", on the other I think "they're probably already in the system anyway". Sigh. I guess we'll have to wait and hope the identities of the people arrested give us some clue as to what's really happened here.

But fundamentally it's still more important to talk about causes than punishments. Punishments won't prevent it happening again, addressing causes might - so it's simple self interest at the end of the day (and also, you know, morally right).

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

Yeah. *sigh*

Thank you!

[rachel cotton (from livejournal.com)]

Can I just let off a little steam first? Gay priests, immigration, ALL parents, ALL schools, oh and more immigration plus general slackness of moral fibre are not the cause of these riots. It's really bringing out the moral hysteria in people. I understand why, but feel simply grinding old axes won't help.

In my mind there have been riots, gross acts of civil disobedience in the UK at least every decade or so for the last 100 years - you can check here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_riots#1990s_-_2000. It seems the decades that we didn't riot were the 20's and the 60's. So in that case, maybe it's just that we are not as civilised as we think we are, and we should actually more proud of the lengths of time that we're not rioting as opposed to being shocked to when we do.

There was a pretty awful clip on the BBC of 2 girls glorifying the riot, and demanding respect from the police and feeling it's ok to rob from the rich. Awful though it was though it contains a big clue - people who feel respected and loved and in world that meets their needs and those of others are probably less inclined to break things. Or at the very least more inclined to lobby parliament, take peaceful action as opposed to heaving a brick. These latest riots started peacefully anyway.

I don't know how we make people feel like that, but it seems to be a longer problem than we might first think.

Rachel

[ailbhe]

Part of me thinks we need to just lift them up and give them everything they need for three or four generations - interesting stuff to do, money, holidays, nice places to live, people who give a shit, everything. Then maybe the in-the-blood awfulness of the cycle will fizzle out.

Perhaps it's just 2am.