Chimpy Chompy on 10/8/2011 at 09:10
Okay, so. There are clear links between this stuff and poverty, lack of opportunities etc. If everyone had a career and a decent home etc I doubt it would be happening.
But, do we let people off any standards of personal responsibility? Is it okay to be lawless and smash stuff up, if you have a crappy life? I've seen a few stances that look like "they're wrong but... (lots of talk of circumstances that basically looks like saying it's not their fault)".
I mean yeah it's easy for me to be law-abiding, and judgemental, when I have a decent life. But, do we risk patronising the poor? They can't help it, no way to express themselves, nothing better can be expected etc etc.
I guess what would be best is... jobs. So people have something to do and to work towards. How to do that, since industry died, I have no idea. What does a "service economy" offer (what was) the working class?
Thirith on 10/8/2011 at 09:23
Quote Posted by Chimpy Chompy
Okay, so. There are clear links between this stuff and poverty, lack of opportunities etc. If everyone had a career and a decent home etc I doubt it would be happening.
But, do we let people off any standards of personal responsibility? Is it okay to be lawless and smash stuff up, if you have a crappy life? I've seen a few stances that look like "they're wrong but... (lots of talk of circumstances that basically looks like saying it's not their fault)"...
There's a difference between condoning what has happened and addressing the underlying reasons. (I remember a discussion on TTLG about Chechnyan terrorist attacks that went along fairly similar lines.) In a mature conversation about the riots, it should be possible to condemn looting and violence yet at the same time seeing them as a symptom rather than just going "These people are animals and should be arrested/deported/strung up!"
One of the problems is that most people are unwilling or unable to look at the situation with enough objectivity. They just look at criminal idiots behaving like criminal idiots, and that's all they need to form their opinion on what's going on. No need for acknowledging that things might be a tad more complex than that.
june gloom on 10/8/2011 at 10:33
Meanwhile, Mama dethtoll has been gathering supplies for the coming race war (yes she actually used the term) she's convinced is going to happen.
I really wish she would act as smart as she is.
Warren's Spectre on 10/8/2011 at 10:56
It's really just viral marketing for Deus Ex HR. We can all stop worrying they're paid actors.
'The rioting is intensifying to the point were we may not be able to contain it.'
'Why contain it, let it spill over to the school and churches, let the bodies pile up in the streets. In the end, they'll beg us to save them!'
SubJeff on 10/8/2011 at 11:07
These two idiots are supposed to speak for the rest? Pffffft. They're more excited about how "good" the looting was.
dethtoll - actually in Birmingham it's being reported that british asians are taking a stand against the rioters who, in those areas, appear to be mostly black. 3 people were killed last night....
Vasquez on 10/8/2011 at 11:24
Quote Posted by Subjective Effect
These two idiots are supposed to speak for the rest? Pffffft. They're more excited about how "good" the looting was.
I was trying to be sarcastic.
quinch on 10/8/2011 at 11:29
First person in the dock at Highbury this morning was a 31-year-old primary school assistant who pleaded guilty to looting Richer Sounds in Croydon.
Dia on 10/8/2011 at 12:45
That's some scary shit there. People are dying, or watching their homes and businesses (for which they most likely worked very hard to attain) go up in flames, and two drunken twats are going on about what great fun it's all been.
ffs
jay pettitt on 10/8/2011 at 13:51
Quote Posted by Dia
That's some scary shit there.
Yup.
Sg3 on 10/8/2011 at 15:05
This entire situation is hideous, but I've never been able to fathom the ignorance which people display when, reacting to this sort of thing, they ask, "How could something like this happen? Why is this happening?" Every cause has at least one effect, and every effect has at least one cause. Both sides are in the wrong, and it's always going to be this way, because no one is willing-and-able to give enough to solve the universal problems.
