Rioting in UK capital

[Hunter]

Make 'em do community service in Somalia for just a few days... with no Black Hawk helicopters for support.

[Chris]

"My colleague Randeep Ramesh says Nottingham city centre is quiet, with police cars and officers, some on horseback, patrolling the main shopping precincts."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/blog/2011/aug/10/uk-riots-fifth-night-live

Hmm. Maybe things aren't so good, if police cars are having to patrol on horseback. It's the horses I feel sorry for.

[ChrisGeorge]

The whole boo hoo over disadvantaged youth totally frosts me. I would wager that probably more than half of the people on the planet would give anything to trade places with the most "disadvantaged" citizen of the UK or the US.

A lot of them were out to get themselves a better Blackberry or a newer pair of name brand track shoes. So not disadvantaged. Just greedy and wontonly destructive.

[Ally]

The whole boo hoo over disadvantaged youth totally frosts me. I would wager that probably more than half of the people on the planet would give anything to trade places with the most "disadvantaged" citizen of the UK or the US.

In both of these countries you have economic freedom, religious freedom, educational freedom and opportunities that are unprecedented in most of the world.

And all the people in these two countries do is whine how they aren't given a chance and are so oppressed. Spoiled rotten pampered morons is what they are. They think they are oppressed? Try being a woman in saudi arabia. Try being an average joe in Rwanda for a week. Ship them off there, and let them experience some real oppression and then maybe the little bastards will appreciate how good they have it.

[lynn cates]

better times

Hello Robert. Heh-heh.

Here's to better times in the UK.

Cheers.
LC

[Robert]

Lynn, I hope you were a tidy dustman and not one of those who first raise a dust and then complain they cannot see.

Mike, sure, it was probably just high spirits.

[lynn cates]

good news

Hello Chris.

"Anyhow, according to what the Guardian entitles "UK riots: fifth night live coverage," there haven't been any riots anywhere in the country so far tonight."

Now THAT'S good news indeed!

Cheers.
LC

[The Good Michael]

I was thinking that the lack of strong force used against the rioters, though of course no consolation for any victims, may be something that is beneficial towards a greater unification of disparate groups. Often people want something done now, and I do too, but this was, in a way, a youthful blowing off of steam and my guess is the initial looting was by but a few with a monkey-see monkey-do attitude by some other participants. Let's wait and see what happens. There might be some good that comes out of this whole thing.

Mike

[Chris]

Anyhow, according to what the Guardian entitles "UK riots: fifth night live coverage," there haven't been any riots anywhere in the country so far tonight.

The closest thing has been a gathering in Eltham by the so-called English Defence League, which was promptly dispersed by a strong force of police - many of them Welsh, ironically enough.

[lynn cates]

opportunity

Hello Ally.

"Say what you want about the US and the UK but no one is FORCED into poverty and helplessness. Both of these countries have opportunities out the freaking wazoo for people who can get over themselves, buckle down and work hard."

Quite true. I was a dustman before I was a college professor. The opportunities are there IF one decides to take them. Hard work is not just a couple of four-letter words.

Cheers.
LC

[brummie]

All this talk of deprived backgrounds and jobless poor is rather exposed when a primary school worker (who probably earns more than I do) pleads guilty to stealing from an electrical store

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvstOtWcBhI

particularly enjoyed the bit at the end where he walksinto a lampost,hope it hurt - a lot!

[Ally]

Really? So the UK doesn't offer free education to everyone? Basic education isn't mandatory?

There aren't any jobs to be had there? Not even cleaning toilets or washing cars for the rich people?

[Limehouse]

You know, this whole mindset that the rich are the enemy and no one understands what people in these communities feels like is such a bunch of bull. Say what you want about the US and the UK but no one is FORCED into poverty and helplessness. Both of these countries have opportunities out the freaking wazoo for people who can get over themselves, buckle down and work hard.

For people to treat these rioting pieces of crap as the victims because of the area they are in, is pure crap. If they wanted out of that area, they could leave via the same method the generations before them did: by working their butts off to make something of themselves. But nah, it's much easier to kick back with a beer and bitch about the rich people and their lives rather than trying to make something of your own.

I am not going to excuse what these people have done because I'm appalled and sickened and many of them may well be people who can't be bothered to raise a finger to help themselves.

However - I do not agree that people are not FORCED into poverty. A great many most certainly are - sometimes by the system and sometimes by the actions of their own families.

[Limehouse]

Not to come off as a bleeding heart liberal here (which I am, but not in all circumstances) but it seems pretty obvious from the tenor of most of these posts that England evidently hasn't the slightest idea what to do about gang culture, or hasn't the slightest inclination to do something about it.

Not that we aren't as bad, but we certainly aren't surprised when these things happen.

This is the price we pay for not giving a **** about certain communities. And we really don't. And it's not like we don't know where gangs come from. We've known since the 40s. People need to belong, they need respect, they need recognition. And if they don't get it from society as a whole, they form smaller groups in order to get it. Logic would dictate that we take care of these needs before it happens, but we don't.

I would imagine that a good amount of London could not have cared less about whether these people lived or died. They care now. And anyone who has ever spent any time with a child knows that negative attention is better than no attention at all.

And I'm not proposing that everyone go out and hug a rioter. What's done is done. They are committing crimes, and they need to be dealt with as criminals. But it also helps to apologize when you screw up. And you guys have screwed up. So have they, but they will pay for it when this is over. The goal now is to get it over. And that means sucking it up and saying you're sorry. I mean, what was the plan? Stiff upper lip them into submission?

They have a right to be angry. They don't have the right to riot. And clearly a good deal of them are angry. And probably with good cause. But as long as they are angry, they won't stop. And if the cops kill more of them, they certainly aren't going to get LESS angry. So I imagine unless you guys were planning on killing all of them, that some steps should be taken to address their problems. Before London burns again.

Some of us DO care though and we recognise that they are lashing at at the wrong people.

[Ally]

You know, this whole mindset that the rich are the enemy and no one understands what people in these communities feels like is such a bunch of bull. Say what you want about the US and the UK but no one is FORCED into poverty and helplessness. Both of these countries have opportunities out the freaking wazoo for people who can get over themselves, buckle down and work hard.

For people to treat these rioting pieces of crap as the victims because of the area they are in, is pure crap. If they wanted out of that area, they could leave via the same method the generations before them did: by working their butts off to make something of themselves. But nah, it's much easier to kick back with a beer and bitch about the rich people and their lives rather than trying to make something of your own.