TheBlackHand
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Why are these dumb brits rioting anyway ?
UK riots
- Thread starter Gringoboy
- Start date
notebook.fix
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..and I thought I'd get away from all the chaos in BsAs 
London is a wonderful city, I love it...people are civil, they apologize if they accidentally get in your way...people have manners...cars don't try to deliberately run you over...everything works...your average Internet connection is eight to ten times faster on average etc etc.
Ironically, most of the people I spoke to in the city are not native English speakers & are not easy to understand.
It's so sad to see the dark energy that's descended on this city, yesterday afternoon the supermarket was closed at 4pm...most of the electronics shops on Tottenham court rd (the Galeria Jardin of London) were shut by 4pm too...curry's was all boarded up...there is a weird energy on the street. Yesterday the dramatic increase in police numbers could be felt...suspect looking young people were being stopped & searched, police every where.
The general feeling is, you cannot relax even when everything looks calm & orderly, the thugs can appear out of the blue...they organize themselves with text messaging & social media and can very rapidly group up in any location...that's been the experience so far from most reports.
The LOOTING & thuggery has resulted in many many fires...Monday night in London was the worst,...while attacks were springing up by the minute...all over London...there was a moment where you realized that if anything happened in your home, in London, you could not count on the police to come....it was eerie...I felt sorry for the boys in the force, they were totally outnumbered and still showed such bravery under the circumstances. They also had their hands tied, they were restricted by red tape & politics...not their fault in any way.
Today everything looks much better here in London town, at least in the day time things look normal, until the shops start to shut early & the streets suddenly become deserted then when you realize that London is a different place...not the same place I arrived in 3 weeks ago.
London is a wonderful city, I love it...people are civil, they apologize if they accidentally get in your way...people have manners...cars don't try to deliberately run you over...everything works...your average Internet connection is eight to ten times faster on average etc etc.
Ironically, most of the people I spoke to in the city are not native English speakers & are not easy to understand.
It's so sad to see the dark energy that's descended on this city, yesterday afternoon the supermarket was closed at 4pm...most of the electronics shops on Tottenham court rd (the Galeria Jardin of London) were shut by 4pm too...curry's was all boarded up...there is a weird energy on the street. Yesterday the dramatic increase in police numbers could be felt...suspect looking young people were being stopped & searched, police every where.
The general feeling is, you cannot relax even when everything looks calm & orderly, the thugs can appear out of the blue...they organize themselves with text messaging & social media and can very rapidly group up in any location...that's been the experience so far from most reports.
The LOOTING & thuggery has resulted in many many fires...Monday night in London was the worst,...while attacks were springing up by the minute...all over London...there was a moment where you realized that if anything happened in your home, in London, you could not count on the police to come....it was eerie...I felt sorry for the boys in the force, they were totally outnumbered and still showed such bravery under the circumstances. They also had their hands tied, they were restricted by red tape & politics...not their fault in any way.
Today everything looks much better here in London town, at least in the day time things look normal, until the shops start to shut early & the streets suddenly become deserted then when you realize that London is a different place...not the same place I arrived in 3 weeks ago.
i was watching BBC online and amidst the reports about the problems in the UK there was news of student riots in Chile. I thought it 'amusing' that the students in Chile had actually been able to tell the government what it was they were upset about and what they were hoping the government would do about it - compared to what was happening in the UK!
From the UK side I heard one interview with two girls (drunk at 9am) saying how much fun it was to be part of the riots and that it was just to show the police that they can do what they want - oh, and it was against 'the rich'. And they also said they hate the government (or something like that) "the conservatives...or whoever it is".
I know this sounds so superior, and I don't mean it to be, but, that's what you're dealing with.
I posted something earlier today about how I thought that this is (in part) the fruit of a system that doesn't believe in discipline (and I am not necessarily talking about spankings here), but for some reason it was sent for 'moderation' and never put up.
From the UK side I heard one interview with two girls (drunk at 9am) saying how much fun it was to be part of the riots and that it was just to show the police that they can do what they want - oh, and it was against 'the rich'. And they also said they hate the government (or something like that) "the conservatives...or whoever it is".
I know this sounds so superior, and I don't mean it to be, but, that's what you're dealing with.
I posted something earlier today about how I thought that this is (in part) the fruit of a system that doesn't believe in discipline (and I am not necessarily talking about spankings here), but for some reason it was sent for 'moderation' and never put up.
Hellek said:
I know at least one kid who goes to school in a 'troubled' area and they have ridiculous amounts of funding from the government. They each even get their own laptop (!), have the latest technological gadgetry in the classrooms (eg. interactive whiteboards) and all kinds of amazing opportunities that I never had growing up. I think there are tough situations, but I really do think that a lot of these kids are just spoilt and don't realise just how much they have. My friend's kid works hard, and gets excellent grades, despite being in a 'disadvantaged' school. It really is about attitudes and not what they say they don't have.
As with jobs, there are more jobs available than people like to admit sometimes, but they are simply too proud to take humble jobs like cleaning public places, or God forbid, cleaning public bathrooms. They complain about immigrants taking these jobs (Huh - they didn't want them) and the immigrants accepting really low wages (so you don't want the job AND you complain that they are happy to work for little!). The immigrants know what it means to work hard and they know the value of the money they are earning.
The unemployed in Australia (and the UK) are in the top 8% of people in the world with the most wealth. Something to consider.
I totally agree that bankers getting massive, disproportionate salaries and not having to worry diddly about the mess they have made is also disgusting. I am simply all for taking personal responsibility for your own attitudes and behaviours - such responsibility is really in reach of every individual, regardless of the inequalities that surround us. I am very much with you in thinking that we need a society that teaches ethics (heck, and practices them too, that would be even better!)
Hhmm, I have some pretty strong feelings, but I don't think the situation is as simple to reduce as I may come across, nor easy to solve.
TheBlackHand
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You should tell the police to stop killing people in cold blood. It would save their country alot of grief.
jp said:
I pretty much agree with what's said on page 5.
One thing I would say though is that the people watching the news need to try harder to understand why it happens. Its been said for a long time that this would happen and stock investment type economic speculative have been saying almost with glee how there's going to be 'fires going on' 'europes on fire' plus the odd slightly more coded hints on it. To the uninitiated it's all meaningless but to anyone with a passing knowledge of nlp and subliminal programming there are times when we're watching the tv and being told to riot. Personally I didn't expect it to happen more until next year. It will be interesting to feel the ambience when I get back. What's that science fiction film where people are monitored on an island and all of a sudden a strange feeling comes over the place and they start killing each other?
Some people respond to this with 'send in the tanks'. There you have it, that's why it happens. Personally I feel an urge to riot and I have absolutely no idea why. Did you feel it too? Ask yourself when you feel that, where does it come from?
One thing I would say though is that the people watching the news need to try harder to understand why it happens. Its been said for a long time that this would happen and stock investment type economic speculative have been saying almost with glee how there's going to be 'fires going on' 'europes on fire' plus the odd slightly more coded hints on it. To the uninitiated it's all meaningless but to anyone with a passing knowledge of nlp and subliminal programming there are times when we're watching the tv and being told to riot. Personally I didn't expect it to happen more until next year. It will be interesting to feel the ambience when I get back. What's that science fiction film where people are monitored on an island and all of a sudden a strange feeling comes over the place and they start killing each other?
Some people respond to this with 'send in the tanks'. There you have it, that's why it happens. Personally I feel an urge to riot and I have absolutely no idea why. Did you feel it too? Ask yourself when you feel that, where does it come from?
London Riots Wide-Screen Images
ANARCHY-LONDON BURNING
LOOTING IN LONDON!
LONDON RIOTS-1
LONDON RIOTS-2
LONDON RIOTS-3
LONDON RIOTS-4
UNREST AND RIOTING IN LONDON
MAP OF LONDON RIOTING
=================================================
London: a class divided
Sympathetic? It's a tense time for Londoners as a growing class divide begins to fracture its society
I was standing on Brixton High Street, in South London, at 7 in the morning, looking at a row of looted shops.
A man, unshaven and in a track-suit pants trousers, walked by with a pit bull terrier on a leash. The dog paused in the middle of the street, and slowly defecated.
The man looked on, with apparent pride, until the dog had finished. Then men and dog continued their swagger across the road.
At this point, I committed a foolish error. With a look of disgust on my face, I caught the man's eye. Now he was coming towards me, pit bull straining at the leash.
I knew what was coming: The menacing language, "You [expletive], what the [expletive] are you looking at?" I walked away.
This encounter: its nuances, its predictability, are familiar to anyone who knows England.
In London, well-off people with lots of opportunities often live almost next door to poor people who live blighted, frustrated lives.
I am in the first category, and barely know the people in the second category who live in the subsidised housing at the opposite end of my street.
We lead separate, parallel lives. I not proud of that, and it is sad.
I live in a part of London where houses cost more than a million pounds.
But the people who buy those houses do not trust the state education system, and isolate themselves from their local community by choosing to send their children to expensive private schools.
These divisions are sometimes racial, but not necessarily so. (The man with the pit bull was white, in case you're wondering).
This is a time of soul-searching for Britain.
For obvious reasons, there's been a lot of talk about the police - whether they've been too timid, whether they are a racist force like in the bad old days, and so on.
That's a valid debate. But British commentators are also asking more profound questions about what's wrong in our society.
Parenting, schools, consumer culture; all are coming under scrutiny. Here is a voice from the right and here's one from the left.
Finally, have a listen to this BBC Radio interview with two girls who took part in the riots. The implication of that interview is obvious.
The government must restore law and order, and hopefully sooner rather than later. But the riots are a symptom of a deep malaise in this country and that is what makes the events of the past few days so depressing.
Source
ANARCHY-LONDON BURNING
LOOTING IN LONDON!
LONDON RIOTS-1
LONDON RIOTS-2
LONDON RIOTS-3
LONDON RIOTS-4
UNREST AND RIOTING IN LONDON
MAP OF LONDON RIOTING
=================================================
London: a class divided
Sympathetic? It's a tense time for Londoners as a growing class divide begins to fracture its society
I was standing on Brixton High Street, in South London, at 7 in the morning, looking at a row of looted shops.
A man, unshaven and in a track-suit pants trousers, walked by with a pit bull terrier on a leash. The dog paused in the middle of the street, and slowly defecated.
The man looked on, with apparent pride, until the dog had finished. Then men and dog continued their swagger across the road.
At this point, I committed a foolish error. With a look of disgust on my face, I caught the man's eye. Now he was coming towards me, pit bull straining at the leash.
I knew what was coming: The menacing language, "You [expletive], what the [expletive] are you looking at?" I walked away.
This encounter: its nuances, its predictability, are familiar to anyone who knows England.
In London, well-off people with lots of opportunities often live almost next door to poor people who live blighted, frustrated lives.
I am in the first category, and barely know the people in the second category who live in the subsidised housing at the opposite end of my street.
We lead separate, parallel lives. I not proud of that, and it is sad.
I live in a part of London where houses cost more than a million pounds.
But the people who buy those houses do not trust the state education system, and isolate themselves from their local community by choosing to send their children to expensive private schools.
These divisions are sometimes racial, but not necessarily so. (The man with the pit bull was white, in case you're wondering).
This is a time of soul-searching for Britain.
For obvious reasons, there's been a lot of talk about the police - whether they've been too timid, whether they are a racist force like in the bad old days, and so on.
That's a valid debate. But British commentators are also asking more profound questions about what's wrong in our society.
Parenting, schools, consumer culture; all are coming under scrutiny. Here is a voice from the right and here's one from the left.
Finally, have a listen to this BBC Radio interview with two girls who took part in the riots. The implication of that interview is obvious.
The government must restore law and order, and hopefully sooner rather than later. But the riots are a symptom of a deep malaise in this country and that is what makes the events of the past few days so depressing.
Source
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