Editor’s Note: David Goodhart is the former editor of Prospect Magazine. He will be on Fareed Zakaria GPS this Sunday at 10am ET/PT speaking about the riots in the UK.
By David Goodhart – Special to CNN
Have the extraordinary riots of the past few days revealed a crisis of authority in British society? And what if anything can be done about the pathologies of the inner city youths who were running amok?
These riots happened for one overwhelming reason. The police lost control of the streets on Sunday and suddenly lots of bored kids saw an opportunity to create mayhem with a very low likelihood of being caught.
Law and order, like paper money, is a sort of confidence trick. For a short period its mask (or helmet?) slipped and all those inclined to resent authority, who feel the official world is against them in some way and enjoy the thrill of small scale violence, saw their chance.
What was shocking was how many recreational rioters there seemed to be, either taking part or just standing and watching. This may be an optical illusion, and some commentators have claimed that the actual rioters were in the low thousands. But there appeared to be a general grunt of approval from a large part of “hoodie”Britain.
British politics has been dominated in recent years by a combination of economic and social/cultural liberalism. The teeny-bopper looter represents the dark side of that liberalism—the damaged off-spring of a decent and tolerant but also fluid and unstructured society.
This is not to say that “society is to blame” in any silly, leftist way. We may be economically liberal but that has not prevented billions of pounds being spent in recent years on improving schools and infrastructure in the inner city, and billions more on benefits for those unable or unwilling to find decent employment. The recession and spending cuts will not yet have undone all of that.
And the social and cultural liberalism has also brought huge improvements to the inner city over recent decades. The minority communities, which often dominate numerically in the inner city, face far less overt racism, policing has improved and much money and public policy effort goes into trying to increase the upward mobility of the inner city child.
And yet many of the inner city kids have barricaded themselves into an un-political counter-culture of contempt for the mainstream world. Liberal Britain has had no response.
The idiom of that world is dominated by black street culture, partly imported from theU.S.The nihilistic grievance culture of the black inner city, fanned by parts of the hip hop/rap scene, seems to have merged with the rejectionist, anti-education culture of the bottom end of the white working class. This culture helps to make failure self-fulfilling; it’s based on the idea that white or mainstream society is fixed against you and that violent transgression is therefore the only route to status and reward.
The routine brutalities and racist humiliations of 30 or 40 years ago are lovingly preserved in today’s inner city discourse to justify not playing the game. This is an adolescent pose, but also an all too human reaction on the part of people who fear failure so refuse to take part.
The culture of disaffection does have a withered root in earlier struggles for social justice and racial equality. Some of the early hip hop bands like Public Enemy engaged with old fashioned political themes but that has mainly been replaced by gangster worship and a kind of violent consumerism - consider NWA or a more local rapper called Giggs (born in Peckham).
The shooting of a young black man, Mark Duggan, in Tottenham gives the original rioting a link to the race politics disturbances of the 80s, and there clearly is still a problem between young blacks and the police with stop-and-search laws.
But by all accounts, relations between the black community and police have vastly improved. Operation Trident, the police operation to combat the hugely disproportionate gun crime in the black community, was requested by the black community itself. It is generally regarded as a success.
TheLondonrioters I saw and heard interviewed did complain about the killing of Mark Duggan but their real complaint seemed to be the police's power to stop them from committing crime! It's as if they think it's unfair that they are not as powerful as the police.
This certainly represents a poor grasp of how power works in liberal democracies. It may also signify a garbled account of modern multiculturalism in which all are meant to be have equal power and any departure from that, or indeed any personal setback, is racialized.
People on the left will say that the culture of disaffection is also fanned by the surrounding consumer culture and the "get rich quick" casino economy. Perhaps they have half a point. But a rapper called JaJa, who said if he was younger he would have been out with the kids, felt closer to the truth when he pronounced that most of them were doing it for fun and to feel powerful - "for fifteen minutes of fame."
We should neither stigmatize nor sentimentalize black inner city communities We should instead ask clear questions about what can be done about family breakdown and the crisis of authority both in those communities where the problems are particularly acute and in the rest of Britain.
Many black leaders of both left and right have been uncompromising in their denunciation of the rioters. They have not reached for excuses.
David Lammy, the Labour MP for Tottenham, pointed to the fact that more than half of the children in his area are being raised by one parent - but as a part explanation, not as a justification.
Shaun Bailey, the black Tory, says that too many black kids have been raised hearing a lot about their rights but not much about duties and responsibilities. Bailey says it is down to "the community" to sort itself out. He is probably right, but it will need the intelligent help of the local and national state and the surrounding society.
If good parenting is about love and boundaries, what do you do for people who have had too little of both and find some kind of compensation in gang life?
Public policy cannot stop young girls getting pregnant or young men joining gangs. But politics can help to change and challenge attitudes. And it can challenge the culture of disaffection by providing more structure to people’s often chaotic lives.
Liberalism works well for people with the cultural resources and family support to enjoy freedom. But freedom in the inner city can mean purposelessness and unpunished transgression.
So what would more structure mean? Economics still does matter. In retrospect, opening the door to nearly 1 million east Europeans before we had sorted out the training and employment of the inner city hardcore kids was a mistake.
But what about national citizen service? More youth clubs and training places? Yes, but these are shunned by the hardcore kids. More important is to sort out the school exclusion policy. The Labour Party put some effort into making sure that excluded kids were offered places in pupil referral units but there are not enough places and there is not enough compulsion.
In the 1980s there were genuine grievances to riot about. Today there is just a sullen disaffection. These were truly post-political riots, style riots, boredom riots, feel-good riots, look-at-me riots, riots at the end of history.
To make sure they don’t become a regular occurrence, British liberalism needs to rise to the challenge of creating some tough love in the inner city.
The views expressed in this article are solely those of David Goodhart.
© 2012 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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Riots and disobedience are considered culture of third world countries.What happened to civilised society? It shows all are
humans.When provoked all these happen.No developing or developed countries.All love peace and order.
chandra
What do you mean?! The so-called 'West' isn't civilized! The 'West' mastered lying, cheating, murdering, warmongering from the time of the 1st Pope, until now. Caucasians have NEVER lived in peace with themselves nor their neighbor's. When caucasian people run out of People of Color, they will turn back to infighting among themselves, as throughout history.
I guess you never read any history books in your life to make such stupid statement as Europeans always fought and attacked people of color, did you ever read Muslims slavery of blacks for 1400 years ? or Black tribies killing each other ? or Asian wars and conquests ? or ottoman empire wars attacks on Europeans ? or one Million other wars of all races.
Europe is turning in to Thirld World. Lts of 3rd world countires arenow performing well than these so called civilized nations economically. Also Karma at work, they have initiated lots of government changes and now its their turn.
This is bourgeois rhetoric; the underclass is releasing an undying rage fueled by the oncoming hopelessness which has hit us like a train. They are realizing the futility in their attempts to assimilate with the upper class, and the lack of a future which they face. Organization is the key to their victory. You have not yet begun to see what the fires of the underclass can do.
David f, please have a little more content than merely stylised dramatics. We are in danger of overthinking motives behind recent actions and therefore creating excuses for selfish behaviour.
There's truth in what you said about "their attempts to assimilate with the upper class". A lot of the rioters looted and got away with branded goods they normally can't afford. According to BBC, not only young and hard-pressed were among them, also some copycats and free-riders. Amazing enough, people in the forties and interestingly one millionaire's daughter were among the arrested, maybe because they were not deft enough. Opportunity makes a thief coupled with familial and social neglects are main reasons for these riots.
I think you completed back madaman up there. Ignore any ideas of familial neglect. A millionaires daughter was involved. These kids are raised on a diet of aspirational television and possession obsessed culture. In their short times on this earth that is the sole piece of consistency most have had in their lives. These riots teemed with greed and pure selfish behaviour.
That's absolutely silly. I come from a town America where police have pretty much given up on drugs. You can smoke in public and never get busted. Not to mention there is nothing to do but be bored. But you don’t see us or the rest of the boring towns in America ready to riot.
Don't be stupid. Riots mostly happen for a number of social causes. And when no onea listening people will rio to get that attention.
Ok, but from reports and images, it seems that mostly women were involved in the riots and they were white. Why blame hip hop and "black culture"...Thanks to Ke$ha and Eminem and corporate music companies, blacks can no longer claim rights to hip-hop...not since the mid-80s.
Come again?
really? are you of earthly origins...hip hop no longer is black dominated...and where's the evidence...or is this just your invitation to the very many discerning contributors here to join your realm absurdity? Kesha is a hip hop artist? do you really know what hip hop music is?
Young people without jobs have idle time. And idle time can lead to civil disobedience and criminal behavior. No society can resolve every single social problem for every individual. But, the causes wouldn't matter as much, if people were off the streets and working. Probably, they would feel a lot happier about themselves; not to mention, too busy and too tired to riot.
Seems to me you're way out of touch with the youth of today, listen to this perspective from a 17 year old http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SW5rDmaS94U
Yes, refusal to participate in "pleasure island" and get lost with the boy donkeys.
Hi David,
I mostly agree with you. It very much reminds of Chinua Achebe's 'Things Fall Apart' and from the Irish Poet William Butler Yeats' 'The Second Coming'.
"Turning and turning in the widening gyre;
The Falcon connot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosened upon 'Britain'..."
I however take issues with chandra that disorders are considered a culture of third world countries. Well, I'm not quite sure on what basis you're laying your assertions. I am from third world country, but the sort of disorder that are seen in my part of the is absolutely different from the sheer lack of morality seen in the youth in civilised countries.
I hope my letters come to the attention of the Prime Minister, Nick Griffin, Jon Cruddas and Gavin Barwell.
Max
Wonder how much basic biology has to do with it. The orbital pre-frontal cortex is responsible for logic and rational thinking and it does not completely develop until about 25-26 years of age. As a result, children and teens and even young adults lack the neurological capacity to think through consequences of their actions in the logical, reasonable way adults can. Instead they tend to make decisions based on emotional impulses rather than logic. So when an opportunity presents itself to grab stuff for free, they are less likely to consider the consequences for themselves or others. Perhaps this may have combined with a materialistic society and opportunity to result in the riots.
You are correct about cognitive development, Michelle G, but the conscience is developed by age 8, given good parenting. Young people are not as capable of complex problem-solving as adults. Violence against police and looting do not require complex problem solving, but rather demonstrate a lack of conscience and antisocial behavior.
Can the scientific clap-trap. Eschewing individual responsibility and consequence for one's actions lead to rioting. Stash the rationalization of crime, or else pray that no one takes a rock to your window, or skull.The death of fault is the birth of chaos.
Well put. You should be our next world leader.
Most of those arrested were white. Where does this fit within this discussion?
It is suburbia that is the most to blame. For it is the Judges, Lawyers, CEO's, etc. that are also on committees that vote to cut funding for local social programs, while voting to install aquariums, and dog parks in cities. This is the wasteful spending that occurs in all cities. People that are aritocratic in nature, and have never worked a solid day in their lives, make they're way to voting poles to vote for havens that cater to the wealthy. When city-folk see this, and at the same time see they're neighborhoods infrastructure neglected, they become understandably angy. With no one paying any mind to they're complaints, they become depressed and eventually enraged.
Sorry for the misspelling in sentence #4. It is aristocratic.
Fantastic! No more individual responsibility will certainly reduce violence. .
Personal responsibility is only applicable when individual rights remain intact. When individual rights are stripped away or ignored, i.e. unwarranted search and seizures, lack of personal responsibility is no longer an excuse. Lack of government and police responsibilty is the cause of these riots.
The white media has gone to great lengths to analyze these poor, stupid, disaffected black youths, I wondered while watching this media circus why these black youths are so angry. While watching TV and reading articles about how blacks are in some way different from other people, not really part of the human race as hip hop culture has affected resoning skills making them not know the difference between right and wrong a loud noise made me peek out of my window in Lewisham south east London to see three white men loading their newly acquired (looted if you’re not keeping up ) 50” plasma TV into a car driven by an Asian man. I’m getting slightly sick of the hypocrisy people!!
Most of those arrested were white, P. The racial chip is on your shoulder, not the thugs. What is the point of your posting? The media is going to great lengths to analyze white, black, and minority youth.
Yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo y'all be over-analyzin' sh!t.
My, what an intelligent comment, written by a real yo-yo.
These riots are just the latest proof that mass immigration into N. America and W. Europe from the 3rd world, especially the Muslim world has been an unmitigated disaster. Politicians who continue to advocate for it are knowingly and malevolently compromising the safety of their people. This is especially true of left-wing politicians who push gun control because they want ordinary citizens to be helpless against thugs while at the same time working to import thousands of additional foreign thugs every year.
pure hatred! check yo'self.
It's because they know they will get away with it.
i'm not really in tune with what's been happening but a statement i read earlier really hit a nerve for me. I really really really resent the police abusing their power and I really really really do feel that we the people should have equal power. I hate that anytime anything happens that involves the police, the first thing they do is establish absolute control over the situation. Somewhere in their training, they misunderstood what "be in control" of the situation really meant. Having said this.......how many of the rioters feel the way i do about the police?
small wonder that a group of ppl said enough. I'm on the verge myself.
You really, really, really, make a case for anarchy. Police abusing their power? How. Is it by trying to stop arson, looting, and violence? You really, really, really make no sense.
Having just listened to the comments and clips on the show I am disappointed with the channels choice of guests and the arrogance and myopic comments and opinions aired. Terms like "black hip hop culture" are surely just a guise to blame something else on our own issues. To say that cuts in public spending are not at all responsible is also inaccurate.
What we saw on our screens was the culmination of decades of deprivation and the coming to the surface of our parallel societies.
Most of the looters were unemployed, poorly educated and without a sense of belonging. However these sort of people exist in all societies, and don't riot about it. The riots were caused by a lawless few with a disrespect for basic British life and culture who, successive governments have allowed to coexist and thrive in all our towns and cities. Regardless may I add whether they hip, hop or skip.
Unfortunately you will again see that the political solution will focus, not on addressing the underlying factors robustly, but try to be seen to redecorate the image of the country.
This is the first time I have really been disappointed in his show. He just went along and did not challenge anything. "These" people, what people, black people?. Same old racism even in England. Yes, blacks have come a long way, but a long way to go. Try changing shoes, be a black person for one day, most white folks would loose their minds. To have to cope with the racism in jobs, treatment, just because God gave you a different color of skin. So fed up, not everyone is racist, I know, but this stuff, the running over a black man in MS, riioting in Enlgand, it's all too much. Noone can solve this mess, only God can, through people of all colors who want to make it a better place. Also, people of color need to come together and enage with their political reps. and with others in the community to make it better. There is no such thing as the great white hope anymore. Let's do for ourselves.
Even more disappointing than this article was the interview with Fareed this morning on CNN. It is NOT that the points made were not compelling or articulate but the emphasis on 'black hip hop culture' is a shockingly poor oversimplification and failed attempt to identify the root causes of the evident instability and breakdown of law and order within British society.'Black Hip Hop Culture' is not a cause but an effect and reflection of greater and deeper factors within the society. Any affinity within British society and among British youth to this form of expression is merely a result of their identification and agreement with the same underlying injustice and inequality within their society which has evoked a similar violent response which began not with riots but with the expression of violent thoughts and words ultimately resulting in violent actions. I certainly do not condone violence in any form nor do I find it justifiable for any reason but we must recognise the cause beyond the effects so as to take responsibility for our own decisions which we have taken and policies we have implemented over time. Intense disappointment, anger and frustration have been the result and continue to be felt by most people within our families and communities at varying degrees. Such instability awaits relatively trivial events which merely spark and cause an eruption of criminality. The true offenders and victims are ourselves. We must take responsibility and identify the truth of the internal factors which we have caused and perpetuate not blame and/or focus on other people, or other cultures which merely articulate and mirror (as opposed to having caused) our present condition.
I agree with Keisha that this article dangerously oversimplifies the much deeper underlying problem. The writer overlooks the facts, that depression, general helplessness is becoming the Nr.1 disease all over the world, especially in societies, where at least seemingly people have everything they would need. The young generation today does not have a future to aspire for, world wide statistics show young people do not want to marry, do not want children, and even when they have a chance do not want to take on "high powered" jobs, opting for simplicity. Most of the people on the streets all over the world are not all "inner city" residents, not even all unemployed or starving people, most of them are frustrated as they simply do not see the purpose of their lives. As the global crisis shows we all have run into a dead end, and have no solutions for any of our problems, let it be financial, cultural, social, ecological or educational, because we are trying knee jerk reflex type, isolated, local solutions, when the problem is global. With such simplifications as in this article we keep avoiding to look at the real disease, but until we find the root of it we cannot hope for a cure.
Fareed do your job!
THEY WERE BORED BECAUSE THEY DIDNT HAVE ANY JOBS
THEY DONT HAVE JOBS BECAUSE RACIST PEOPLE WONT HIRE THEM
THEY ARE CAPABLE OF DOING THE WORK AND ARE QUALIFIED BUT TOO MANY WHITE BRITONS WHO HIRE PEOPLE REFUSE TO HIRE ANYONE WHO IS DARKER THAN YELLOW.
THAT IS WHY THE RIOT STARTED. MORE WILL HAPPEN UNTIL THIS RACISM ENDS.
The writer of this article is an idiot!!!!
As is the writer of the post. Capitol letters do not make you more understood; they make you look like an idiot.
"This is an adolescent pose, but also an all too human reaction on the part of people who fear failure so refuse to take part."
Well, I have never heard youth unemployment so eloquently analyzed. It is not that there are no jobs, it is that youth fear failure, and so refuse to take part in the smorgasbord of entertaining career options that await them in Europe.
There is always the argument that the myriad "youth programs" which keep left wing arts graduates employed and in the party, and that cost business vast sums of money in taxes to pay for them, have so ruined the economies of Europe that we are seeing a revolt against left wing policies by those who are currently fed by them.
Both agree that the problem is a failure of law and order to prevail. One tends to take a Hobbessian perspective that blames the state for not exercising sufficient force to tame the culprits. This guest blames those with the more liberal social contract views for loosing the beasts lurking in people's natures. The other agrees that the culprits are not respecting others and need to be controlled by the state but still argues that liberal social contract views should be modified rather than abandoned. Neither attribute the rioting to anything but hooliganism.
Yet, it's extremely widespread and the relative increase in uncertainty for the least well secured people seems obviously concentrated in those who have been rioting. I think both of the guests are ignoring this facto's role in the riots.
As a Los Angeles native, I think usually there is an underlying problem not being addressed. It is not entirely a Hip Hop problem. I do think the youth in London need to find other things to do however.
Re: DAVID GOODHART has woken the sleeping giant with some old tones that remind one of the ignorance of a hateful paste blaming a people stating "those people" have nothing but a culture of violence while not considering of course, causes for that disharmony. My question is why must he label a color to a socio economic problem. Is he dissatisfied with the overall possessive investment in whiteness while giving little note to his "few white kids" who happen to pick up the black culture of violence, hip hop, etc. You know David, England is not at all innocent of a past for making unqiue causes that have affected Asia, Asia Minor, and even America. Here is a hint, if you ever want to gauge the situation of the present, please read more about the past. It will help. England was not innocent of having a superiority complex back in the day. I hope you will hold thy tongue of such "black" comments. The paradox if you dig deep enough will have roots in your own backyard. This problem involves everyone so please address it as such. Poets write, they don't create a problem, actually they alert you far in advance to one. Why do you believe every oppressive nation first starts by arresting its artists, musicians, and activists to peoples rights? Please be the better person especially on GPS. It's my favorite show on Sundays not True Blood. Comments like that may be well placed there than on here.
"Poets write, they don't create a problem, actually they alert you far in advance to one."
Hey, Granola Tree-Hugger, ever hear of individual responsibility? Mayor Nutter of Philadelphia, who is black, squarely point the finger at the black community of Philadelphia for the flash mobs in Philly. He directly blames the youth and their parents, and will arrest both for infractions. Stash the mamby-pamby, artsy-phartsy, palaver and stopped passing the buck.
Yep, inner city thugs and stupiidty. I doubt those same inner city kids even try to work hard in school. I doubt they want to work. I doubt they care about anything. Inner city morons once again resort to violence. That's their answer to every issue – violence. Sad, but true.
Inner city, outer city, uptown, down town. Places filled with strong/weak, intellegen/stupid, beautifu/lugly, sane/insane. All afflicted with the human condition. No matter how much you want to believe you are better that an inner city dweller, you'll be surprised at how much the same you are. The only differrence maybe the amount of money in your pockets. Regardless, you are mortal all the same.
This comment is directed to mr. Fareed. The man from London on your show revealed his lack of compassion and bigotry to the world. May be he was angry that his beloved England was viewed all over the world as parts of London was burning down as if it was some third world country. Blaming "the blacks", rap and hip-hop as the main cause of the riot?. Where was your follow up question or comment to shine some light on the ignorance of your guest? Are you doing the show for truth or just plain self advancement?
Riots don't happen spontaneously. I feel like London's issue glass over spilled. This rioting is the tip of the iceberg. How are you going to blame the different elements of Hip Hop culture for these riots? There is no correlation.
If ignorant people want to blame it on the Hip hop culture and Non whites then I have the right to say that White people took advantage of the situation. Most news reports I saw mostly white Brits stealing. HAHA White Britain, blame your great great grandparents for there wonderful success.... White people see it this way, in destruction, there is opportunity. White people are slick, blaming it at the "poor minorities" hahaha If they are "minorities" how is it possible that the "majority" couldn't control the city? Pay attention to the vocabulary they use, every word represents a feeling, expression towards an people.
Now let's suppose we would run a consistent approach based on the examples we as the west lay down in countries like North Africa
Firstly, we are to ask, why does the looters not respect the government or other citizens?
They are simply copying the example laid down by the UK government! For years the UK government
has looted other countires from it's resources through imperialist colonization – and now it's citizens
are simply doing the same, internally – what is so wrong about that?
The government also kills people if they resist them taking their resources i.e. oil and lithium.
In that case, David Cameron and the queen should immediately step down and let the rioters be recognized as the sole legitimate government – and Clinton+Obama are to announce that Cameron has lost all legitimacy.
In the case they fail to step down, we then declare a no fly zone over the UK and should they refuse, we then
millitarily target their families and children – is that not what we have done?
Now many will argue that that the UK is not an opressive regime but Libya was – right?
So: Opression in the UK is at al alltime high with VAT or "general sales tax" at 20% and other
forms of combined taxation exceeding 50%
By no means a "free" society.
The UK revolution is about freedom from modern slavery.
" If you want us to respect you, take those doggone hoodies down, especially in summer, pull your pants up and buy a belt, comb your hair, learn some manners, keep your butt in school, extend your English vocabulary beyond the few curse words that you know. If you go to look for a job, don’t go and blame it on the white folks or anyone else if you walk in to somebody’s office with your hair uncombed and your shoes untied or your pants half down, tattoos up and down your arms, on your face, on your neck. And you wonder why somebody won’t hire you? They don’t hire you because you look like you’re crazy!”
Mayor Nutter of Philadelphia
Disarming the citizenry played the biggest, unmentioned, factor in the London riots. Citizens are armed, foremost, in order to be protected from their government. Yet, number one on liberal agendas is the banning of weapons – makes the populace more docile and receptive to corruption.
Had the citizens properly had weapons, the riots would have likely never begun, or would have ended in seconds.
Mayor Nutter of Philadelphia
“Parents, get your act together. Get it together, right now. You’re going to find yourself spending some quality time with your kids in jail, together. You’re not a father just because you have a kid, or two, or three. If you’re not providing moral instruction to your children and instead are sending child-support payments, you’re just a human ATM. If you’re doing neither, you’re just a sperm donor. That’s part of the problem in our community. Let me speak plain: That’s part of the problem in the black community.”
i love to see britian burning. same will happen to USA.
You're an idiot. Switch to decaf.
The politics of this event is personal; it is personal to every single kid, black or white who rioted. This is an alienation brought about by the school system in the UK. These kids have chosen to exclude themselves from society. The reasons they feel alienated are well understood by the kids themselves. To understand them, you must go talk to them. Harriet Sergeant did just that and wrote a report about what they said and the implications for Britain. This report tells us what has gone wrong and what we can do about it http://harrietsergeant.com/reports/ download report no.6 " Wasted"
Or, they are just rotten kids with adults to rationalize for them.
Wow!!!! It's 2011 and we are still dealing w/ individuals who have a very myopic view of the world. And considering this is/was an editor, you would expect more. I saw the interview yesterday and Fareed Zakaria was terrible. But this guy, David Goodhart comes straight out of a comic book. I guess all hip hop is about violence. I guess all blacks are sub-human. I guess no other music genre excites or speaks to/for the youth. I guess this all happened b/c blacks should be happy they are no longer slaves. And you wonder why there is a music genre called hip hop. It's for such bs as this. Let's just entertain this completely stupid way of thinking for a second. Art reflects life. So if you hate the art change the life condition that spawned it. Ok back to the intelligent world again. I was simply amazed that CNN would let someone so stupid speak. Also I was amazed at placid reaction from Fareed's...he seem almost intimidated.
david goodmans writing is to be blame for his racist ideas, that help to divide the middle class more so, so the parasitic elite can continue their gluttonous rain...
while the masses waste energy fighting thier armed security gaurds, they are plotting and planning on how to take more rights away from the people... pretty soon it WILL be legal for the police to spy on you and your phone calls..
david goodman does his job well, and that is too distract and divide from whats really going on here.. the riots were controlled by the police and their police provacatuers... its might peculiar that all this happend EXACTLY ON TIME to divert attention away from the police as they spied on its own citizens INCLUDING the british royal family...
dont get caught up in the riots... analyze the TIMING of it.... and notice how the uk police are given rights to monitor phone calls and conversations as a result..
lets NOT play three card molly, when the game is high stakes poker.!!!!!!! this auther is only writing to divide and confuse from the real game and keep you focused on the folly...
at the end of the day its all about controlling the masses through fear.. the author is full of feces dont go for his poker face. He knows who the real enemy of all the tax paying citizens are, and it aint the poor and disenfranchised sunblessed aka black people!!!
this article is utter nonsense. David Goodhart probably does'nt even know here london is
If we listen to Cameron and change the language we could hear Mubarak, Gaddafi or others that blame the people for their reaction to the excesses of Government. While difficult for many it is obvious to an unbiased observer that the events that are happening in GB and Europe, when put into historical context are a natural outgrowth of the Wealthy, plundering the economy at the expense of the middle class and poor for a long period of time. Discontent and radical action are easily suppressed at first through labeling and profiling. Early on in most societies the most combustible groups are immediately identifiable: they will be a racial group, religious group, immigrants or a Section of the City. Their earlier volatility is to be expected because they will have been disaffected for the longer period. As the disaffection grows their ranks are swelled with others who are sympathetic or lowered in their economic status by the excesses of Government. In time what began as an easily identifiable group grows into a diverse mix of participants who are difficult to target and marginalize along the traditional methods above. While there will be differences within the now Mob, their common enemy will be the Government. Suppression will take violence and then begins the descent into chaos. How to prevent it all requires man to depart from their own nature of greed and lust for power which is not likely or a profound event that shakes the core of our existence forcing everyone into a Mob. The former is not likely and the later until it happens is fantasy.
testing
The riots are the result of long term problems. Austerity measures are only put in place when Government excesses by the powerbrokers and government officials have exhausted an economy. Rather than reduce their greed, Governments reduce any spending that does not provide those same powerbrokers continued and ever increasing revenue. Because the process of economic decline is not instant the contraction of population friendly spending is a slow one. Disaffected numbers grow slowly spreading the fuel for unrest until a tipping point where an event, no matter how small, clearly demonstrates the lack of power of the average person. This event coupled with the perception of government indifference born by the long period of decline while the wealthy have become more enriched sparks the unrest. Those with the energy of expectation and a lack of long-term conditioning to the status quo are most likely to riot first – the youth.
People are bored and spoiled. They must be thinking Nazi bombings didn't do enough damages in London decades ago. If no tyrant, common people start struggling to become tyrants themselves. Earthlings do not know how to live with peace – the reason there is no world peace for the present mankind. Ship all offenders to war-fields and make them serve there.
Inner city culture starts with an "M"– in London–
The riots are the result of long term problems. Austerity measures are only put in place when Government excesses by the powerbrokers and government officials have exhausted an economy. Rather than reduce their greed, Governments reduce any spending that does not provide those same powerbrokers continued and ever increasing revenue. Because the process of economic decline is not instant the contraction of population friendly spending is a slow one. Disaffected numbers grow slowly spreading the fuel for unrest until a tipping point where an event, no matter how small, clearly demonstrates the lack of power of the average person. This event coupled with the perception of government indifference born by the long period of decline while the wealthy have become more enriched sparks the unrest. Those with the energy of expectation and a lack of long-term conditioning to the status quo are most likely to riot first – the youth.
If we listen to Cameron and change the language we could hear Mubarak, Gaddafi or others that blame the people for their reaction to the excesses of Government. While difficult for many it is obvious to an unbiased observer that the events that are happening in GB and Europe, when put into historical context are a natural outgrowth of the Wealthy, plundering the economy at the expense of the middle class and poor for a long period of time. Discontent and radical action are easily suppressed at first through labeling and profiling. Early on in most societies the most combustible groups are immediately identifiable: they will be a racial group, religious group, immigrants or a Section of the City. Their earlier volatility is to be expected because they will have been disaffected for the longer period. As the disaffection grows their ranks are swelled with others who are sympathetic or lowered in their economic status by the excesses of Government. In time what began as an easily identifiable group grows into a diverse mix of participants who are difficult to target and marginalize along the traditional methods above. While there will be differences within the now, Mob, their common enemy will be the Government. Suppression will take violence and then begins the descent into chaos. How to prevent it all requires man to depart from their own nature of greed and lust for power which is not likely or a profound event that shakes the core of our existence forcing everyone into a Mob. The former is not likely and the later, until it happens, is fantasy.
On each weekend, we all colleagues jointly used to watch movie, because enjoyment is also necessary in life.
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