Perhaps a better wya to say it would be: Everyone has a point at which they will cease to follow the rules. The reasons/motivations may be different, and the point may "more near or further away". But that point does exist for everyone.
Are we crazy?
- Thread starter NickClapper
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Perhaps a better wya to say it would be: Everyone has a point at which they will cease to follow the rules. The reasons/motivations may be different, and the point may "more near or further away". But that point does exist for everyone.
Dang. I hope this peters our real soon!
http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/europe/08/08/uk.riots/index.html
http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/europe/08/08/uk.riots/index.html
Truely horrible what's going on over there. I hope the violence stops immediately.
Joseph likes DeJager.
Despite all of the horrible atrocities that exist in this world, I believe it is in our genes to be fundamentally good to those around us. And there are plenty of peer-reviewed scientific journals that make this very argument (though I'm afraid I'm not going to cite any, while waiting in an airport). If you ask me, it's only our modern way of life that gets in the way of allowing us to do what comes naturally (being excellent to each other).
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Thank you. I'm exhausted from staying up to keep an eye on my property and large areas were 'no go' zones for normal, tax paying Londoners. According to the media, a police car was smashed up and three youths were arrested in my area which is known as a slightly dull, unexciting and crime free zone. However, my area was named on Twitter as a potential target due to the shopping area within it but the shopping centre was taking absolutely no chances. Extra, visible security and dogs were there.
But I am lucky. A friend of mine lives in Clapham with her husband. This is one of the most pleasant, popular and wealthy areas of London. For close to two hours, a small group of rioters (just over a hundred according to the news), smashed up the area, robbing shops with impunity.
Another person I know lives in Ealing, a lovely area of London which was completely wrecked and says rioters were running around just smashing anything in sight. This was cars, windows, shops, houses - anything that could be smashed, they smashed. A friend of his had his car torched parked in front of his house and there are whole streets where every single car has been scratched or had its windows smashed.
The local rugby club (for which I used to play) had their own security out to prevent attacks on the clubhouse which was torched 10 years ago by a random arsonist and the reality is the only way I, as a Londoner, could realistically defend my property last night was to do it myself. I sat up in my living room until early in the morning, did a tour of the area on my motorbike to ensure the scumbags weren't massing for an attack and I am delighted the shopping centre paid for extra private security who were preventing groups of youths forming larger groups on their private property. Since the earlier incident when the police car was smashed up, the police have left the area.
These are a few hundred rioters using phones and twitter who appear not to have vehicles. We have over 30,000 police with helicopters, cars, vans and radios but they were unable to mobilise for whatever reason. Tonight, we have 16,000 police on the streets, all mobilised and ready to go. It'll be quieter tonight.
However, I am taking no chances and the reality is I don't want to be like so many householders / business owners in Tottenham, Clapham, Croydon, Ealing and elsewhere. I don't want to be the guy on the news sobbing on as his property goes up in flames. Tonight, I will do as last night, keep an eye on my property and if necessary, will deal with any molotov cocktail / baseball bat wielding criminals the only way I know how.
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Thirty-six years of life-experience. People are fundamentally selfish and cruel. I see it every day. On the internet, on the roads, at work, everywhere I go. And it's not because I'm looking for only the bad in people. In fact, it's quite the opposite. It's because I'm always looking for the good in people that I notice just how rare it is.
Stock centre burnt.
Warp, BFI and Artificial eye.
http://www.bleedingcool.com/2011/08...tre-of-several-independent-film-distributors/
Warp, BFI and Artificial eye.
http://www.bleedingcool.com/2011/08...tre-of-several-independent-film-distributors/
HOLY SHIT!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dK5ecuxXyYM
This is insane!!
This is insane!!
And we invented hooliganism, btw
Actually, I believe it was named for us Miks
I'm not trying to diminish the of violence and tragedy, but I am disturbed by the amount of folks in this thread advocating more violence as a solution. It just bothers me. Maybe this situation has gotten to the point where you must use some force, but I've seen this advocacy of violence from folks on this board for things as minor as someone not signing a footage release form. I don't know, it just disturbs me, how violent we still are as a human race...
Actually, I believe it was named for us Miks
I'm not trying to diminish the of violence and tragedy, but I am disturbed by the amount of folks in this thread advocating more violence as a solution. It just bothers me. Maybe this situation has gotten to the point where you must use some force, but I've seen this advocacy of violence from folks on this board for things as minor as someone not signing a footage release form. I don't know, it just disturbs me, how violent we still are as a human race...
Totally agree!
But I think this is really the only positive to come out of it.
Yes, the violence is awful but you've got 7.5 million other people in the city who haven't taken to the streets to lynch the rioters. Because of our tighter gun laws here, home and property owners haven't simply been shooting people who are damaging their property. And because of the way we control the powers of the police, they've tried to knock the protestors back but they can't use tear gas or horses or guns, or anything that would really cause this turn turn nasty.
For all the fire and damage only one person has been killed and, all things considered, that restores some of my faith in this country.
My .00002 on this.
I think the shooting, tragic in itself, I think also tapped the power keg-I mean we're still in a global recession (I don't care what the "experts" say) and we've got various countries who are having massive problems, there are cuts ("Austerity Measures), and people are scared, and there continues to be the view of the rich getting richer, poor getting poorer-and really it's a lot of scared people (and a number of people who use the opportunity to add to the chaos)-I know over here people i know in Canada and US are both watching London and basically saying "That's going to be us in a year".
Alot of anger, fear, and people not knowing what's going to happen next. IT really is a tragic situation, and the fact only one has person has been killed is, as you say, a testament to humanity-because while there are people doing this, there are people like us who are just as outraged that they're doing it and wanting to put a stop to it for the better of all, and are the majority. ANd I think that's encouraging
I think the shooting, tragic in itself, I think also tapped the power keg-I mean we're still in a global recession (I don't care what the "experts" say) and we've got various countries who are having massive problems, there are cuts ("Austerity Measures), and people are scared, and there continues to be the view of the rich getting richer, poor getting poorer-and really it's a lot of scared people (and a number of people who use the opportunity to add to the chaos)-I know over here people i know in Canada and US are both watching London and basically saying "That's going to be us in a year".
Alot of anger, fear, and people not knowing what's going to happen next. IT really is a tragic situation, and the fact only one has person has been killed is, as you say, a testament to humanity-because while there are people doing this, there are people like us who are just as outraged that they're doing it and wanting to put a stop to it for the better of all, and are the majority. ANd I think that's encouraging
No, the trouble is is that the international media are misreporting this. This is how it happened.
1.) Mark Duggan's friends and family hold a peaceful protest in Tottenham at his possibly unlawful death.
2.) A group of delinquents join this group and start throwing rocks at police and buildings.
3.) This escalates to the point where people set fire to a building and a bus.
Then a day passes (or two if we discount Sunday night's relatively mild disturbances)...
4.) Bored youths take to the streets in different parts of London with no clear objective.
5.) Having seen the buildings burn in Tottenham they set fire to other bits of London, for fun.
6.) Cities outside London don't like the media focus on the capital so the youths there start burning stuff.
This trouble has nothing to do with disenfranchisement or economic problems. The situation in the UK, in global terms is not that bad, and things have been getting a bit better of late. This is all to do with bored youths who play too many video games and have no sense of the relative worth of property or community.
If this was anger about the economy they'd be attacking the richer parts of town rather than burning down their own, poorer communities.
And I thank you Nick for bringing this perspective: Admittedly we can only go by what our media over here reports on, and what you are reporting is certainly a different angle than the stuff I'm seeing the media report on it.
The media over report about how "bad" things are in the UK, how the austerity measures are causing problems in the UK and Europe, and how we all need to be so scared because (according to the Media) various govs on both sides of the pond are "mismanaging" things, and oh we are in such trouble.
What you are saying is nothing close to that (and you're closer to it than I am)-I do apologise if I at all tried to downplay or misjudge the situation, that was not my intent at all
I learned something here (and added already to my cynicism of news media in this day and age) and I appreciate you setting that straight 
There were some pretty serious riots in Paris (and other parts of France) a few years ago. Those were about disenfranchisement and lack of economic opportunities. I'm pretty sure they didn't venture in the posh areas of Paris. It was their own neighborhood that they burnt down.
When there are riots in LA, do they go to Bel Air and Beverly Hills?
I agree that it doesn't seem very logical. I can only guess that if they tried to go vandalize the wealthy parts it would be easier for the police to catch them. On their own turf it must be easier for them to hide and fight.
I'm not sure why you keep saying it's not about economic problems. Is that the bourgeois middle class that's going on a rampage?
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