So you burn your pagoda
[Companion entry to my piece about social contracts. My reaction to the seemingly dominant reaction to the London Riots.]
I have never been so disappointed in people I thought were reasonable and open minded.
There have been riots in London for the past few days. There has been extensive damage to property, and wide spread theft. One person has been killed, though reports can't seem to agree if it was related to the riots or not (I'm following about six news papers across three countries, sources can get muddled).* All of this is horrible, and tragic, and the heroes of this story are the people who have gone out into their communities with brooms and determination to restore order and set things right.
But there is a problem that these riots have exposed. It's not the "cause" of the riots. Riots don't have a cause the way a protest has a cause. Riots are what happens when you fill a room with powder kegs, and then accidentally kick up a spark. Violence and looting are not excusable behaviors in any way. But they are symptomatic of other, deeper, problems and that's what I'm talking about.
I've posted a companion rant to this one, talking about social contracts and what they mean and how they break down. I think that sums up the root causes of the conflict rather nicely, and if you're wondering how I feel I can diagnose something like that I give two reasons. One, I was IN England, and London specifically, about three months ago. That's only one data point, but it does let you feel a place out on a few issues. Two, this echos almost perfectly with the 1992 Rodney King riots in Los Angeles. And after all the smoke cleared, when people investigated what might have led to the rioting, they found a break down in the social contract.
And Three, I've been able to watch the reactions of middle class, and upper middle class, mostly-white Englanders to this tragedy. Here's a few gems:
"They are looting because they fancy some new trainers, not because they are suffering. These are people on social benefits, council houses etc, but they are stealing from hard working members of society. "
"Seriously, UK/London. You've got a LOT to change here. They belong either in prison/a shark's stomach/fire."
"There are too many stupid thuggish chavs in this country. That's all."
"People who only think about themsevles and what they deserve have sensed an oppertunity and taken it. Stupid Stupid people :/ "
"What we should do is, round them all up, put them on a really shitty boat with like maybe a day's worth of provisions, point it in the direction of the arctic and push it off. At some point they will all drown and our prisons won't have to worry about excess overcrowding, our country will have fewer selfish disgusting people in it. Everybody wins!
Because hey, they all have free trainers."
Now let's stop and take stock of the looters for a minute. Mostly teenagers. Mostly minorities (especially black). They come from poor neighborhoods. They don't have much education. They don't have jobs. And the social services that up until now were making their situation tolerable are constantly getting cut. Oh, and the police has a special task force for keeping an eye on them.
To make matters worse- most of these people, two months ago, would have probably loved to have a job. But as the economy worsens, they've had to watch as their opportunities, and the opportunities for their families, for employment and dignity have been eroded. And finally, they were eroded to the breaking point. First by the conflict at the protest last Saturday, and then by the riots themselves. In the end they don't feel like they have anything left to lose.
That's a perfect storm to create a population that doesn't care about the consequences of their actions. Some looters have even been quoted saying things along the lines of "We're showing rich people we can do what we want." And, just like a small child throwing a tantrum and breaking things is not good behavior, their response to those pressures is not good behavior at all. But there's a difference between a kid throwing a fit because they're tired and they missed their nap, and a child acting out because they are being abused and neglected.
If the responses I've run into are anything to go by, I'd say this is a case of neglect. Large groups of people in the UK are demanding what amounts to a police state (military on the ground, curfew, mass imprisonment, etc.), and further sanctions and marginalization for those groups. That reaction will only lead to more rioting and violence. It's like hitting a kid and wondering why they won't stop screaming.
And the people having these reactions are amazingly, painfully defensive of them. They refuse to acknowledge that there could be any underlying problems with their society, and jump down the throats of anyone who suggests the riots indicate fundamental problems that will need to be addressed. They talk about the rioters in terms that rob them of their human characteristics, forcing them into the roll of the Other, where they can continue to be marginalized. I am well aware that I will lose friends for saying these things. Probably many of them.
But I can't keep quiet when I see people jump up and demand a police state, or when I see them work so hard to exclude others from being thought of as 'humans'. Not everyone is reacting so shamefully, and I give credit to those who see this as a dangerous symptom of an ill society. Those are the voices of reason in all of this, and I hope they become the leading voices as the situation is played out.
These riots are tragic and senseless, but so are the narrowminded reactions I've seen. England, I expected better from you.
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*Mysteriously, there haven't been any numbers released on people injured by these riots.