(no subject)
One more analysis for the pile: Giles Fraser on "bad Samaritans" and how the culture of acquisition fuelled the riots.
It's a thought-provoking article, even if he doesn't really answer his own question (why is the video of a group of rioters pretending to help a wounded man, then robbing him, one of the most disturbing images of the whole debacle?). Thought-provoking, but difficult. I told Margaret once that I'm uncomfortable with global problems that have cultural, instead of policy, solutions. We can legislate more money to be spent on youth services; we can't legislate that people stop defining themselves primarily as consumers. Hell, I'm not even sure how successfully I can always constrain that tendancy in myself.
If my brother were here, he would so be laughing his ass off at me and my discomfort right now. Which is why I'm not posting this on Facebook.