A riotous affair

[dj_alexander]

I didn't bother posting about the riots because there didn't seem to be much point. It was pretty much regarded all round as a "bad thing", and there seemed to be more than enough analysis as to why it was happening. I didn't think that there were any simple answers and I came to the conclusion that it was more likely that for any justification

Comments

[spangle_kitten]

What a lot of people don't seem to get is the difference between what is understandable and what is acceptable, particularly that what is understandable isn't always right.

The example I used to some pious git who told me that because I'm from Westbury on Trym I couldn't possibly understand life on da street (and he probably comes from a good family, but reads Socialist Worker so feels some affinity or something...) is that if you come home to find your partner in bed with your best friend it is understandable to feel upset, angry, and betrayed. It's understandable for some people to want to smack him one, or cut off his bollocks with a rusty hacksaw. Understandable but never right or acceptable.

There are plenty of things I'd like that I can't afford, like an Aston Martin and lots of the same shiny tech gadgets the rioters took from Dixons, but no matter how much tax Sir Phillip Green gets away with avoiding, or how many moats and duck houses* MPs claim, stealing is morally wrong most of the time. I would agree that stealing is ok to feed your starving family ~ but a loaf of bread to feed a half dead infant is a little different to raiding JD Sports and the Apple store.

* I had no problem with the duck house. I approved of the duck house
and thought it a far better use of public money than bombing Iraq.