"We're getting our tax back"
I really do think that too much has been written about the cause of the riots, and I am absolutely sure that, living in a city that hasn't had any riots, bar a drunken gathering on a green space by the canal and a couple of pubs on one of the nights, not having rioted myself, being far older than most of those who appear to be 'rioting', and not particularly interested in engaging in rioting myself, I am not a spokesperson who could explain with any degree of authority, pretendy or not, why 'the yoof' is rioting, or 'opportunistically looting with violence while the police are otherwise engaged' (which is a better description of what's been happening for the last few nights).
There are a number of middle class, middle aged people on various blog forums and in the press who have decided that they'll explain to the rest of us (who are, apparently, less enlightened) as to why the 'riots' happened.
Yeah. You go, you middle class people who make a living, or at least, get attention, out of "shock! horror!" column inches.
Me, I'm more convinced by listening to those who have rioted. Phrases like "We're getting our tax back", while on the surface fairly incoherent sound bites, are actually really pretty enlightening.
It seems to me to be a pretty reasonable assumption that if a whole bunch of people who don't have very much are told that the little access they have to money will be questioned, and probably removed, and they then see that a second bunch of people, the people who are telling them that they will have this money removed give a third bunch of people, all people who resemble the second bunch of people in appearance and social background, the opportunities to take as much money as they want from the system that was originally paying the first bunch of people the little money that they have, then the first bunch of people might just decide to take for themselves what they want, and that this is especially likely to be the course of action that the first bunch of people take if the second bunch of people have decided also to remove money from a fourth bunch of people who were previously paid to impose the rules and conventions needed to keep society functioning.
I mean, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out that that's what's going on, especially when the first bunch of people tell you that that's what's happening, albeit in an incoherent way.
A lot of commentators have asked why the first bunch of people don't have any morals or commitment to society; why they can so easily attack the infrastructure of the community they live in. These commentators could as easily ask the same of the third bunch of people, the money and tax stealing friends of the second bunch of people.
If the first bunch of people see the third bunch of people getting away with stealing money from their communities and countries with the help of the second bunch of people, then right there, they're getting the message that it's OK to steal things; that it's OK to put your wants first and not think about the community, or the country. Phrases like "We're all in this together" aren't really going to work when all of the bunches of people palpably aren't in this together.
I'm not a rioter, though, so I wouldn't know what's really going on except by listening to those who are rioting. When somebody who doesn't even pay any tax, probably, says "We're getting our tax back," where do you think he's getting the impression that that's a reasonable justification for his actions? All I'm doing is listening.
Here's another point that somebody entirely different made on one of the many social forums where people are trying to figure this out: The people who are 'selfishly' rioting weren't born 'selfish' rioters. Somewhere they got taught that it's OK to think of their own consumer needs above the needs of the community that they live in. How did they get taught that?
Harrumph.
There are a number of middle class, middle aged people on various blog forums and in the press who have decided that they'll explain to the rest of us (who are, apparently, less enlightened) as to why the 'riots' happened.
Yeah. You go, you middle class people who make a living, or at least, get attention, out of "shock! horror!" column inches.
Me, I'm more convinced by listening to those who have rioted. Phrases like "We're getting our tax back", while on the surface fairly incoherent sound bites, are actually really pretty enlightening.
It seems to me to be a pretty reasonable assumption that if a whole bunch of people who don't have very much are told that the little access they have to money will be questioned, and probably removed, and they then see that a second bunch of people, the people who are telling them that they will have this money removed give a third bunch of people, all people who resemble the second bunch of people in appearance and social background, the opportunities to take as much money as they want from the system that was originally paying the first bunch of people the little money that they have, then the first bunch of people might just decide to take for themselves what they want, and that this is especially likely to be the course of action that the first bunch of people take if the second bunch of people have decided also to remove money from a fourth bunch of people who were previously paid to impose the rules and conventions needed to keep society functioning.
I mean, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out that that's what's going on, especially when the first bunch of people tell you that that's what's happening, albeit in an incoherent way.
A lot of commentators have asked why the first bunch of people don't have any morals or commitment to society; why they can so easily attack the infrastructure of the community they live in. These commentators could as easily ask the same of the third bunch of people, the money and tax stealing friends of the second bunch of people.
If the first bunch of people see the third bunch of people getting away with stealing money from their communities and countries with the help of the second bunch of people, then right there, they're getting the message that it's OK to steal things; that it's OK to put your wants first and not think about the community, or the country. Phrases like "We're all in this together" aren't really going to work when all of the bunches of people palpably aren't in this together.
I'm not a rioter, though, so I wouldn't know what's really going on except by listening to those who are rioting. When somebody who doesn't even pay any tax, probably, says "We're getting our tax back," where do you think he's getting the impression that that's a reasonable justification for his actions? All I'm doing is listening.
Here's another point that somebody entirely different made on one of the many social forums where people are trying to figure this out: The people who are 'selfishly' rioting weren't born 'selfish' rioters. Somewhere they got taught that it's OK to think of their own consumer needs above the needs of the community that they live in. How did they get taught that?
Harrumph.