"We're getting our tax back"

[juggzy]

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

Comments

[juggzy]

For anyone who wants to defend the actions of the criminal idiots over the last 4 days, please explain to me why any of them have more right to do what they did than I do and why I'm ultimately going to have to pay for it?

Absolutely. Now, take that line of thinking and imagine that you are an unemployed kid who can't get a job and is being told that it's going to get even more difficult to get a job; that the government is going to cut the minimum wage, probably, anyway, and then in the next sound bite hearing about Vodaphone and BHS getting away with billions in tax avoidance.

Those kids are asking why Vodaphone and BHS and various tax avoidant billionaires have any more right to get away with it than the kids do? And then the kids discover that the police force is actually pretty impotent in the face of a crowd of testosteroned youth with Blackberries and bricks. And they are actually telling us that.

[oldbloke]

please explain to me why any of them have more right to do what they did than I do

Nobody says they have more right than you. They have the same right. If you had as little to lose as them, you'd quite likely be out doing it too.
If we'd all gone on the streets to demand the bankers pay for the bankers' fuckup back when it first came out that they weren't going to be made liable and we'd all have to pay, maybe this wouldn't be happening.
If it hadn't recently been made explicit that the bankers, industry moguls, politicinas, press, and police are all engaged in a cozy circlejerk and don't give a fuck about the rest of us, this might not be happening.

[complexicon]

If it hadn't recently been made explicit that the bankers, industry moguls, politicinas, press, and police are all engaged in a cozy circlejerk and don't give a fuck about the rest of us, this might not be happening.

Absolutely.

[burkesworks]

This.

Following the example set by leaders

[kaskazi]

Thanks for a nice piece. Are the quotations from the rioters compiled anywhere? I've heard lots of one liners on the radio, but it would be interesting to see them all together. And you are right - what they are saying is surprisingly articulate and along the lines of 'you've all had your hands in the till and now its our turn'. Laws only work when people obey them and consider them to be morally justifiable for the public good. When the law shovels money at one sector of society whilst at the same time depriving another, then there is bound to be some sort of reaction. White collar crime is well established - how many people are dodging tax payments whenever they can because they feel that they pay too much and don't get enough back? That is how the middle-classes riot. A lot of MPs and Lords were at it as revealed by the expenses scandel. And if you can't dodge tax payments or fiddle your expenses then you chose the alternative available to you.

Re: Following the example set by leaders

[complexicon]

I was going to post about the riots but I think the title of your comment pretty much sums up perfectly what I was going to say in it's entirety.

[emperor]

Thanks for this. I think I've said enough about the riots already, so won't comment further.

[anselmo_b]

I completely agree.
It makes me wonder sadly though: what happened to the Post War Western Civilization Culture I grew up in? I mean, what you are saying, in a nutshell, used to be a given, almost to the point of cliché. There used to be an agreement that there has to be a minimum degree of sharing of a society's wealth in order to keep it from getting torn to shreds. That granting everyone a minimum of well-being is not just about social justice or fairness but really the only means of keeping away from the point where all goes down in flames or degenerates into a repressive state.

[kaskazi]

It still happens in quite a lot of Europe. I live mostly in the Netherlands and they have excellent systems of social housing, welfare and education. And really good cycle lanes.