London's burning
Click to viewI was just about to write a huge rant about how I feel about the London (and now a lot of other places in the UK) riots, but this guy pretty much says everything I feel about it, in a far more eloquent way than I could muster at this hour.
The rioting isn't about race. It's not about the disenfranchised youth. It's not about people making their voices heard, or about trying to find out the exact circumstances surrounding Mark Duggan's death. This is violence for the sake of violence. People are in danger. Homes and businesses have been destroyed. If you asked any of these people why they are rioting, I bet none of them would be able to give you a reasonable, logical, articulate answer.
Looking at the photos of London right now is making me feel even more upset and unsettled, but mostly ashamed not only of my country but of the human race. I can't believe - as in, I genuinely cannot get it through my head - that there are people out there who would do this. They are destroying their own city, and for what? They're not protesting. They're mindlessly destroying peoples' homes, their lives and their livelihoods.
It's not just London, either. There are riots in Birmingham, Leeds, and now Liverpool. I don't live in any of these cities, and I don't know anyone who does, but it's still disconcerting to know that this kind of thing is happening less than an hour away from me. People are setting this country alight for absolutely no reason. Nothing good will come of any of this. It's not like the anti-cuts protests, or the protests against rising tuition fees. They were demonstrations, they were political, and maybe they got out of hand in some cases, but they had a point. But this? This is senseless violence, and what makes me really angry is that people are blaming the police.
Everything about it is depressing and disturbing, and I really, really hope it ends soon.