Possibly you should ignore this? I have emotions. Also opinions.
I've spent a decent chunk of today trying to figure out what the fuck I'm feeling about the riots in the UK. There's a lot to think about.
Ultimately, I am way more sad and angry about the fact that people want to riot than about the fact that people are rioting. (Which is not to say that I'm not sympathetic to the people who have been directly suffering from the riots. The point is that it should never have come to this in the first place.)
I'm willing to bet no one is burning down their own home. No one is burning their own car or smashing up their own shop windows. People don't destroy stuff they have personal investment in. The people who feel connected with and protective of their local community are the people organising stuff like #riotcleanup sessions. They're the people who have something to lose. And the number of people rioting, I can only assume, demonstrates how many people don't feel connected to the people around them, don't feel like they have a constructive place in their community and don't feel like they have anything to lose.
To me, if there are that many people feeling that alienated from, disillusioned with, hopeless in our society, then rioting is just a symptom, it's not the problem.
I don't think that the riots are political in intent. But I do think they're indisputably political. I think they're an expression of extreme anger and alienation, and our society generating those feelings in people is definitely a political problem.
Society is built out of social constructs. Money, property, laws, they all only exist because we agree they exist. But if these ideas are implemented in such a way that they have always been (and probably will always be) entirely to your disadvantage, why the fuck would you buy in to them? Why would you bother to buy in to the ideas that shape society if they just fuck you over? Society only works if everyone agrees to it. A society only works if being part of that society is to everyone's advantage (or at least enough of everyone that screwing over the remainder both seems acceptable and is practically manageable). Right now our society is just leaving too many people behind.
Ultimately, I am way more sad and angry about the fact that people want to riot than about the fact that people are rioting. (Which is not to say that I'm not sympathetic to the people who have been directly suffering from the riots. The point is that it should never have come to this in the first place.)
I'm willing to bet no one is burning down their own home. No one is burning their own car or smashing up their own shop windows. People don't destroy stuff they have personal investment in. The people who feel connected with and protective of their local community are the people organising stuff like #riotcleanup sessions. They're the people who have something to lose. And the number of people rioting, I can only assume, demonstrates how many people don't feel connected to the people around them, don't feel like they have a constructive place in their community and don't feel like they have anything to lose.
To me, if there are that many people feeling that alienated from, disillusioned with, hopeless in our society, then rioting is just a symptom, it's not the problem.
I don't think that the riots are political in intent. But I do think they're indisputably political. I think they're an expression of extreme anger and alienation, and our society generating those feelings in people is definitely a political problem.
Society is built out of social constructs. Money, property, laws, they all only exist because we agree they exist. But if these ideas are implemented in such a way that they have always been (and probably will always be) entirely to your disadvantage, why the fuck would you buy in to them? Why would you bother to buy in to the ideas that shape society if they just fuck you over? Society only works if everyone agrees to it. A society only works if being part of that society is to everyone's advantage (or at least enough of everyone that screwing over the remainder both seems acceptable and is practically manageable). Right now our society is just leaving too many people behind.