[Jamesy]

Attention? I was in Spain when the full outburst of the riots happened so I was pretty much watching Sky news every hour. The kind of official line is that it stems from the shooting of Mark Duggan, where protests in Tottenham began, then that spread to violence with police, then riots in Tottenham, then other parts of London followed, then the next minute other parts of the UK followed.

I don't bother looking at it in any deep manner. I don't think there is any deep meaning at all as to why the riots spread like wildfire. Attention seemed to be the main thing. Across my Facebook I was invited to groups to start a riot in my city centre (which never happened) and a lot of statuses by people asking others to join them in 'getting on the news'.

For me it's just one of those bizarre things that there is no real reason for. It was meaningless violence and criminality, and aside from Tottenham, there was no reason for it.

[user104658]

Originally Posted by Jamesy

Attention? I was in Spain when the full outburst of the riots happened so I was pretty much watching Sky news every hour. The kind of official line is that it stems from the shooting of Mark Duggan, where protests in Tottenham began, then that spread to violence with police, then riots in Tottenham, then other parts of London followed, then the next minute other parts of the UK followed.

I don't bother looking at it in any deep manner. I don't think there is any deep meaning at all as to why the riots spread like wildfire. Attention seemed to be the main thing. Across my Facebook I was invited to groups to start a riot in my city centre (which never happened) and a lot of statuses by people asking others to join them in 'getting on the news'.

For me it's just one of those bizarre things that there is no real reason for. It was meaningless violence and criminality, and aside from Tottenham, there was no reason for it.

But again, "Getting on the news" says it all. The message is hammered home to young people, that the things they should want in life are "fame" (even infamy) and "stuff". Then we're surprised when kids (some just stupid and easily led by a crowd, some simply plagued by apathy and hopelessness) think getting on the news, and stealing things that they can't afford, are achievements.

We live in a morally ****ed society where the major cornerstone of existence is "money money MONEY MONEY MONEY and money". Work yourself into the ground and don't even think about anything else in life because think of the money! Bolstered by the worship of "famous people", who have lots of lovely money. This is pushed by absolutely everyone. The advertisers, the media, the government themselves, all to bolster an economy that is 100% reliant on vapid, shallow consumerism. Then we whine when our kids inevitably become vapid, shallow consumers? And then we wail and wring our hands when the kids from poorer backgrounds, who would also like a slice of that pointless consumer pie, and are bored, and unengaged, and lost, decide to use a spark of civil unrest to try and take it.

These are the issues, most politicians know fine well that these are the issues, the amount of frantic "sweeping under the carpet" that went on immediately after the riots are evidence enough of that.

[kirklancaster]

Originally Posted by Toy Soldier

But again, "Getting on the news" says it all. The message is hammered home to young people, that the things they should want in life are "fame" (even infamy) and "stuff". Then we're surprised when kids (some just stupid and easily led by a crowd, some simply plagued by apathy and hopelessness) think getting on the news, and stealing things that they can't afford, are achievements.

We live in a morally ****ed society where the major cornerstone of existence is "money money MONEY MONEY MONEY and money". Work yourself into the ground and don't even think about anything else in life because think of the money! Bolstered by the worship of "famous people", who have lots of lovely money. This is pushed by absolutely everyone. The advertisers, the media, the government themselves, all to bolster an economy that is 100% reliant on vapid, shallow consumerism. Then we whine when our kids inevitably become vapid, shallow consumers? And then we wail and wring our hands when the kids from poorer backgrounds, who would also like a slice of that pointless consumer pie, and are bored, and unengaged, and lost, decide to use a spark of civil unrest to try and take it.

These are the issues, most politicians know fine well that these are the issues, the amount of frantic "sweeping under the carpet" that went on immediately after the riots are evidence enough of that.

A good post T.S. with a lot of valid points. Especially the media-induced expectation of false ideals.