The Riots We Deserve?

[poliphilo]

I was expecting disturbances this summer- what with the cuts and the bankers and all that shit- but I was expecting them to be more overtly political. I was expecting marches, with banners and slogans- and some anarchistic carryings-on at the fringes- as we had earlier this year. I wasn't expecting the kind of Mardi Gras of looting and arson we've just experienced.

Nobody was. I don't think there's ever been anything quite like it before. I guess we have modern social media to blame/thank for the way it spread like a rash from city to city.

The politicians- Theresa May going "criminals, criminal, criminality", Boris Johnson hefting his unused broom on the streets of Camden  like a majorette, Ed Milliband wonking on about bad parenting in Salford- seemed more than usually impotent and out of touch. None of them has been anywhere near a mean street in their lives- except to chat up the voters, of course. They haven't a clue. 

David Cameron told us some parts of our society were "sick"- to which one wanted to reply, "Yeah, the city, the banks, the police, the politicians, the red tops", but that would have been cheap- though no cheaper than the point it was answering.

A society gets the riots it deserves. A society that cares about abstract notions like Justice and Liberty gets political riots, it gets people making political demands (maybe while parading heads on pikes.) A society that cares for nothing but wealth and celebrity gets masked looters and the torching of Miss Selfridges.

Comments

[michael john grist (from livejournal.com)]

I'm curious as to what other ways you think they could portray this 'uprising'. It certainly seems to be criminal activity just for the sake of it. I don't see rioters waving placards and demanding anything. They're just taking what isn't theirs and terrorizing people. How else can it be framed?

And all the elements poliphilo named are sick? I don't understand that point of view. They all will have their bad points, and doubtless can be improved, but are they really as sick as kids on the streets doing whatever the hell they want?

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Bankers walking away with huge bonuses after having fucked over the economy, politicians fiddling their expenses, police and red-top newspapers in a corrupt relationship (which involves political leaders too.) That seems to me to be as "sick" as anything the rioters are doing.

[michaleen.livejournal.com]

Indeed. They are far worse, really, since the elements you name have a massively out-sized impact on our world.

Except when smashing things, the people being blamed right now are the least powerful people in society. That's ultimately why they are on a rampage and also I think why observers outside that underclass have such a terrible time wrapping their head around what's going on.

[michaleen.livejournal.com]

Looking at modern history, I note that when income disparity and other perceived injustices rise to sufficient extremes, we get mobs of angry people smashing things and setting shit on fire. As an empiricist, this is my preferred framing.

Obviously, my framing does not serve the needs of the ruling class, since it follows that the austerity measures prescribed for the underclass are likely making things worse. Thus we have silly broom-waving displays and such for the cameras, rubber bullets and I'm sure worse for the 'criminals'. Cameron gets his Thatcher on and, with a hearty assist from the media, the middle class swallows the supporting narrative, brooms and all.