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

[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.