I watch the news, sickened, appalled and ranting. Not at the pictures however, but at the sound of the apologists talking about 'poverty' and 'boredom' and about young people being left without hope. In fact, if I hear one more excuse for those who have left their homes with the express intent of going on the rob "for a laugh" and I think I will projectile vomit!
Shop owners are not 'rich' and if you were truly poor, you'd be stealing food, basic clothing, and the materials needed to build your own shelter. Are you living in a third world style ghetto with buildings made of corrugated tin and cardboard? Are you living with open sewers passing by your front door? Do you have to pick over a rubbish heap looking for things you can sell in order to buy a handful of rice? No? Well, then you are not poor nor 'hard done by'.
As you watch your stolen television, do you see people living under such conditions taking apart their own communities because they are bored and without hope? No, what you see are people working as many hours a day that they can with the aim of lifting themselves out of the gutter.
The violence we have been seeing over the last few days is criminal and motivated by greed. It is the result of a society that has married materialism to a lack of personal responsibility. That people are capable of being surprised by it is the most shocking thing of all.
No, 'they' won't be able to claim on 'their' insurance as that does not cover damage caused by civil unrest. So, the net effect of your greed is simply to reduce your own environment still further. What are you going to do when there's nothing left to destroy?
How do we 'mend' Britain? Perhaps if the powers that be reassured parents, schools, and adults in general that instilling the notion that poor behaviour has consequences won't lead to them being treated as if they'd committed a mass human rights violation would be a damn good start?
