Riots Across England

GeneralGogol wrote:

Kudos to this woman though:

http://www.twitvid.com/4JTZH

That video was amazing. Tell it like it is!

Sharky wrote:

Quote :

Why is everyone acting like the Middle East riots were for the 'good fight', while the rioters in the UK are just blatant scumbags?

Because:

a) The UK rioters are not overthrowing a 42 year dictatorship.

b) The Libyan rebels are not deliberately attacking their own neighborhoods and looting business.

c) The Met (London Metropolitan Police) or army are not sniping protestors from rooftops, or taking the wounded from hospitals at night.

Q.E.D.

In short, it's the difference between political idealism and plain old anarchy.

But these Middle Eastern rebels have ties to Al-Queda and fight alongside jihadists. Everyone rejoiced about the Muslims and Christians hugging and holding hands during the Egyptian revolution, yet, months later, they were clashing with each other again. This "Arab Spring" is simply a process of radicals replacing radicals. In ten years time, I highly doubt you'll be hearing much about religious freedom, women's rights, and fair elections being held in these countries. Tax payers in the west should just keep tossing money into the hat, though, because the liberals have painted these radicals as heroes. "Humanitarian effort" my ass... er, in my opinion, I guess.

Now, on the subject of the radicals in the UK, they're surely no better. These assholes are just another drain on the average tax payer, only in a completely different way. Stealing a 30lb bag of rice, just to steal it? Are you serious?

What's the penalty for fighting off these fuckers if they were to come onto your property? I know if it happened in New York, the person defending their property would get a lawsuit from the rioter, while the police would arrest you for attempted murder.



I don't even feel like reading the news anymore these days. Maybe I should just drink fluoridated water, watch Jersey Shore, and read Twilight novels. Life would be a lot simpler without the need to think.

Mr. Brown wrote:

Sharky wrote:

Quote :

Why is everyone acting like the Middle East riots were for the 'good fight', while the rioters in the UK are just blatant scumbags?

Because:

a) The UK rioters are not overthrowing a 42 year dictatorship.

b) The Libyan rebels are not deliberately attacking their own neighborhoods and looting business.

c) The Met (London Metropolitan Police) or army are not sniping protestors from rooftops, or taking the wounded from hospitals at night.

Q.E.D.

In short, it's the difference between political idealism and plain old anarchy.

But these Middle Eastern rebels have ties to Al-Queda and fight alongside jihadists.

You know, I don't disagree. I thought the invasion (or "intervention") was a complete sham on all fronts. It should have been a smooth, efficient, special forces-led assassination of Gaddafi. Mossad-style. Not the one foot in/one foot out pussyfooting that Obama and the coalition led us into.

http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=12844

I don't think the rebels are all scum, to be honest. I agree more with Khan on this. There's certain factions that want a slice of the cake when the regime's lifted, including Al-Querida and freelance jihadists. Eventually there's going to be a power struggle, and even if democracy's prevails - they'll be the standard war of attraction - car bombs, suicide bombers and all that.

But I think the difference is, that at least one part of the NTC has got clear objectives Free elections, transitional government, new assembly, new constitution etc.

On the flip-side, the UK rioters have expressed no clear idea of what they want. It's a fucking joke. Just a bunch of state educated, inner city kids, who are pissed off with the world, the government.. and the fact they'll have to work hard to earn cash. And not get it handed to them by a mollycoddling nanny state, Why do they do they riot? Because they're know the Bill's so neutered that they can't really fight back.

Bring on the water canons, I say, and start training our officers for Christ's sake.

Quote :

What's the penalty for fighting off these fuckers if they were to come onto your property? I know if it happened in New York, the person defending their property would get a lawsuit from the rioter, while the police would arrest you for attempted murder.

Thank God (or the government) we can still do that.

http://hackneycitizen.co.uk/2011/08/09/turkish-shopkeepers-stand-firm-rioters-dalston-hackney/comment-page-1/

Mr. Brown wrote:

I don't even feel like reading the news anymore these days. Maybe I should just drink fluoridated water, watch Jersey Shore, and read Twilight novels. Life would be a lot simpler without the need to think.

Tell me about it, Though I'd weary about thinking yourself as above the masses. That's not a good mindset for any filmmaker, or a composer. Look on the bright side and visit spankwire.com.

---

Theresa May is useless. Why the hell couldn't she stay on holiday and mind her pots and pans and stick to her frocks and gossip and leave men's work to the men?

I'd open fire on these punks.

No one steals my fucking rice.

Deport the bastards to Australia.

But seriously, these vermin should see the bottom of tank treads. At least send some rubber bullets their way.

Sharky wrote:

Quote :

What's the penalty for fighting off these fuckers if they were to come onto your property? I know if it happened in New York, the person defending their property would get a lawsuit from the rioter, while the police would arrest you for attempted murder.

Thank God (or the government) we can still do that.

http://hackneycitizen.co.uk/2011/08/09/turkish-shopkeepers-stand-firm-rioters-dalston-hackney/comment-page-1/

I truly feel sorry for those folks. If this shit were ever to come to America, I'm not sure if the tax payers would be fortunate enough to be able to defend their own turf. After all, the ATF would rather have our weapons go toward Mexican drug cartels.

Quote :

Mr. Brown wrote:

I don't even feel like reading the news anymore these days. Maybe I should just drink fluoridated water, watch Jersey Shore, and read Twilight novels. Life would be a lot simpler without the need to think.

Tell me about it, Though I'd weary about thinking yourself as above the masses. That's not a good mindset for any filmmaker, or a composer. Look on the bright side and visit spankwire.com.

Yeah, I didn't mean to seem as if I were above anyone. I meant that I can somewhat understand why the public would rather watch MTV than the news. There's a lot of depressing shit out there.

Thank God for Spankwire. And Czech Streets.

Salomé wrote:

Ed Tom Kowalsky wrote:

Salomé wrote:

Ed Tom Kowalsky wrote:

Salomé wrote:

Mr. Brown wrote:

Why is everyone acting like the Middle East riots were for the 'good fight', while the rioters in the UK are just blatant scumbags? Obviously, nobody's been keeping up with news on Egypt. Compared to what happened there on the large scale, these UK riots seem mild, despite all of the jolly photos of post-Mubarak Egypt that MSNBC cherry picked and aired. :roll:

The chaos and violence of the Arab awakening and the validity of the movement are two separate things for me. It's hard to argue against the fact that most of those people have been living under real and de facto dictatorships for decades. Do they deserve a chance at democracy any less than the Iraqis?

Is democracy what they want? Seems to me their desires are obscure and manifold. Democracy may well be one small sliver in a very large plank.

But you don't perceive the self-empowerment as a positive then Khanners?

Depends on what they do with that power once they've attained it.

What's the difference with Iraqi freedom, other than the fact that these people "freed" themselves?

Destroying a regime, post-9/11, that had developed and used WMD in the past and gave every indication of doing so again.

Mrs Aural Sects wrote:

I'd open fire on these punks.

No one steals my fucking rice.

You tell 'em, AS.

And I agree, CJB. Mow down a couple-hundred of these punks. Problem solved.

Sharky wrote:

Had to run to Tescos to stock up in supplies

HJackson wrote:

Shame you were caught on camera mate. ;)

Thankfully, the shit going down here in Liverpool seems to be in many areas except my own, which is an absolute miracle. A pub set on fire up the road aside (nobody injured, the pub was closed), I've seen none of this insanity first-hand thus far.

Hope any members here in the UK and their families are safe.

The guy with the basmati rice is the second most hilarious picture I've seen of these riots.

N°1 would be the Sky screencap of the guy looting a lute. :D

The BBC were still referring to the rioters as 'protesters' until last night.

I must remember to tell the police I'm 'protesting against the recession' when I get caught stealing myself a new ride. I'm sure they'll understand.

What exactly are they protesting? That iPads and flatscreen TVs aren't free?

What a bunch of tools.

I'm sorry but this is just disgraceful behaviour - yeah 'protest' buy raiding all the TVs and Nike gear. Real brave. :roll:

Hope all you UK kids are okay and everything.

Salomé wrote:

What exactly are they protesting? That iPads and flatscreen TVs aren't free?

That's pretty damned close to the mark.

They aren't protesting at all. They're taking advantage of a peaceful protest in Tottenham, after the shooting of Mark Duggan, and using it for their own gain because, so far, they've gotten away with it. Let's face it, if the police had cracked down on them in the first place they wouldn't be posting photos of themselves on Facebook with their 'loot'.

It seems that this was indeed a peaceful protest manipulated and gotten out of hand. We're talking about young impressionable minds; kids who need some outlet for their sense of boredom and purposelessness. It's just like any rebellious group of teenagers. It's really a shame that probably the majority of these kids don't even care what this protest is about--I'm sure they have an awareness of it. But it seems like an excuse to just break shit, and blow off some steam. I worked as a student teacher at a school in Willesden in a neighborhood that was pretty impoverished. It was certainly a volatile environment that was ripe for something like this to happen.

These actions are completely inexcusable. The intentions of the original protest were good, but these incidents unfortunately dissolve the spirit of the goodwill that protest originally had.

My question though is what is the solution here? How is something like this prevented? As I said, if you go to neighborhoods with disenfranchised people, you see the conditions are heated and ripe for terrible things like this to happen. What can be done? Are there underlying implications here, that the poor and lower middle class are being left in the dark? It's not as simple as arresting everyone, throwing all these 'thugs' in jail or wiping them out. Would stronger forces, such as water cannons intimidate the masses from doing something like this again or would just incite the flames further? Just questions I have, I don't know if I have an answer.

I just hope for you guys over there dealing with this shit, like Shark, that things cool down in your area and to be safe.

From yesterday's Grauniad:

Quote :

“The make-up of the rioters was racially mixed. Most were men or boys, some apparently as young as 10….But families and other local residents, including some from Tottenham’s Hasidic Jewish community, also gathered to watch and jeer at police.”

Interesting that the Guardianistas should mention the ID of some onlookers, but not comment on the racial makeup of the rioters. One might even suspect they had some hidden agenda ...

Spot on, FG.

Time needs to be spent with these people. We can't continue giving up on them and labelling all of them as scum and "gangstas"or it'll happen again. Just condemning the violence and ignoring the reasons behind it (as in why they are where they are, not the motives because there aren't any) isn't going to stop it either. The UK blows money on failed world cup bids and the like when there are god knows how many communities that are crying out for just a little cash to be injected for prosperous, positive growth.

Disen-bloody-franchised? How so? What are these hoodlums legally barred from doing that other Brits can? Can they vote? Are they allowed free speech--inasmuch as it still exists in the UK? Are they allowed to work if qualified? Hold office?

They aren't disenfranchised. They are worthless dirtbags who've been spoiled rotten by the welfare state and now that social spending cuts have made it more difficult to purchase their bling and their Nikes, they're taking them by force and harming as many innocents as possible just for kicks. Additionally, post-60s liberation has annihilated all norms of decent behavior to the extent that notions of right and wrong no longer exist for a great many people. Right and wrong simply don't enter into the equation. How much shit can I steal and how much fun can I have hurting others is all that matters. Well it's time to revisit the hurt on these bastards disproportionately. It's the only thing that will penetrate their thick skulls. And if a load of them get rubbed out, the world will be a better place.

Avarice wrote:

From yesterday's Grauniad:

Quote :

“The make-up of the rioters was racially mixed. Most were men or boys, some apparently as young as 10….But families and other local residents, including some from Tottenham’s Hasidic Jewish community, also gathered to watch and jeer at police.”

Interesting that the Guardianistas should mention the ID of some onlookers, but not comment on the racial makeup of the rioters. One might even suspect they had some hidden agenda ...

But they do mention the racial makeup. They say the rioters are a racially mixed bag. Do you have information on this topic unknown to those of us on the other side of the Pond? Are you saying that one race is predominant in this destruction?

Not all the newspapers are following that bullshit line, Ed. For instance, Tony Parsons - not a journalist I normally have much time for - said this in today's Mirror:

Quote :

Those images of black youths looting and pillaging will not soon fade from the national consciousness. They have set race relations back in this country by 30 years.

I'd post a link to his column, but the admins won't allow me to post links.

Here it is:

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2011/08/10/london-riots-tony-parsons-on-the-warped-logic-of-no-hopers-good-for-nothing-and-afraid-of-nothing-115875-23333279/

Pretty damming article, but spot on.

Ed Tom Kowalsky wrote:

Disen-bloody-franchised? How so? What are these hoodlums legally barred from doing that other Brits can? Can they vote? Are they allowed free speech--inasmuch as it still exists in the UK? Are they allowed to work if qualified? Hold office?

They aren't disenfranchised. They are worthless dirtbags who've been spoiled rotten by the welfare state and now that social spending cuts have made it more difficult to purchase their bling and their Nikes, they're taking them by force and harming as many innocents as possible just for kicks. Additionally, post-60s liberation has annihilated all norms of decent behavior to the extent that notions of right and wrong no longer exist for a great many people. Right and wrong simply don't enter into the equation. How much shit can I steal and how much fun can I have hurting others is all that matters. Well it's time to revisit the hurt on these bastards disproportionately. It's the only thing that will penetrate their thick skulls. And if a load of them get rubbed out, the world will be a better place.

I appreciate your view on it Khan, and it's no doubt bullshit that the majority of these kids are taking advantage of this moment to have a free-for-all and jack Nikes and TV's. The same exact shit happened here in Los Angeles in '92. I know of a specific business run by a Korean family in mid-city LA that was burned to the ground; completely innocent shopkeepers who had their business for years. It's truly a disgrace when these things happen and there is no excuse whatsoever. But again I ask, what is the solution? How do you prevent these things from happening?

FG,

How do you prevent these things from happening?

Unfortunately, we (and that includes Americans) don't have the will to do what is necessary. We would rather watch Western Civiliation destroyed from the inside than take serious measures. And trust me, in order to prevent future recurrence of these sorts of riots it will take a radical reordering of society from the ground up. It will never happen and Western Civilization will die because we're too pusillanimous to do the hard things.

Sharky wrote:

Pretty damming article, but spot on.

The comments on Parson's column are interesting. Not much support for him, it would seem.