UK Riots - Your Opinions?

[Meph]

Of course I know that the most of the rioters are still in their teens. However, by unemployment I meant their parents because no one can deny that parents' worry influences to their children as well (eg. in divorces). And from what I've gathered these riots are not "political" but more like people robbing stores, right? Why would they do that? There must be a reason or reasons behind it. Just saying they do it because they're delinquents would be ignorant. Why is there so many delinquents in the first place? That's the relevant question.

Oh, I see what you mean. Yes, the parents are in a tough situation, so it could be translating over to their kids. They might be angry about the tough situation that they're in. And obviously we all react differently in situations like that, so this could be their way of reacting.

Now you're making the assumption they've "bad" in the first place.

Not really. I just meant that it's hard to change them once they get an aggressive mindset. The problem with these estates is that the kids there go through a lot of negative influence and peer pressure. The stereotypes that the rest of society give them doesn't help - myself included.

[Drey Wilkins]

My grandfather is English, and I myself sport what he describes as an 'upper class English accent' (The only part about it that I like) But in short, I am reasonably disgusted at my ancestral home for allowing the teens and few adult rioters to go this far.

[Meph]

The police are finally admitting that they handled the situation wrong.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14485592

[Unas]

Bah, the only right handling of the situation would have been sending armed forces with big reserves of tear gas in the first hours when it started in Tottenham.
Against mindless people, repression is the only working answer.

And yes, I consider them mindless, considering they damaged and looted random stuff around them.
If they showed the slightest sign of intelligence, like hitting only strategic or political targets (that would be more like terrorism, actually), one could imagine that they have precise goals and that negotiation would be possible. But how do you want to negotiate with people who randomly strike innocents ?
They just become a bunch of criminals to be disposed of.

[Meph]

They're even considering using the water cannons and plastic bullets, now. I don't think we've never had to use them before in England!

[Sleuth]

Unas, you're sounding awfully Kira-like...

And as I've said so many times: People are idiots.

Other than that, I don't know enough about this to offer a well-thought opinion.

[Unas]

If I knew who Kira is, I could probably relate better

[Sleuth]

The main character of Death Note. Watch it and you'll understand.

[Singidava]

Whoa, Sleuth is right! Thus I'll now dub Unas as the new Kira! And in AAO-verse he's a god (= admin) too! This fits just too well!

But really, I can see the differencies in our policies again (much like when it comes to banning). Personally, I want to find out why are the people like this in the first place to see how we can improve instead of such pessimism.

[Unas]

Well, the thing is, I'm all for improving things so that other people in the future don't become the same.

However, I don't think that leaving these criminals unpunished, saying "Oh the poor children, they have their reasons for burning half of a city, let's not punish them", will help them turning into respectable people in the future.

[Meph]

Tough Love™ is what they need. I think we're all wondering exactly why this is going on, because it's clearly not because someone (who turned out to be armed himself) was killed; that only sparked it.

[Reyson]

Oh, if I were in charge of the police and military, the things that would happen to these people...

[Hodou Okappa]

But mob mentality is a widely recognized psychological oddity that can't even be fully explained...

It's common knowledge that even normally sane people will be driven to rioting when it breaks out around them. It's difficult to blame people for something that may very well be beyond their control.

[Singidava]

It's called peer pressure~ xD

Nah, actually it's just that humans are total opportunists~

[Unas]

It's common knowledge that even normally sane people will be driven to rioting when it breaks out around them. It's difficult to blame people for something that may very well be beyond their control.

In other words, they are weak-minded, if they can't make their own decisions as to what is right or wrong and have to follow the masses.
Well, I believe that one is to blame for one's weaknesses, if they happen to hurt the rest of society.
It's kind of like when criminals plead for mental instability in court and get lighter sentences - I find that completely absurd.

As for the explanation for this sheep behaviour, I think it partly lies in the under-education of the masses. And by education, I do not mean just getting good grades at school, but learning the little bit of logic and general knowledge to make one able to think by oneself. In a word, what you'd call "common sense", except that it's apparently not that common.

On that point, by making education harder and harder to afford, the British government is clearly not helping things, I guess...

Anyway, this topic could also bring back another one of my usual political themes : my lack of faith in democracy, partly due to this "mass effect" (no, not referring to the game here) that prevents many people from having an intelligent opinion as soon as groups (ie political parties, here) are involved. But that would be drifting away from that topic, wouldn't it ?