UK Riots
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If you're not familiar with Ann Coulter, she likes to use hyperbole. Clearly, there is underlying animosity within the underclass in the UK. She believes that the welfare state is a contributor. I'm curious as to why there is an underclass in the UK at all? What with the welfare state and all.
I do know that I grew up poor, but I didn't know it at the time. It didn't occur to me to expect to depend on the welfare state for my subsistence. I certainly would have never considering destroying other people's property. Now, I own my own home, no mortgage. No debts at all other than the one the US government's profligate spending has inflicted on me and the 50% of the rest of the workers that pay income taxes. The remaining 50% pay no income taxes at all. Every experience I have tells me that it is not a good idea to pay people not to work except for a short time in the event of an unexpected job loss.
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I was trying to understand the underlying issues, now I'm just appalled. This is just outrageous. Call in the Calvary and institute Martial Law immediately!
[flash=800,600:kdtgum8a]http://www.youtube.com/v/GmU_wexOQt4&feature=feedf[/flash:kdtgum8a]
Sorry to make light.
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@earthmover said:
I was trying to understand the underlying issues, now I'm just appalled. This is just outrageous. Call in the Calvary and institute Martial Law immediately!
[flash=800,600:1ir53tdw]http://www.youtube.com/v/GmU_wexOQt4&feature=feedf[/flash:1ir53tdw]
Sorry to make light.
The Brits are typically understated. What you see there is the UK equivalent of the LA Watts riots. -
@david. said:
@roger said:
This is by and large an intelligent group. Don't ask us to accept anything written by Ann Coulter other than a suicide note.
From that statement, your definition of intelligent is quite different than mine. Assuming you fall into the category, it is a good example of the hypocrisy of the left wing. Sounds like you're not far from joining the thugs on the streets of London.
I am certain that my definition is different. As to joining the street thugs, I think along the lines of Pogo's creator, Walt Kelly, who said he did not trust the "extreme left, the extreme right or the extreme center."
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@roger said:
The Brits are typically understated. What you see there is the UK equivalent of the LA Watts riots.
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OK guys, but do not forget that you still have something to do****,.-)
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%(#408080)[I'm done
piece of cheese]
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Rioting in a democracy is an interesting phenomenon. What are people rioting against? If the system is a democracy then the voters have taken part in the election of the leaders they are protesting. However, a democracy also grants voting rights to the stupid, the mentally defect, the easily influenced, the lazy -- many who end up protesting their own choice of laws and leaders.
Ironically, even when the disenfranchised become a majority, they lack the cohesiveness, and social self awareness to band together and use their numerical superiority to vote the bums out of office. They end up resorting to emotion, and rage rather than intelligent problem solving.
Democracy is so flawed and at the same time so superior to any other real world (as opposed to theoretical) political system. Education is important to improve the process. What really hurts is when freely available education becomes and easy target of cost cutters. Economists are important tools, but they are tools and not leaders. The only way to improve a democracy is to make education available to all. In fact, it needs to be actively promoted and not just economically protected.
That is my rant for the day. I am just running it up the flag pole to see who salutes. I reserve the right to change directions at a moments notice.
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Interesting stats from 2009: The most violent country in Europe: Britain is also worse than South Africa and U.S.
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A stiff upper lip is good, but after a while it begins to hurt and you get out of sorts and begin to act out. And finally you want to share your stiff upper lip so you hit the guy next to you. He, in turn, begins to feel the same way and it is not long before you have proper riot.
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Well it seems to me that a better promotion for social networking rather than riot coordination is the possibility to naturally adopt and support group leaders who are interested in finding consensus about solutions for problems. Such leaders might evolve from local right up to national interests. A massive digital house of commons - "Would the honourable gentleman agree ... " gone Twitter.
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@david. said:
Interesting stats from 2009: The most violent country in Europe: Britain is also worse than South Africa and U.S.
This could also mean that the UK just has the best crime detection rates
Also the figures were compiled by the party out of power at the time and reported in the Daily mail - I don't put too much faith in them. -
I would be inclined to take those stats with a grain of salt as they are generalised and do not reflect the true situation.
I visit the UK on a regular basis, mostly Brighton and occasionally London. I do find London like a lot of large Cities, particularly New York, not very pleasant places to visit.
I find the general lack of community spirit in such places reflects in people's attitudes. It seems they 'have their guard up' most of the time whereas smaller town's folk are much more welcoming and tolerant.
Maybe there is an ideal optimum size for cities! Kirkpatrick Sale's 'Human Scale' put up a good argument for this in great detail. I must pull it off the book shelf again.
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I've just read Coulter's article. It's a rather amazing bit of prose: dumb, dripping with prejudice, devoid of anything remotely close to a real thought. Here's a quote:
"A few well-placed rifle rounds, and the rioting would end in an instant. A more sustained attack on the rampaging mob might save England from itself, finally removing shaved-head, drunken parasites from the benefits rolls that Britain can't find the will to abolish on moral or utilitarian grounds. We can be sure there's no danger of killing off the next Winston Churchill or Edmund Burke in these crowds."
This must be satire. It's gotta be. If not, Coulter's completely bonkers, or simply utterly immoral.
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AC is a media whore.
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Paul Verhaeghe, a clinical psychologist who teaches at the university in Ghent, Belgium, said something interesting in a Flemish newspaper. Allow me to paraphrase: politicians and opinion makers now say the looting youths have no moral values, but that's nonsense. They've exactly the same moral values as the rest of us. In our society, money, success, and status are all that matter - and the way one obtains any of these is perceived as irrelevant.
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@unknownuser said:
Allow me to paraphrase: politicians and opinion makers now say the looting youths have no moral values, but that's nonsense. They've exactly the same moral values as the rest of us. In our society, money, success, and status are all that matter - and the way one obtains any of these is perceived as irrelevant.
I agree.
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Hope the local trotskists would enjoy it
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This is not complete picture IMO. There should be one level more drawn to the left of the bankers - someone printing money with the same comment for the bankers.
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