This is not the first post regarding the recent rioting on streets across the UK, and it certainly won't be the last, so I'll try to keep this brief.
I came across this video yesterday (courtesy of George W Potter from The Potter Blogger - yet another blogger I have the pleasure of knowing personally). NB: Probably best not to watch if you're at work, around young children, or in front of your parents (particularly if they're sensitive about language).
Now this, without quite so many expletives because that's generally not how I roll (very middle class, I know), and without the suggestion that we should maybe burn down parliament, sums up quite a lot of my views on the events during the last week or so.
On 4th August 2011, a young man died. He was shot dead by police, who were involved in a pre-planned operation to prevent him from carrying out a potential revenge-crime after his cousin was stabbed. Mark Duggan may or may not have been armed at the time, and testing has shown that he did not fire at police before he was shot.
The events that followed happened in quick succession. Devastated friends and family held a peaceful protest to demonstrate that what the police had done was wrong. Within hours, hundreds of young people took to the streets and began rioting, attacking police, and causing major disruption. In some of the poorest areas of London, people's homes were burnt down, businesses were looted, and lives were ruined. Over the course of the next few days, Birmingham, Bristol, Liverpool, and many other major cities experienced similar events.
Now, in the aftermath, thousands of people have been arrested, and courtrooms have been open through the night, handing out criminal convictions and sentences for those involved.
Is it really worth it?
I am not, for one second, saying that what the police did was right. Nor am I suggesting that there was no need for the riots. Poor standards of living, unfair discrimination, and prejudiced police stop-and-searches are inexcusable, and something must be done about it. But burning down innocent people's homes and ruining their livelihoods is something that I cannot and will not condone, and something that makes me sad to be a British citizen.
Something like this was brewing for a long time in the poor boroughs of our capital, and there is no doubt that something needs to be done. But now, the chances of the government or the police listening to the needs of these people is minimal. Who is going to listen to people who will launch into copycat criminal activity, openly harming local businesses and people?
A lot of lives have been ruined in the last two weeks, including those of police officers, innocent bystanders, the young people who will now face harsh sentences, and of course the family and friends of Mark Duggan. It really has been a sad time to be British.
Erm, missed the point much? I'm sorry I haven't been in touch, I have been in Somalia helping with the droughts, before returning to my native New York just a couple of days before the hurricane. I have only just got electricity back, and have been very keen to read your latest thoughts.
ReplyDeleteI have a couple of friends who were involved in the riots, and I feel that you have taken a very distant and may I be so bold to say naive (sp) view of what has happened. For you to suggest that the sentences are harsh is quite ludicrous, this kind of behaviour should be treated with zero tolerance, anything less than life sentences is too good for these lowlives. Your blog unfortunately serves little in the way of insight, and contradicts itself, seemingly because you don't understand your own position on the issue. One moment you condemn the rioters, then you say that the punishments are too harsh. The rioters made their own decision to get involved, if they are too weak minded to think for themselves that's their own problem.
I know a couple of people who were stuck inside their own homes fearing their lives, people who had to rush home from work to make sure their families were safe. I appreciate that you are trying to have a view on the riots, but you seem to have just paraphrased BBC News 24 for a lot of this.
Also, is what really worth it? You don't make this clear. The courts being open through the nights to hand out sentences? The sentences being handed out? If it is either of these then of course it is, this kind of thing can not go unpunished. You break the law, you deserve all you get.
Please enlighten me as to what it is you are trying to say, because the impression I get from this blog is that you just felt like commenting on something because it was a massive event, and not because you had independent and original views on the subject.
KEEP BLOGGING
Much <3
BLOGMEISTER 5000
xx
The sentences are harsh. I never once said in the post above that I thought the sentences were *too* harsh, nor did I say that those people involved in the burning down of other people's homes, or indeed involved in any form of activity don't deserve to be punished. Of course the deserve to be punished.
ReplyDeleteThroughout the post, I have simply stated that whilst the initial protests were perhaps justified (I am strongly opposed to unwarranted discrimination by anybody, including the police), that copycat acts of violence, and the ruining of innocent people's lives is completely inexcusable. For some of the rioters, they have got themselves involved in something, perhaps just "for a laugh" as one idiot was quoted as saying, and ended up with a criminal record. Was it worth it? Of course it bloody well wasn't!
Next time you wish to try and trash-talk my posting, please make sure you actually read it properly.
I feel, "blogmeister", that you are the one who has missed the point here. Not me.
For the record, I don't watch BBC News 24.