London's Burning

[Trilby]

"Control societies are based on debt," and the "debtor-addict" from the above article reminds me of an excellent book by Alain de Botton: Status Anxiety.

it's a great read and a great balm to the nuttiness of a society infatuated with the shiny bling of the material world. We are such suggestible creatures and western civ. has indoctrinated the youth to believe it is their god-given RIGHT to wear 300.00 sneakers. And if you don't wear them - well then, you are nothing but trash.

Making people feel like shit about themselves -

Capitalism at it's very, very best.

[ZenGum]

Wait a minute.

One of them was a teaching assistant.

SSSSuuuuunnnndddaaaeeee?????!!!!!!!

[infinite monkey]

Well with all the folks here who have her phone number and speak to her, I'm surprised no one has tried to call.

[DanaC]

She's in Aylesbury. Haven't heard any reports of trouble in or near aylesbury.

[grynch]

Originally Posted by DanaC

She's in Aylesbury. Haven't heard any reports of trouble in or near aylesbury.

unfortunately... that doesnt mean much....
.
I've not heard of any reports on mainstream news of trouble in Oxford, High Wycombe or Brighton but I have first hand reports of some trouble in each place... not whole-scale rioting but troubles..

so....

[DanaC]

Ok, fair enough.

We've had comparatively little in my borough. A few little flareups,nothing the police weren't able to deal with. But Leeds, about a 30 minute drive away, has seen some fairly serious rioting.

[infinite monkey]

Are you going to try to call her? Sarge? Bunny? Bri?

I don't have her number.

[Pete Zicato]

Maybe this'll help with the looting.
.
.

[classicman]

Interesting interview from a couple girls:

Consider what an unnamed girl told a BBC reporter to explain why she and others looted local shops:

“It’s the rich people. The rich people have got businesses, and that’s why all this has happened. We’re just showing the rich people we can do what we want.”

We’re just showing the rich people we can do what we want. And what they want is not to be paid more for working less, or anything else out of the anti-capitalist’s textbook. It’s extremely unlikely these girls have or want jobs, given their age and behavior: One generally doesn’t take a day off work to smash the windows of an off-track betting parlor and make off with its flat-screen televisions.

No, what they want is just to take what the rich people have.

And where could they have gotten such a notion? Try the ideology they’ve been spoon-fed since birth, just like their parents and, by this point, their parents’ parents.

Yes the writer is skewed, but unfortunately, there is some merit to what he says as well.

[Rhianne]

I hate cities in general - and perhaps London more than most. I don't understand the rioters at all but then nor I can't understand why people would choose to live in what seems, to me, to be the ultimate shit-hole.

A little nearer to where I live the rioting seems to be taking off too:

[tw]

Originally Posted by Rhianne

I don't understand the rioters at all but then nor I can't understand why people would choose to live in what seems, to me, to be the ultimate shit-hole.

Good luck with this explaination.

Why an adolescent does something and why those girls just blame the rich may be two completely different reasons. The concept is called epistemology. As an adolescent enters Level 3, abstract reasoning and metacognitive abilities emerge. An adolescent should grow out of this Level and into Level 4 by high school. Should learn how different truths have perspectives. How some beliefs are more valid that others. Unfortunately many adolescents never graduate to that stage of cognitive development until their twenties or older.

Rice and Dolgin describe this in their book The Adolescent:

Once adolescents enter the formal operations stage, they become either dogmatists or skeptics, at least in the short run. Boyes and Chandler see these opposite types as being rooted in the same awareness that truth is always constructed and that facts are open to multiple and valid interpretations. This is an unsettling revelation at best, and adolescents feel beset by uncertainty. They wonder: "if you can't tell the truth from the false, if you cannot be certain who is right and who is wrong, how can you make good choices?"

Skeptical adolescents react to this uncertainty by rejecting rationality. The take the attitude that if they cannot be certain bout what to do or whom to believe, then all opinions and positions are equally valid and they don't have to listen to any (or to anyone in particular). They lose respect for authority and have little patience for those who parade around as experts. Because they have lost faith in logic, these adolescents behave impulsively (without reasoning through situations), intuitively (doing what their emotions, rather than their logic, tells them to do), and indifferently (without attempting to choose a good course of action, "going with the flow"). They are apt to conform to others, letting the majority make their decisions for them, and they become rebellious or disengaged.

In contrast to skeptics, dogmatists flee from their uncertainty, rigidly clinging to one set of beliefs. They are intolerant of other views because they find them threatening, and they do not want to question their own beliefs. They conform to the views of those they have chosen as allies. They insist that their way of thinking is right and that any who disagree with them are wrong.

Whereas skeptics believe that anyone who believes too deeply in anything is foolish, dogmatists believe that anyone who espouses something different than they do is misguided. Clearly neither of these reasonings is desirable. Boyes and Chandler view skepticism and dogmatism as short-term costs associated with entry into formal operations. Again, many people never outgrow this stage of reasoning.

Formal operation is the fourth and last stage of cognitive development that starts about 11 or 12 years of age. Formal operation involves four Levels. However some adolescent are late or never fully achieve Level four abilities. These rioters are typical of those who never get beyond Level 3. Who remain at the skeptical or dogmatic stage. Resulting emotions are triggered by environmental conditions that must be defined to understand their otherwise irrational behavior.

Their illogical explanation of ‘why’ is based in their interpretations of what they only understand: their emotions. Our understanding means understanding what triggered their emotions.

Grasping the hard realities of logic come later during Level 4. Postskeptical rationalism is when some beliefs are finally understood to be more valid than others. The ability to understand perspectives. Some never achieve that cognitive level until at least their twenties. Remain victims of their own emotions.

[Griff]

Originally Posted by Rhianne

I hate cities in general - and perhaps London more than most. I don't understand the rioters at all but then nor I can't understand why people would choose to live in what seems, to me, to be the ultimate shit-hole.

I don't think of them as shit-holes but I can't imagine handling daily life with so many people in close proximity. Even the small city I'm working in this summer has class issues based largely on people being unable to imagine a better way of life or how to achieve that and burdening their children with the same. Opportunities are limited especially for kids whose parents neglect or actively oppose the free education society presents on a silver platter. Our so-called connected information society still has to bribe with bread and circuses because people don't get it. I'm glad I don't have to live in an urban setting, most humans are just not wired for it, we only just left the trees an eye blink ago. <I'm grouchy this morning>

[Undertoad]

Comedy gold: http://photoshoplooter.tumblr.com/

[zippyt]

Has any body else noticed that ALL this started when Monster and Beest went away for a few weeks ????

[Aliantha]

I had a dream last night that I called Dani (and I don't even have her number) at 1am for her birthday. There was more to the dream, but it was weird.