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UK riots

BlackSheep

Active Member
I just made this thread to hear what you guys have to say about the riots going on
[video=youtube;6Gex_ya4-Oo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=6Gex_ya4-Oo[/video]Thats fucking awful
 

FrozenIpaq

Justin B / Supp. Editor
Enforcer Team
The world's youth seems to be a double-edged sword. I've followed a few people on twitter who are from the UK so it's been quite an experience hearing the fear that these riots have created and instilled in the people. I'm losing faith in humanity little by little (Republicans vs. Democrats here in the US and now riots in the UK...). Really surprised by how long it has been going on for, it's ridiculous.

Although while we do see the "bad" side of humanity, light is just on the other side with those who volunteered to help cleanup
 

Dan

Contributor
If any of you Americans are ever unfortunate enough to ever meet a chav, you won't possibly believe the scale of damage these thugs can cause, they're a disgrace to our country. They aren't doing this for any political reason, they enjoy harming others, causing damage and getting drunk. This is just a night out for them and they have no idea what they're doing to themselves or their country in the long term, they're so moronic it's infuriating.

Personally, they've destroyed my town (Manchester), which was said to have the most violence against police, who weren't allowed to retaliate at the time and had to stand back and watch people's livelihoods be destroyed, which is BULLSHIT. Humanists are stirring up now claiming they should have a right to protest, but there's nothing to protest against! The government cuts cannot be helped, and they're affecting everyone, they're just... so immature, I can't even explain how upsetting this is for decent UK citizens.

Edit: It also makes the rest of us look so bad to the rest of the world. You know the situation is bad when Gadaffi is perturbed by it, which is ridiculously hypocritical by the way.

[video=youtube;0rr7RzoHub8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rr7RzoHub8&feature=player_embedded[/video]
 

january39

eXo Staff
Right on Dan, could not have said it better myself, proper disgrace.

Some people just seem to think that we and/or government should supply them with a job and money with little or now effort on their part, worse still they are smashing up their own towns, hardly good for the local economy which in the end means less jobs for all.

Like Dan says this is not politically motivated it is simply people out to cause trouble and smash things up. Did anyone see the footage of the lad who had been attacked and another group came to his aid, but what they were actually doing was priming him so they could rob his rucksack (as shown in the video) .... and that is the future of the country, potentially. Argh.

I hope no mercy is shown at all and they get what they deserve. To be honest it makes me ashamed to be British, not exactly a nice image to project to the world.
 

Robby

Los Doyers!
It's only a matter of time before they get bored and realize the damage they have done.
The tourist market is probably destroyed by now.
 

rileysnotz

Member
It's only a matter of time before they get bored and realize the damage they have done.

In my experience (and believe me I've seen a craploads of riots for the stupidest reasons) yeah they will get bored but they won't realize what they've done. All that happens is good people get hurt, businesses suffer and nothing is achieved. It's too damn sad. Really.
 

MenaceInc

Staff Member
Just going to copypaste from SPUF since this thread wasn't here until yesterday.

Hopefully the rioting quietens down by term time as I'm moving to London in a few weeks >.<

I've ranted previously on Twitter, etc so I'm really not in the mood to type out my thoughts again but I'll just say this.

At the start, the protest against the killing of Mark Duggan was sensible. When a number of people started turning violent, I'm glad to know that Duggan's family apparently walked away and wanted nothing to do with it.

The copycat rioting that broke out all over London and spread to other cities is inexcusable. It is just mindless thuggery by idiots who think it's just a bit of fun and don't comprehend the massive effects that this is going to have on their communities.
Insurance premiums will go up which in turn raises goods prices.
Businesses will be less likely to invest in the local areas.
Less business means less jobs.

Nothing good will come of this.

This couldn't have happened at a worse time... with the school holidays and all the little wit chavs off for summer.... I am ashamed an appalled to be from England and to be associated with the likes of the scum who think that destroying property and stealing is a good idea.

Every single video I have watched are all chav teenagers, the think the world owes them a living... Kids/Teens with no respect for anything at all, least of all themselves - that, to me, is the biggest problem in Britain today

1 word - DIGNITY???

Favourite quote from the BBC footage was of an interview with two teenage girls who said something along the lines of "if you respect us, we'll respect you, yeah?".

Respect is earned and these riots are doing nothing to earn it.

Fairly sure the page has been linked to already but here it is again. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14458424

They also referred to the riots as 'great fun' while blaming the Government without knowing who is even in power. Apparently it's to show that they can do what they want.

:eek:

I was flipping 5 years old by the time I learned that I couldn't do whatever I want, they seriously need a good slap around the head. Oh wait, that'd be child cruelty according to some PC group. :p
 

eldiablov

Contributor
I could rant for a good three of four pages on this and will do so if this thread sparks decent debate. What I will say is that there were two main types of rioters. The first exhibited the huge problem we have in London (and other cities) of youth gang culture. The other was due to the widespread nature of the looting and people getting caught up in the moment, deciding they want free shit.
 

Moose

Meta Moose
These riots are terrible, but I don't think that labeling these people as mindless thugs and dishing out equivalent mindless punishment is going to solve anything. We can throw them in prison and dust off our hands, or we can take a look at the reason behind the riots (not to be confused with each rioter's individual motive for looting/mugging/etc.) and try to take not only preventative measures but to also survey the socioeconomic situation that these people find themselves in. Do we further demonise the underclass and cause plenty more of these riots, or do we try to pull these people out from under the rug and start treating them like real human beings. If you neglect a population for long enough and cause enough discontent then it is inevitable that situations like this will occur. To label it as mindless thuggery, call for longer prison sentences, and harsher treatment of the perpetrators, then we are going to create a larger gap in society that will benefit those that wish to exploit us (the Murdoch's, for example, that have conveniently had the limelight taken off them because of these riots... let's not forget who is fucking who, eh?).

EDIT: "If you’re not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed, and loving the people who are doing the oppressing." – Malcolm X
 

january39

eXo Staff
You make the assumption we demonise them on the basis of the riots, people cannot expect to do something and it have no consequence - Life is tough for everyone, wherever you are based (unless you start out super rich). There will be no benefit or movement if we all start riots, whatever our current situation or social status.

I am far from rich but have not yet sought to smash up / vandalise / burn / rob anywhere yet. Respect is earned.

Removing benefits or sending to jail will not cure granted, but punishment is needed and that punishment needs to be hard, if not harsh. I find it hard to understand the motives of all of this and as such find it even harder to treat those responsible as decent human beings as a result - Based on what i have seen/heard i do not think i am far wrong either.
 

MenaceInc

Staff Member
Some of these kids come from horrific circumstances with shit parents, they don't really stand a chance.

Single parent family living off benefits, smallest sister has mental disabilities, haven't seen my father since I was 7 since he's a paedophile and went through a hell of a lot of bullying in grammar school due to condition/quality of my uniform clothes and personal taste in music. Practically lived on my own when I was 15/16 due to mother staying with her boyfriend at the time. This is probably the most brutally honest I've been on the internet in regards to family circumstances but I think I need to tell this just to contrast it with me working hard like a motherfucker to support myself and my household then even going back to study later on and working dam hard to get into a good university.

Some of the dickheads that were out looting would have had much better chances in life than I and yet they feel that they're entitled to go out, rob local businesses and generally fuck shit up? Fuck that. If they felt they were so oppressed then they would have attacked the Government buildings, not local businesses. They wouldn't have put hundreds of people out of work by torching family owned shops to the ground.
 

Andy

Champion of the Sun
Single parent family living off benefits, smallest sister has mental disabilities, haven't seen my father since I was 7 since he's a paedophile and went through a hell of a lot of bullying in grammar school due to condition/quality of my uniform clothes and personal taste in music. Practically lived on my own when I was 15/16 due to mother staying with her boyfriend at the time. This is probably the most brutally honest I've been on the internet in regards to family circumstances but I think I need to tell this just to contrast it with me working hard like a motherfucker to support myself and my household then even going back to study later on and working dam hard to get into a good university.

Some of the dickheads that were out looting would have had much better chances in life than I and yet they feel that they're entitled to go out, rob local businesses and generally fuck shit up? Fuck that. If they felt they were so oppressed then they would have attacked the Government buildings, not local businesses. They wouldn't have put hundreds of people out of work by torching family owned shops to the ground.

There are more factors involved, these kids grow up with chavs as influences and friends.
 

MenaceInc

Staff Member
There are more factors involved, these kids grow up with chavs as influences and friends.

What is it in particular about that specific social group then that caused these riots?
Hard drug use and the nonchalant fuck everyone else attitude?
Sniffing bags of glue round the back of the local tesco before finding some willing teenage girl to bump up teen pregnancy rates with?
How come then it was more than just people that could be described as a stereotypical chav that were arrested and charged?

For the younger people is a was lack of discipline in the home and at school. Had a number of wooden spoons broken over my hands for wrongdoing when I was growing up that helped reinforce a strong sense of right and wrong. Something that most children rights groups would baulk at nowadays and the bloody PC brigade would too for fear of being seen as inhumane.

Inhumane is what these fucking youngsters are doing. They do whatever they want because they believe they're invincible. They know their rights, yeah? Ye get me? Actually, screw that I'm not even going to try and emulate the speech.

Parents don't bother disciplining due to fear of being reported to social services by their own brats, teachers can't give any reasonable punishments for fear of losing their jobs and police can't do anything due to restrictive laws and policies.


For the older people, I'd put it to opportunitism and believing that if they're part of a large enough crowd then they'll have less of a chance of being caught.
 

Moose

Meta Moose
It is more than likely - and I believe already confirmed through interviews and the like - that the rioters have no political agenda. I think we can all agree that on an individual basis, perhaps globally, these riots have been opportunistic. But why has it come to this? The society we live thrives on inequality. Capitalism is a tool of oppression whereby the poor are exploited by the rich for profit and greed. It is as a result of this that the underclass feel excluded and ignored. So what happens when a population is pushed to the extreme limits of neglect? They fight back and grab what they believe to be rightfully theirs. If the bankers and MPs can have it, why can't they?

I never suggested that the riots are a good thing (a knee-jerk reaction to posing the simple question of 'why?'). The punishments we have in place right now are sufficient enough to handle rioting. Simply because these riots have been unexpected I don't think it is reasonable to suggest that we suddenly impose harsher disciplinary action than would be dished out had any one individual started a fire on their own one month ago, for example.

It is not necessary to treat a person as a 'decent human being'. All that is required is that you treat them as a human being and nothing else. Of course, without a doubt, what these people have done is wrong. But they are human nonetheless, and deserve to be treated so.

It is easy enough to say 'I wouldn't riot and steal and I had a terrible childhood' (which I am not questioning, btw), but can you honestly say that you are in the situation that these people find themselves to be in? If so, then congratulations, you obviously are a better person than they are. But either way, to project personal bias onto a situation that begs for so much more than that is, dare I say, ignorant. I believe that in order to understand the reason behind these riots we have to survey the esteem that these people hold for both themselves and their communities. I would reckon that the perpetrators of these crimes hold little respect for the government and their supposedly necessary austerity measures that, funnily enough, only seem to sting those that have already been stung many times before.
 

Andy

Champion of the Sun
Parents don't bother disciplining due to fear of being reported to social services by their own brats, teachers can't give any reasonable punishments for fear of losing their jobs and police can't do anything due to restrictive laws and policies.

I'm taking that this means you believe there should be physical punishment? If not, this doesn't really make much sense.

Teaching people they're doing wrong by being violent is fucking dumb.
 

MenaceInc

Staff Member
I'm taking that this means you believe there should be physical punishment? If not, this doesn't really make much sense.

Teaching people they're doing wrong by being violent is fucking dumb.

Letting kids run amok is more idiotic I think. Sending them to their rooms which often have games consoles and TVs in modern times is useless as well. The majority of parents would not go through the bother removing all forms of entertainment from bedrooms every time a child does something wrong.

You keep up that fight for kid's rights though, I'm sure they'll appreciate it.
 

eldiablov

Contributor
Letting kids run amok is more idiotic I think. Sending them to their rooms which often have games consoles and TVs in modern times is useless as well. The majority of parents would not go through the bother removing all forms of entertainment from bedrooms every time a child does something wrong.

You keep up that fight for kid's rights though, I'm sure they'll appreciate it.

I was never abused with wooden spoons, yes abused, as a child and I have a perfectly engrained sense of right and wrong. My parents never had to resort to such ridiculous measures.
 
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