Thread: Britain 2011 The Naivety of Youth

Britain 2011 The Naivety of Youth.The term ‘arising’ comes to mind when I think of what is happening across Britain. These fresh disturbances are undoubtedly a new phenomena partly because without social networking there would not be the opportunity to bring together hordes of rampaging youth. As a man who was born before WW2, I can only say that nothing like this has happened before in Britain. Yes, local disturbances have occurred but nothing on a national basis outside of civil war. The Rule of Law which helps to hold a Peace Line has prevailed in the UK. There has always been the threat of punishment for grossly anti-social behaviour.

I can authoritatively say that ‘youth’ has never had it so good as it has now. Perhaps some youth has it better than other segments of youth but inequality will always prevail simply because people are neither born equal nor do they have similar aspirations or abilities. We are not all the same.

Young people who were involved in the recent disturbances should stop and think of the consequences of their actions. If you put your hand in the fire it will burn.

We who are approaching the end of our lives can remember back when times were much harder than they are in today’s world. What we pass on to the generations following behind ours is not perfect but it is better than what we ourselves inherited. Having travelled around much of the world, I would have said that Britain was a safe place in which to live. After the recent events I am now not so sure. Perhaps I should now move our small family to rural France as I had originally planned to do before my retirement.

If you young people want to live in a heavily policed state then you are heading in the right direction.

The British State will not bow to your aspirations nor the confused and unattainable philosophy that you can have all you want merely because that is what you want.

Already the personal freedoms which I enjoyed as a young person have been much eroded. Society has morphed into a very different mould from that which I was born into. Britain is now a multi racial society which brings both benefits and change. Importantly there have been significant adjustments in attitudes towards people from foreign cultures in which fundamentally different values about life and death apply. Some foreign cultures do not melt readily into what we natives perceive to be the culture of the British. This may in itself prove to be a serious problem for which as yet we have not had to find an answer. But this recent rioting was about envy not cultural differences.

What some of the rioters stole last night will come at a high cost. Undoubtedly as the trinkets from looting come to light, the thief will be tagged as a potential lifelong criminal which will taint his or her progress through life. The modern computer permits everyone of one’s mistakes against society to be recorded and attributed to the culprit for the rest of his or her days. My belief is that one day authorised citizens find in the nape of their necks an identifying chip similar to the one embedded in a dog. Police will be armed. and wear body armour as a uniform. Certain areas of the country will have restricted access. If youth wants to live in a police state then it is going the right way to bring one about.

The scenes shown on TV just from the continent of Africa how easily chaos can breed human misery. Society is destroyed by anarchy. Make no mistake fear is universal and lurks within us all. Your fears may not yet be of famine but unless 65 million British people can learn to live together in harmony on the 95,000 square miles of Great Britain then you will all undoubtedly come to learn the meaning of fear in your everyday life.

Without a mutual understanding and the acceptance of what is right and wrong, anarchy will come to prevail and along with it will come misery, despair and terror. Ask the victims of this week’s looting.

Why have you posted this in the debate section? You have just put forward an opinion without asking any questions or inviting anyone to share their own.

Regardless of where it's posted, it's very well written and thought provoking. If you want a debate question you could ask, is Britain on the road to becoming a police state because of the rioting?

Amber,


I don't seek comment on what I wrote but I would be interested to read it.

What I have written attempts to foresee what might lay down the road if the authorities do not discover how to stop the rioting, which may have eased in London but which continues in other parts of the UK. Rioting of a political nature is common in Northern Ireland - whereas this rioting on the island of Great Britain is vandalism accompanied by looting. The disturbing aspect of this 'uprising' is that a substantial majority of the rioters are young teenagers - the inheritors of the UK. Whether they will take the trouble to comment in response to my article remains to be seen. I fear most won't bother to read any comment.

There cannot be too many written articles on this subject which has significant implications for the way in which British society develops.
Young people will not listen to me whereas some of them might be influenced by articles written by their own generation.

Well, when the state turn against the 'youth' and accuse them of being chavs and taking part in criminal behaviour then they shouldn't be surprised when they start playing the part.

Originally Posted by Amber Leaf

Well, when the state turn against the 'youth' and accuse them of being chavs and taking part in criminal behaviour then they shouldn't be surprised when they start playing the part.

I agree with you there Amber Leaf.
You make your bed and you lie on it goes the saying.
These youngsters are as a result of a derelict society that breeds money and consumerism and gives nothing back to your average individual, youngsters and alike.
These 'riots' are simply a form of provocation coming from a separate group of hopeless individuals without an identity but with vindictive self destructive aims to make Britain look bad.
These youngsters would not organise a piss up in a brewery on their own they are too young and too inexperienced to come together this way.
Youngsters we know retract and forms divisive gangs . It is not in their nature to form a bigger larger network and come together to destroy their own enviroment.
This is coming from a much bigger hand, a group of desperate adults, who took advantage fo the actual situation and got these youngsters to do what they wanted them to do. These are the same people who organised ritoing and demonstrations across the world.
This is my opinion.

How does anarchy come out of a police state?

I think Divus made a levelheaded post reflecting on what he's seen of his country past and present and in relation to many other parts of the world.

"Multiculturalism" can carry different meanings depending on how the person is using that term. In Brazil (be mad if you will that I bring up Brazil again) it's expected immigrants assimilate into the Brazilian culture. In this way Brazil may not be considered "multicultural."

Anti-Western, anti-white, and rabidly anti-Christian views and ideological goals in the United States and Europe have political interest groups and social forces that promote a "multiculturalism" that often times seeks to diminish traditional values that were fairly held uniformly throughout their respective nations.






None of this is made any easier given the fact racial minorities are discriminated against in Britain. And if not then at least they feel they are. I'm not from Britain.

But if Britain is anything like the United States white people tend to trust the police far more than blacks and other racial minorities. For example, my white mother and aunt place an immediate trust in the police version (before even reading it or hearing it) of me being shot. My black aunts immediately distrust the police version (before even reading it or hearing it).

In fact the police - being human beings - lied. Not only have they lied they didn't even bother to make their lies make any sense. I suspect because they did not know my black father that witnessed the events was a retired federal agent (which usually operates with higher professionalism than city police), and who would believe two black males from the North side of Milwaukee.

Just as a tad taste into lies - on official police documents and willingness to perjure oneself in the court of law - the cop that shot me admits I had no weapon in hand. As he discovered after he shot me and then cuffed me. The cop that claims to have just stepped in at the point I was shot and witnessed it, claimed I was armed and he watched the other cops secure the weapon from me after he shot me.

The police in Tottenham could have lied. White Brits may militantly deny that possibility. Black Brits in Tottenham may militantly believe the cops did.

Bringing a lawsuit is a better way to handle that injustice, however, than starting a riot.

Far too generalising here, to be honest. I'm sixteen and far from wealthy, by all expectations I ought to have rioted by now.

None of this is made any easier given the fact racial minorities are discriminated against in Britain. And if not then at least they feel they are. I'm not from Britain.

...the majority of immigrants and whatnot speak of how tolerant we are. Certainly better than France at the least

I think it has to be said that we live in a selfish adult orientated world that does not care for youngsters' interests and well being.
That needs to change.

Originally Posted by Divus

Young people who were involved in the recent disturbances should stop and think of the consequences of their actions.

I don't think there's much hope of this happening. They don't seem capable, judging by the interviews some have given on the news coverage.

I think it has to be said that we live in a selfish adult orientated world tha tdoes not care for youngsters' interests and well being.
That need to change.

Unfortunatley this is too true.

Originally Posted by Nacian

I think it has to be said that we live in a selfish adult orientated world that does not care for youngsters' interests and well being.
That needs to change.

There's a park, pool, and library in my neighborhood. The kids get a free (mandatory) education through high school, and summers off. Anything more the kids can get from their own parents, why should my focus be on other people's spawn?

My life didn't magically transform when I turned 18 so that my goals in life shifted to paving an easier road for everyone still on their way to adulthood. If a kid doesn't feel like he has everything he feels entitled to he should go talk to the people that raised him. They were the ones responsible for providing him with sufficient skills, moral fortitude, and work ethic to achieve their goals.

I have held a job for decades, from the time I was 12 until present. At some points I've taken a step back in pay, almost always I've gone forward. At one point I even made use of a government training program that resulted in work that I no longer perform, but gave me the economic leverage to get me the education and experience that has me where I am today.

Too many kids have been raised to believe that life will not only be easy, but spoon fed to them. This is simply not the case. The shock of realizing they are not special by default, that the kid who worked hard all through school and beyond was the successful candidate, and that the cute girls eventually move on from the high school football stars to the accountants is just too much for some.

They don't need my tax dollars, or a nice cathartic riot, they need a wake up call.

Originally Posted by Nacian

I think it has to be said that we live in a selfish adult orientated world that does not care for youngsters' interests and well being.
That needs to change.

This comment of yours reminds me of a British school teacher on a different board I used to frequent. It sounds like something she would say.

I don't quite understand the way you Brits - especially far left Brits - think.

But to each their own I suppose.

Despite the fact that many of the rioters are probably doing it for shits and giggles (and should be slapped for it), there is something to be said for the ones who's gripes, however confused and unclear, are politically or socially motivated. The rioting is not positive and is far from constructive, but at least these kids have the wherewithal and the balls to express their discontentment in a way that forces their society to react, as opposed to more academic would-be-revolutionaries who identify themselves as such but do nothing besides mull over the writings and memoirs of other revolutionaries. Not to mention the considerable number of people who are too apathetic to even gripe. In my opinion this is a big problem in America. There are legions of young malcontents here, but for whatever reason they have become so cynical that they have become cynical about the prospects for the changes they wish to enact. The problems they see appear so monolithic that they feel an expression of their anger would be an exercise in pointless complaining. And they are mostly right. At least the rioters in Britain are not impotent revolutionary eunuchs or, even worse, apathetic and too ignorant to be critical of anything worthwhile. Same goes for rioters in France, Greece, Spain and Italy. Without commenting on the righteousness of any specific cause, I feel comfortable saying that at least they are inclined to take to take to the streets and act on their beliefs.

I have to hand it to the kids. They were made to feel so powerless that they felt compelled to demonstrate just how powerfully they could shake things up. To their credit they acted on that compulsion without talking and tucking it away, even if its manifest expression leaves a lot to be desired.

It starts off slowly, but try to listen to the lyrics, or look them up:



Tomorrow you're homeless. Tonight it's a blast.

Right now, people are dying in Syria, murdered by their own government. Thousands are starving to death in Somalia. And we're watching working class sods break glass and burn things for fun. Yeah, THAT'S a priority.

I'd say I can't believe it, but this is the new normal now. Time to buy stock in crazy. It's a growth industry.