The American Spectator : The Spectacle Blog : Thoughts on the U.K. Riots

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Given what has happened with the downgrade in our credit rating and the subsequent reaction of the financial markets, the riots in the United Kingdom have been overlooked in this country. Let me state that I am characterizing these events as the U.K. Riots rather than the London Riots for the simple reason that this violence has now spread beyond London into Liverpool, Leeds and Birmingham amongst other areas. While the lion's share of the violence has taken place in London this has become a national emergency and the Cameron/Clegg government had better restore order - fast. The U.K. is turning into something out of an Anthony Burgess novel.

Whether the London Metro Police shot an unarmed man remains to be seen. But even if that is the case, the people who have engaged in this violence over the past several days don't give a toss about Mark Duggan. When authority collapses, hoodlums and hooligans will always find a way to take advantage of the situation whether by enriching themselves in stealing consumer goods or using their newfound power to intimidate or assault innocent bystanders because they happen to be in their path. That some of these people are utilizing social media to facilitate this violence makes them that much more dangerous.

Needless to say I have no sympathy towards those who wantonly attack people or damage property. I sure as hell hope the Cameron/Clegg government doesn't respond to this crisis by putting forth a scheme (as they call it in the U.K.) for unemployed youth. If they do that then they are rewarding this licentious behavior. And what happens to the entrepreneur who has had his or her business destroyed? What happens to these people who have worked hard their whole lives only to see their hard work go up in smoke? If the Tory-Lib coalition is going to devote resources to anyone it should be to them. The Cameron/Clegg coalition also has to do something about their law enforcement or more precisely the lack of it. And where are the parents? Some of the rioters who have been arrested are quite young with the youngest being all of eleven-years old.

For more thoughts on what has transpired across the pond, I give you Melanie Phillips.

View all comments (18) | Leave a comment

WL| 8.9.11 @ 9:20AM

This morning there was a picture of one of the thugs making some poor soul strip down to his boxers...
All I can think about, when watching the coverage, is how much England has atrophied into a sad lot who cannot defend themselves. Are there any good men left there? Where are the fathers and local leadership to say ENOUGH to these lowlife trash? Is there anyone over there even thinking about gathering up local groups of folks to take it to this mob, who is destroying what that society has spent CENTURIES BUILDING????? Is this what our great societies have been reduced to??? Sad victims who cannot defend ourselves and hunker down waiting on someone to save us from Looters????

But, they gave up the means to defend themselves a long time ago...

Will we? Better get ready folks...the U.S. isn't far from it.

Occam's Tool| 8.9.11 @ 11:30AM

Yes, W, she is. Londonistan is remarkable, among others.

WL| 8.9.11 @ 9:31AM

This Melanie Phillips is pretty remarkable, by the way. I suggest everyone follow the link to her site. I think I am going to buy her book. I like the way she considers herself "liberal." She must be referring to what "liberal" really is...before the LEFT go ahold of it.

darcy| 8.9.11 @ 9:51AM

Yes, WL, I have read Melanie Phillips' The World Turned Upside Down, and in it she does a pretty good job of describing the moral corrosiveness of leftist-liberalism. I'd recommend, if you haven't already done it, that you link over to amnation.com/vfr, do a search there for "Melanie Phillips," and avail yourself of the excellent discussion about her, shall we say, strengths and weaknesses.

Britain has been in a death spiral since just after WWII -- it takes awhile for the deleterious effects of socialism and atheism to appear.

LarryK| 8.9.11 @ 10:10AM

Look people, a little rambunctious activity needs to be tolerated in a society to a point. IE., the authorities cannot use a sledgehammer to drive in a straight pin when a little tack hammer will do. That said, what is happening in London is nothing but criminal looting and destruction. That behavior needs to be dealt with using fatal force. Those criminals need to be mowed down and let the bleeding hearts piss and moan about "the innocent".

BOO-FREAKIN-HOO!
Ecclesiastes 8:11

Evil needs to be dealt with.

Zman| 8.9.11 @ 1:43PM

Let those weenies try that in Texas!

PCC| 8.9.11 @ 10:23AM

FYI, the politically-correct media have failed to report that these are race-riots. No whites need apply.

Occam's Tool| 8.9.11 @ 11:30AM

Folks, one of the things that I had to do in NZ, which is a British Commonwealth country, is to determine when people needed for their own safety to civilly lose their right to freely go out in public. I learned an interesting thing---RCV, feel free to comment, please.

In the US, our rights that are not enumerated as belonging to the government are retained by the people. In the UK, those rights not enumerated as belonging to the people are retained by the Crown/Parliament. This leads to interesting differences in the rights to self defense, which are more tightly defined in Britain than here (with a corresponding greater need to rely upon the police to maintain civil order).

This does not contribute to greater public safety, in my opinion. We see the consequences, here.

Pete| 8.9.11 @ 11:36AM

And the consequences of an unarmed citizenry.

Occam's Tool| 8.9.11 @ 1:04PM

Correct, sir. But there are also dangers in restricting the self defense rights of an armed citizenry, as well.

Derek Leaberry| 8.9.11 @ 11:52AM

The late Enoch Powell, a man who should have been Prime Minister, foretold this over forty years ago in his "Rivers of Blood" speech, a warning which doomed his career in the Conservative Party. Incidentally, the seeds of The Beatles' tune "Get Back" were planted by the Powell speech which Lennon and McCartney ridiculed. Would they laugh at Powell now?

uncle curmudgeon| 8.9.11 @ 11:59AM

We will se the other side of this coin in the aftermath. Just as street thugs use this excuse to prey upon the law abiding, so will the political thugs use the riots to restrict basic liberties. You can take it to the bank!

WL| 8.9.11 @ 2:01PM

If you are pointing out that taking a stand against thugs carries the risk of allowing the "political thugs" an opening to restricting liberty...I do see your point. However, I often see this point or another similar point about the citizenry using force to combat the thugs causing the situation to get worse... All rational points. However, I think it is the same as standing up to a bully...
Yeah...the bully might escalate...BUT, at least at that point you don't have the indignity of being the BULLIED...

We could have lost to Germany...We could have lost to Japan...We could have lost to the Brits in the Revolution...We could have lost to the Spanish...We could have lost the Cold War against the Soviets....and on and on and on...

But in most situations we find that "it's a simple answer after all....there IS a price we will not pay..THERE IS A LINE PAST WHICH YOU MUST NOT ADVANCE!"

The thugs in England are advancing past that line.

darcy| 8.9.11 @ 2:23PM

I think we're at it here, the "line past which you must not advance" with our Federal Government, and that includes Republicans whose main goal these past 70 years has become power-sharing, not opposing nor rolling back big government.

I smell the scent of a political whirlwind about to overtake the Capital and set things aright.

Jacob| 8.9.11 @ 6:29PM

Ummm... the US bullied Spain, not the other way around. Otherwise I agree entirely with your statement.

George S| 8.9.11 @ 2:09PM

If people have jobs to go to, they do not riot. That only happens when the government welfare clerks put up the sign "Sorry guvnah, no more other people's money left".

Pat| 8.9.11 @ 4:08PM

Humbly and with due deference, Americans can advise our British cousins (well, cousin to some of us) on urban riots (although, no suburban riots come quickly to mind). First and most important, call out the Army immediately when the looting, burning, middle finger gestures, parking violations and beating the mess out of anybody who doesn’t look like you begins. Us Yanks have some experience in offering this advice, so please listen.

Detroit, July, 1967 – Detroit’s police didn’t hold the line, they sheltered safely behind their barricades and in their deserted donut shops while the rioters got the upper hand and then called for the Michigan National Guard to step in to avoid risking their lives and pensions any further than necessary – Detroit’s police couldn’t handle thousands of folks acting up and quickly started quoting the “better part of valor” and similar wisdom.

Michigan’s National Guard quickly suited up their accountants, dentists and owners of successful tire store franchises to do battle with those folks furiously bent on burning down their own homes as a serious lesson to “The Man”. Didn’t work either - civilians playing soldier shot up everything in sight once they were issued live ammo, including themselves, but the rioting continued. Finally, Michigan’s governor threw in the towel and called Washington, who promptly sent an elite Army unit, the 82nd Airborne, to handle the situation. The paratroopers immediately shot every amateur sniper off the roofs of Detroit’s remaining retail outlets, setup checkpoints and curfews to restrict movement and bluntly told rioters to behave yourselves or we’ll kill you – hardly politically correct but the message was taken to heart and the riot ended.

Los Angeles, 1992 – L. A.’s police would later demonstrate their considerable combat skills in tracking any slowly moving Bronco on the city’s freeway, mustering out a massive show of force, including helicopters, which eventually forced the Bronco to pull over and the driver to surrender peacefully. But that 1992 Rodney King thing didn’t work out so well for L. A.’s finest. Before anyone thought to call on the Army, however, the Korean shop owners were forced to take charge and partially restore order by shooting any looter insisting they be allowed to loot mom and pop stores whenever the mood struck them. However, by Saturday, the 4th day of the scheduled riot, the marines and Army were reluctantly called in by local politicians, arrived on the scene and quickly restored order, unassisted by Korean convenience store owners.

So, Brits, waiting days to call in the Army isn’t wise. Sure, you have to pretend you can control your cities with duly authorized peace officers, there are those future elections to consider after all. But one lesson we Americans eventually learned is that taxpayers have a serious problem with getting their butts kicked up and down the street, not to mention having their homes and stores burned to the ground. And, painful as it is to admit, mean-looking guys in uniforms with loaded weapons (rioters can sense whether you actually have real bullets) always works to dampen those high spirits and restore order.