Tuesday, August 09, 2011
Anarchy in the U.K.
Do street riots ever really improve the conditions that foment them? On the evidence one can can still see in New Jersey, they wrecked neighborhoods in which they occurred & made life even more miserable for the residents, with ruinous consequences that have lasted for decades.
The youthful rioters in England have certainly gotten the attention of the government, but if they are left with desolate retail districts, burned out & vacant stores whose owners are too discouraged & frightened to return & rebuild, they will find that they gained nothing except what they managed to loot. They won't have brought Mark Duggan back to life or done him justice. They don't give a damn about Mark Duggan.
"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." Thomas Jefferson
The youthful rioters in England have certainly gotten the attention of the government, but if they are left with desolate retail districts, burned out & vacant stores whose owners are too discouraged & frightened to return & rebuild, they will find that they gained nothing except what they managed to loot. They won't have brought Mark Duggan back to life or done him justice. They don't give a damn about Mark Duggan.
We're in the residential part of South Croydon and most of the worst carnage (including the burning of a furniture warehouse) happened about 3-4 miles away in West Croydon.Relieved to hear my new friend is safe.
There was some looting closer by: a large electronics equipment store, a small jewellery shop and some other stores were broken into and looted within a block of the charity shop where I volunteer two days a week.
I was in the shop today and on the walk down the road this morning I could smell a faint smell like burning wood in the morning air.
Carol
Labels: How's the economy?, in the news
