London riots: If you listen carefully

StevieJ

Percy1983 wrote: »

I certainly see this underclass everyday, I vote for it being legal to shoot whenever I like.

Will it be also OK for them to shoot you

StevieJ

bendix wrote: »

How does your argument fit in with the fact that many of the rioters were using Blackberries to organise themselves? They're hardly a tool of the underclass, are they? Plus, it seems that a fair percentage of those who have been arrested and named are teachers, university lecturers, students etc - the very definition of middle class life. Are they the new underclass, or are they cynical chancers? You decide.

They should be OK for a career in banking or the legal profession

Percy1983

StevieJ wrote: »

Will it be also OK for them to shoot you

Well I do contribute to society in general as well as putting a lot of time into my local community, I would like to think I would be classed as a loss if shot.

Meanwhile I see many who contribute nothing, want everything and do nothing but destroy there local community.

In all seriousness which should be exterminated first?

Generali

StevieJ wrote: »

They should be OK for a career in banking or the legal profession

They tend to be a bit on the scruffy side for investment banking. I'm sure they'd be fine on the retail side though. They'd get a uniform and a badge with their name on it in case they forget what it is.

olly300

bendix wrote: »

How does your argument fit in with the fact that many of the rioters were using Blackberries to organise themselves? They're hardly a tool of the underclass, are they? Plus, it seems that a fair percentage of those who have been arrested and named are teachers, university lecturers, students etc - the very definition of middle class life. Are they the new underclass, or are they cynical chancers? You decide.

You obviously know no secondary school aged children.

If you had you would know that virtually every secondary aged kid has a mobile phone and lots of them are smartphones which are Blackberries.

You don't need to be rich to have one you just need to have parents who you can nag into giving you one, regardless of how much money they have

pqrdef

bendix wrote: »

How does your argument fit in with the fact that many of the rioters were using Blackberries to organise themselves?

There were several different things going on. The rioters and the looters were separate groups of people.

The looters were doing what people always do when there's undefended stuff lying around waiting to be grabbed. Well if you don't grab it, somebody else will, and why should they get lucky and not you? Remember that incident a few years ago when stuff from a ship washed up on a beach on the south coast?

But we can assume that almost all of the looters wouldn't have dreamed of smashing their way into a shop. They walked into shops that were already wide open. There isn't a huge moral stigma against a bit of honest non-violent looting. Armies have always done it - it used to be their recruiting tool.

The rioters were into destruction. These are the people with the unfocused rage against life. Some of them grabbed loot in passing and then dumped it, because it's not easy to throw bricks while carrying a telly.

And there was a group of organised anarchists with black face masks and Blackberries who seem to turn up at every demo to try to stir up trouble.

But without the spontaneous rioters, the hangers-on would have had nothing to latch on to.

The media are struggling to work out their narrative and it's not always clear who got arrested for what. But they're cherry-picking rather than trying to present a representative story. The more serious offenders are in custody, so no pictures or soundbites yet. The charges dealt with summarily have been relatively incidental things like obstruction.

And the arresting of people was somewhat random. In spite of Cameron's fine words, most of the rioters and looters won't actually get hauled before the courts.

ruggedtoast

Blackberries are the phone of choice for school aged kids, partly because of Blackberry Messesnger. Everything is encrypted under RIMs servers as well (which is why businesses use them), which kids probably think is cool and helps them to hide from the government.

StevieJ

Generali wrote: »

They tend to be a bit on the scruffy side for investment banking. I'm sure they'd be fine on the retail side though. They'd get a uniform and a badge with their name on it in case they forget what it is.

Not in their new clobber