Blog Archive
-
▼
2011
(2576)
-
▼
August
(655)
- Ron Johnson - The Wisconsin Way Redux
- Michael Ramirez Nails It
- And While I'm On The Topic Of The Global Warming Scam
- Science, Experts, Models and Uncertainty
- Girl of the Day - The Magical Wife (Elizabeth Mont...
- The Desperation Strategy
- Birthday Today - Van Morrison
- Compare and Contrast
- Social Security as a Ponzi Scheme
- Zinedine Zidane Wife Pictures 2011
- Zinedine Zidane Best Football Player Profile & Ima...
- Bells Are Ringing Alert™: Lady Gaga's secret wedding.
- He Fought The Law Alert™: What the Aruba suspect t...
- Weekly World News alert: Woman gives birth to ali...
- Nokia E6 Mobile Review Unboxing & Package Cont...
- Motorola Atrix 4G mb860
- Motorola Atrix 4G
- Motorola Atrix 4G
- Take This With a Grain of Salt
- Girl of the Day - U.S. Open Version (Caroline Wozn...
- Alex Trebek mystery!
- The truth about Omer Bhatti's parents!
- On the rocks alert: Katy Perry divorce drama
- Nokia 5230 Nuron For T-Mobile USA - Part 1 Of 2
- Girl of the Day - If We're Going to Hell in a Hand...
- Oh, And One More Thing...
- More on the Rick Perry is Dumb Meme
- On the Topic of Conservatives Whose Intelligence I...
- Rick Perry, Dunce
- And the camera noses in to the tears on their face...
- She Fought The Law Alert™: Casey Anthony's death c...
- Bundle of Joy Alert: Tia Mowry's baby boy Cree.
- O2 Mobiles
- Ibrahim Afellay's Family
- Ibrahim Afellay Wallpapers 2011
- Breaking news: Beyonce is pregnant.
- Ibrahim Afellay Young Football Player Pictures 2011
- Ibrahim Afellay Biography
- Malia Jones Swimwear Player Profile & Images 2011
- Sabine Lisicki Boyfriend 2011 Pictures 2011
- Sabine Lisicki Hot Images 2011
- Sabine Lisicki Best Tennis Player Profile & Pics 2011
- Li Na is French Open 2011 Winner
- Windows 7 Phone mango updates : Fujitsu IS12T sale...
- And the Katrina/Irene Comparisons Begin...
- The Inevitable Hurricane Irene Is Caused By Climat...
- Problems With Plastic Alert: JWoww's surgery confe...
- Hey Old Timer Gossip: Doris Day to release first a...
- Not really Brave Last Days alert? Dick Van Dyke an...
- Nokia X3 Mobile Phone Review
- Hurricane Irene and the Media Shitstorm That Will ...
- Girl of the Day - Elizabeth Banks
- Nokia 1800
- Call Me A Crazy Right-Wing Extremist, But...
- Reviews BlackBerry Bold 9900 Phone Mobiles
- "Public" Education in Wisconsin -- The Not So Good...
- Marc Albrighton 2011 Young Player Profile & Images
- Christian Eriksen Young Player 2011 Profile & Images
- Damn You Skinny Alert™: Hollywood's extreme diets
- On the rocks alert: OK! continues to push the stor...
- On the rocks alert: Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Sm...
- Annoying label bookkeeping for Will Smith-Jada Pin...
- Nokia N8 Camera Update - Macro Sample
- Gareth Bale With Girlfriend
- Gareth Bale Latest Wallpapers
- Gareth Bale Football Player Profile and Images 2011
- Slow Joe and the China Gaffe
- Samsung Wave II Review - Samsung Launched
- Samsung Epic 4G Galaxy
- Samsung Epic 4G
- Samsung Epic 4G Sprint
- Samsung Epic 4G Cases
- Girl of the Day - First Day of High School Version
- Nokia Symbian Anna: Personalise Your Mobile
- Meanest story nominee: Burt Reynolds losing his home!
- Meanest story nominee: Obama breaks down after boo...
- Meanest story nominee and Hairdresser Alert™: Russ...
- And the camera noses in to the tears on her face: ...
- Bun in the oven alert™: Bachelorette baby exclusive!
- Skeeter Davis Alert™: Indian scroll says all final...
- The Z-Man Eviscerates the O-Man
- Preference Cascade Update - The Negative 20s Are H...
- Samsung Launches The Bada 2.0 : Wave three phones ...
- Graeme Smith South Africa Player Wife Pictures 2011
- Graeme Smith South Africa Best Player Profile & Pi...
- Eoin Morgan Cricet Best Player Profile & Images 2011
- The New York Times' Anti-Catholic Bigotry Comes Ou...
- Birthday Today - Elvis Costello
- Scott Walker, Paul Ryan and The Wisconsin Way
- Bells Done Rung™: The Kim Kardashian wedding stories.
- Bells are Ringing Alert™ and Love Bird Alert: Sand...
- Bun in the oven alert™: More stories about Jennife...
- Samsung i9100 Amzing Cell phone Photos
- Samsung I7500 Photos
- Samsung s8003 Jet Photos Gallary
- Samsung S8300
- Breaking news: Steve Jobs resigns as Apple CEO
- DROID X 2
- DROID X 2
- DROID X Wallpapers
-
▼
August
(655)
Some Thoughts on the London Riots
First things first: I don't think the London riots are the end of civilization as we know it. They make for sensational reporting and photography, but at the end of the day this is a hot summer phenomenon that will peter out within the next few days, if it isn't doing so already. That's my prediction, which you can hold me to, since I am safely ensconced in my office in Milwaukee.
Here's why I think so: on Ace of Spades, I noted a comment answering the question, "why do people riot?" The answer: "because it's fun." This is absolutely right. Ask yourself this. If you were from outer space, and you came to Earth and saw the riots after the Rodney King beating, and then you time-traveled backward to the riots after the Detroit Tigers won the 1984 World Series, or forward to the Vancouver riots after the Canucks lost the 2011 Stanley Cup, could you tell them apart? I don't think so. Yet one had a so-called "political" spark, and the others were after sporting events. In reality, they were all just young men in a critical mass with too much liquor and not enough adult supervision. And, when they get bored with rioting, or when the cost (in possible arrests, injury, or just time) becomes too much, they go home.
On the same post at Ace of Spades, they quote someone describing the rioters as "excitement-seeking children." This is also exactly right. There is some similarity to the riots in Milwaukee, my hometown, recently. Here we had "excitement-seeking" children who happened to be black, finding transgressive pleasure in hitting white people. Sure, there was a racism angle, and, sure, there is a breakdown-of-the-black-community-and-black-family angle. But at the end of the day those were just pretexts to seek the excitement of rioting.
It's not an accident, in other words, that rioters are almost always young men, and that the first thing they attack is almost always a liquor store.
There's also a difference in America, however. Americans have guns. So while the attacks outside of State Fair were horrible, they also didn't go too far; it was as if the kids , after crossing one line, pulled back from the next line. People got beat up, not killed. And no one in Milwaukee is going to start torching businesses or homes, I guarantee it. There are too many business owners and homeowners who have weapons. In London, they've disarmed the population, and empowered the criminals. No wonder their riots go farther than ours.
Nevertheless, I think they'll peter out. Too many good shows on the telly, and too many pretty birds at the corner pub.