I am entranced, currently, by the sayings of a philosopher I can't currently remember the name of. This random philosopher dude stated that in order to create the perfect society, everyone would have to be taken to a limbo in which they have no idea who they are or what anyone else is. They don't know their race, gender, income band, class or any of the rest of it. All they know is that once the society is built and they come out of limbo, they could be placed into any role within that society. These people then create the laws and structure for the new society, and naturally they have the inclination to make it fair for everyone, because they could be a part of any one class their society is going to create.
This could shine a new light on the riots and things. Because our society doesn't remotely resemble the Hypothetical Limbo Society. The people rioting are playing roles which no-one wants to play.
In our culture, if you find yourself at the certain juxtaposition of age group, income group and location that most of the rioters are at, then your perspective of society is going to stem from the fact that it treats you with disdain and isn't offering you a great deal of opportunity. Uni is expensive, employers are biased, the education system has pretty much given up on you before you walk through the door. You are stuck in a rut of poverty and meaningless you can't get out of.
Of course I'm not saying the riots were good or justified. You only have to listen to the garbled, not-thought-out explanations of rioters to know they don't have a conscious cause; and even if they did, it would not be a reason to burn down people's houses. But we have created a nation where resentment can be easily fostered in housing estates and working-class areas. We have covered the floor with gunpowder, the recent rioters lit the match, you could say.
So much depends on the "birth lottery". It hit home to me, somehow, when there was a rioter being interviewed whose age was reported as being 17- my age. If I had not been born to a fairly well-off family in an area heavily populated by retired people and middle-class-ish families, I could have been doing the same thing right now.
I know, of course, that your own personality comes into it. There have been gentle, loving people adverse to causing harm of any sort born into impoverished families. But no-one can deny that the poor are far more likely to riot than the rich, which shouldn't be the case.
It's easy for those who are well-off and comfortable to say "well, these youths have never even tried to get jobs! why do they deserve any more than they have?" But, you don't know that that's the case. You have never walked in the shoes of any of the ones you are condemning. The fact is, it is a lot more difficult than to be born poor and get rich than it is to be born rich and stay rich. And there are things we can do to change this.
The point I'm trying to make is what this blogger and friend of mine has put so well, that upping crime-fighting and riot-controlling techniques is only dealing with the symptoms of a much deeper problem. And that problem is inequality. Until we establish a nation where opportunity and social mobility for all is a reality, people will want to riot. Not only will people want to riot; but we will continue to waste the talents etc. of a huge percentage of our population, class conflict will stay high, crime rates will increase- I could go on.
I spend a whole blog post (this one) prattling on about the importance of unity. Now I say that unity can only be achieved with equality. Not strict fiscal equality (which is impossible without unrepentably bad things being done), but equality in opportunity and in social status. Until we reach out to the demographic groups we presently detest, this will be a nation divided.
The end. (Or something.)
This could shine a new light on the riots and things. Because our society doesn't remotely resemble the Hypothetical Limbo Society. The people rioting are playing roles which no-one wants to play.
In our culture, if you find yourself at the certain juxtaposition of age group, income group and location that most of the rioters are at, then your perspective of society is going to stem from the fact that it treats you with disdain and isn't offering you a great deal of opportunity. Uni is expensive, employers are biased, the education system has pretty much given up on you before you walk through the door. You are stuck in a rut of poverty and meaningless you can't get out of.
Of course I'm not saying the riots were good or justified. You only have to listen to the garbled, not-thought-out explanations of rioters to know they don't have a conscious cause; and even if they did, it would not be a reason to burn down people's houses. But we have created a nation where resentment can be easily fostered in housing estates and working-class areas. We have covered the floor with gunpowder, the recent rioters lit the match, you could say.
So much depends on the "birth lottery". It hit home to me, somehow, when there was a rioter being interviewed whose age was reported as being 17- my age. If I had not been born to a fairly well-off family in an area heavily populated by retired people and middle-class-ish families, I could have been doing the same thing right now.
I know, of course, that your own personality comes into it. There have been gentle, loving people adverse to causing harm of any sort born into impoverished families. But no-one can deny that the poor are far more likely to riot than the rich, which shouldn't be the case.
It's easy for those who are well-off and comfortable to say "well, these youths have never even tried to get jobs! why do they deserve any more than they have?" But, you don't know that that's the case. You have never walked in the shoes of any of the ones you are condemning. The fact is, it is a lot more difficult than to be born poor and get rich than it is to be born rich and stay rich. And there are things we can do to change this.
The point I'm trying to make is what this blogger and friend of mine has put so well, that upping crime-fighting and riot-controlling techniques is only dealing with the symptoms of a much deeper problem. And that problem is inequality. Until we establish a nation where opportunity and social mobility for all is a reality, people will want to riot. Not only will people want to riot; but we will continue to waste the talents etc. of a huge percentage of our population, class conflict will stay high, crime rates will increase- I could go on.
I spend a whole blog post (this one) prattling on about the importance of unity. Now I say that unity can only be achieved with equality. Not strict fiscal equality (which is impossible without unrepentably bad things being done), but equality in opportunity and in social status. Until we reach out to the demographic groups we presently detest, this will be a nation divided.
The end. (Or something.)
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