Riots were initially triggered by a gunshot of an Afro-Caribbean man, Mark Duggan by a police officer in Tottenham. It started off as a peaceful protest of inequity and justice, but it turned into outraging riots in the evening, where hundreds of youths dressed up with their hoods and masks on, attacking police with glasses, bottles, and hard objects, vandalizing and looting shops, torching cars, and setting shops and premises on fire. It then spread all across London, and later in the week, across England land.
First of all, many looters and rioters were not even at their teenage, and even if they were, they were without doubt young teens or in their early twenties. Tell me about this, are they even mature enough to think about injustice and inequality? Have their brains grown enough to think politically correctly? Have they thought about the consequences ahead of them? Have they even had thought about their contribution to the lost of the victims? Have they ever even had thought about how much shame they had put upon their own country, as well as their own selves?
Is this a failure of an act of multiculturalism? I personally do not think so. Every country has been going through globalization, where every culture needs to mix and mingle at some point. The riots occurred in G-20 in Toronto was without doubt one of the discontentment of people towards multiculturalism, but tell me people, how many were really protesting against multiculturalism and globalization? Most of the people who took part in the riot were purely looking for excitements and attentions. There might have been inequity treatment amongst races, but the outcome of the provocation was just outrageous, and inhumane...
Is this event a moral issue or a political issue? It is definitely a moral one. Everyone knows by law that we are not allow to steal, by law that we are not allowed to vandalize public and private properties of others, by law that we are not allowed to loot shops; I get people who need to protest against inequity, but not in a way that is morally incorrect. Racking other victims' properties and carrying no responsibility after their acts are serious moral issues that have to be dealt with, taught to, taken care of... Looters laughing while they broke into shops, taking merchandises from shops for free, cursing at police, attacking camera men.. Where is the sense of moral for these kids? Let me tell you what exactly had happened. My ex-friend currently living in London, (Karan Rai), posted a status on his facebook stating, "chasing by a BBC radio reporter, promise we didn't do anything! :)" and so I commented on his status if he was one of the looters there, and he gave me a sarcastically irresponsible reply, and I asked him last, "You think this is funny?" and he deleted me on facebook right after that. First of all, I think this person is truly naive. Second of all, was his participation purely because of protesting against inequity? Or was it because of pure boredom and excitement? The smiley face on his status says it all. He was not even native in England, why was he so up with this business? Because he wanted to get attention and excitement? I do not really know. I digress. All I am trying to point out in this paragraph is that, kids who rioted in this event lacked moral sense, they lacked the responsibility, they lacked the sense of what is right and what is wrong, and this event is purely a moral issue.
Is this event partially caused by false parenting or a rebellious phase of teenagers? I am not really the person to judge here, but I think somewhat both? Since there is a saying that the people around them make what they are today. It also depends on what kind of people and community they crowd into at a later growing stage, and this is one of the issues that is happening around the world. There are clusters of good and bad communities all around the world, and it depends on the person's belief on what is correct and what is not. Why else would there be problem child?
More to the point, Social networking has grown immensely since the early 21st century. With the rising of blackberry messaging, whatsapping, Google chatting, Facebooking, Youtubing, Blogging, Vlogging etc., people can get information instantly from one place to another. Social networking is definitely one of the triggers of rioting and looting, especially young people, who have been exposed to social media, and social network pretty much their whole lives.
Results of this rioting:
I am not from England, so I do not have a say for the victims, and I have not encountered anything like this before. But if I were one of the victims, I would think that I was not part of it, why had I become part of this turmoil, which is completely unacceptable. Have I ever done anything wrong to one of these rioters and looters? This is not a matter of fighting for equality, you are bullying people who just want to have a normal life living in London. You are completely irresponsible of your deeds, and you think it is fun to do something like this. I am pretty sure some people owns a local shop as their lifelong property, and in just a night of riot, they lost everything they had before. Is this equality? Kids? Rioters? Looters? Trouble makers? You should have gone home doing summer homework from school, and at least find something productive to do, and not destroying people's hard work for their living.
Thoughts of an outsider:
As an outsider of this event, I feel terribly sorry for those who were involved in this turmoil, for those who lost their properties, for those who have gotten wounded or hurt, and for those who almost lost their lives. I am sickeningly disgusted with this rioting and looting of young kids who is living in the country they are racking. Not only they are racking their own neighborhood and country, they are racking their own future. I hope there will be serious consequences for those who participated in the rioting and looting. And I hope people who have been victimized will get back what they deserve very soon, and I hope things will resume just fine very soon in England. I, with the bottom of my heart, felt truly sorry of what our generation has become. I am ashamed of myself as being part of this generation where children become irresponsible, immoral, and mindless these days. But one thing I can be sure is that, people at my age who are thinking what I am thinking, your maturity, you morality, your beliefs, and your mind top the world, and you should stay what you believe is true to you.
Consequences? Definitely, there will be consequences... It will take a lot of time to recover the country and its reputation of course. And for sure it is going to be even harder when the Olympic games is approaching. Athletes from every country would be worried of their safety to England at this point. But I think, if everyone in the country can unite together, with no stereotyping, discrimination, hatred, discontentment to one another, I am sure people living in England will be laughing their heads off as if this event has never happened.
Good luck to you all, Englanders! I will support you all!
