Hey, there's that "people are rioting because people are just motherfuckers" line again.
I realize that not everything in the world has a cause and people on the whole really can suck, but to deny that there could be any contributing factors at all when a huge mass of people violently explodes... that's either naive or disingenuous. I'm getting very tired of hearing it.
Not disagreeing there. Britain has been in legitimate ferment for months and it's hardly a coincidence that this all started in one of the poorest neighbourhoods.
But painting the whole riots as some kind of social justice revolutionary movement is just as silly.
It's neither. It's just chaos in naked form, with everything possible mixed in. Legit rage at real issues, bullshit opportunism, and everything in between.
This is actually getting worse. Earlier, I jokingly entertained the idea that they might actually call in the army. Now I think that unless things show marked improvement tonight, military backup for the police before the week is out will be a certainty .
Am I correct in understanding that last night had a strong enough police presence to calm things down a bit?
I don't actually know. The reports I saw in various papers this morning sometimes said yes, sometimes said no, but mostly avoided making any claims other than to say some of this was still going on.