It's the same old song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gudJgbvBnmo

What I love about these rioters is they organized using the cell phones paid for by the government.

Socialism doesn't lead to a happier, more peaceful society. It leads to a more demanding and ungrateful one. The problem isn't a lack of resources, the problem is an erosion of character.

Two World Wars killed off a lot of the bravest and the best. Great Britain isn't what it used to be.

For that matter, the United States isn't what it used to be.

You can't give anyone dignity or self-respect.

Just to throw something out there... when women started working outside the home in larger numbers, obviously there was a labor surplus, it would be interesting to see what, if any, effect it had on the numbers of households where no adults work.

"Given the reputation of English womanhood..."

There's some fine specimens of English womanhood on display here:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2024035/UK-riots-2011-500-Londoners-offer-help-clean-rioters-mess.html

It amazes me how short memories are, like this is the first time that rioters struck London. The Clash wrote some great music about the riots in the 80's. The Who wrote about the riots in England in the 60's and 70's. Of course, the same old culprits were blamed- immigrants on the dole, a generation raised without discipline. The history of London is one of Catholics versus Protestants, workers versus capitalists, Mods versus Rockers...

Another point of view, you doughnuts!

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/81754294/

Hey, lookie here!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_riots_in_London

It's David Cameron's fault? Really? That's the best you can do, Eric? That's pretty fucking pathetic; if the actual rioters aren't at fault, why not just blame it on the flying spaghetti monster?

Juvenile delinquency has actually been a major problem in Britain for decades.

Regardless of the fault, the reaction to these and the burning of cars in Paris is ridiculously mamby-pamby. Might that have a wee bit of influence of actually choosing to burn down your own neighborhood?

Russel Brand's essay is worth a read:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/aug/11/london-riots-davidcameron

Rioters like that deserve to be shot in the face.

Pack of spoiled brats.

There, viciousness spat out, now on a more level headed note:

It was once said that: "Whenever I favor a man with a gift, I create 99 malcontents and 1 ingrate."

That is what socialist policies create, a nation of ingrates and malcontents, the ingrates think they should be getting more, the malcontents want to get what the ingrates got, and vote it to themselves out of the public trust, only to become ingrates themselves and collectively demand more, and riot when they don't or can't have it. Rather like spoiled children really.

Its hard to imagine people miss that aspect of human nature so thoroughly. Yes we can point to this or that single figure as someone whom happens to stand out as a particularly troublesome figure, we can point to one social or political issue or another as a possible contributor, but the underlying and ugly truth is that the nation turned itself into a spineless parent to a directionless and entitled generation of citizens. Is it any wonder that riots broke out?

Where did I even mention David Cameron? I am in the camp that once the riots start, the police should use anything in their disposal to quell the violence.

This bitter British spud won my allegiance with this tweet.

Maybe the rioters could be drafted by the British government into the military and sent to Afghanistan, where their need for violence will be put to good use against the Taliban.

Wow, Eric, do even read and/or listen to your links?

[Note: I posted this in "The Welfare State Must Die" thread by accident - so it's in two places.]

According to this piece by Jason Ivey, the US caused the British riots by protecting the European welfare state and the expanding welfare state is contributing to the end of civilization:

...the thugs and looters have no regard for human life, rights, property, the rule of law, or civilization itself. Some rioters, speaking to reporters, claimed this was about showing "the rich" they could do what they wanted. These acts weren’t about economic wont, or racial inequity, or police brutality; this was straight-up moral degeneracy. Many of these people have no desire to actually work in exchange for money because they’re now several generations down the line of the dependent class.

In Britain, as in America, the "poor" have computers, smart phones, and high-definition televisions, but they’ve been taught for decades they’re owed something from someone else. They’ve been taught wealth is not the result of hard work, but something that should be taken from those who have whatever they do not. They’ve been taught family is meaningless and that reproduction’s greatest purpose is to ensure delivery of another government check.

Ivey goes on to say:

They weren’t born this way, but they were raised this way by Leftism run amuck and left unchecked. They are a mob, and the mob is growing and spreading and becoming more aggressive. They are parasites quickly sucking the blood of what’s left of civilized society throughout the Western world, from Greece and France to California and Wisconsin.

And, finally:

Britain and other European states became the rotting cultural cesspools they are today because of the American military. Thanks to our superiority, none of these other Western nations had to train men to fight, nor did they need worry much about the enemy next door. They were allowed to grow soft because the US was still hard. Their governments could become bloated service-providers furthering the objective of creating a permanent dependent class because they were safe to do so and no longer had to spend money on defense. America kept the [West] safe for cultural destruction. Freeloaders can be freeloaders, because not only do we encourage and promote freeloading, we militarily protect it.

We can create and support millions of Amy Winehouses because others have created the necessary wealth, the social engineers have replaced stigma with romanticism, and the military ensures this path can continue indefinitely. ... The Left’s degenerative morality successfully strengthened the parasite while weakening the host, and we all know at some point the host will die.

http://biggovernment.com/jivey/2011/08/14/u-s-military-protectors-of-the-selfish-class/