I am unsure whether I will post this. If you are reading this then I did, and am probably as a result more sure.
Much has been written about ‘the rioting’. This is just a drop in the large ocean of comment, blogatiousness etc etc.
I guess I was pretty surprised, shocked and generally baffled by the rioting/looting. Strange to see places on the news I have been many times in flames and stores smashed perhaps by people I might have walked past on another occasion.
But in seeing the response by some key politicians and the courts I think perhaps my response now is suprise and shock at our collective response. I think I perhaps want politicians not to act as I would in a moment of rage but as I would hope I would after careful consideration.
In the long term what will we do?
This is not a rant against politicians: I could say ‘I like politicians, some of my best friends are politicians’ but this is largely untrue. However I have met a number of politicans from different parties and found them to be, regardless of whether I agree with their ethos and opinions, a generally well meaning bunch (in person away from the television screens). However it does seem that for what ever reason they are constantly in the moment and never in the future. Focusing on the next election and not the next 20, 30, 50 years.
What are we going to do next? How can we understand? How can we better educate? How do we develop our communities?
I don’t know. I am at a loss to imagine why people acted as they did and there is inevitably a spectrum from the opportunists, to the criminals to those in financial need. Equally I am not saying that policing, courts, prison… have no place. And in some ways initiatives by politicians to create ‘citizens’ and ‘community spirit’ and in general hug all hoodies everywhere might well not be the way forward.
Hug me... I am a hoodie
I just cannot believe that tough policing and tough sentencing is the only answer. I heard that after the recent killings in Norway recently the Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said that the response must be for more democracy, more openness and more political participation. A brave, bold statement I think.
Recent Comments