Scumbaggery in the UK.

(NOTE: For the young ‘uns, the title of this post and the image is a reference to a song by the Sex Pistols.)

I’m quite tired of people hijacking the event popularly known as the London ‘riots’ for their own agenda.

Some examples:

• “This justifies the strict laws against rioting and protesting we have in Singapore”.
• “This is why we need to love our government, regardless of whoever is in the government”.

I don’t think those two claims are relevant or appropriate to the situation.

The first misses the larger point – this is not a riot, but simply a case of looting and theft carried out by opportunists who have purposefully disregarded social mores and notions of prop(ri)erty.

The second claim entails a blind subservience without moderation or calibration; a one or the other approach seldom makes sense, especially in contexts like these.

In my opinion, the most pertinent issues that seem to have conveniently been forgotten are:

1. How this scumbaggery has been wrongly labelled a ‘riot’ or a ‘protest.
   This merely legitimises the actions of the looters and thefts and encourages them to be bolder in their impunity.
2. How everything including the kitchen sink is wrongful fodder for blame with regard to these acts of “feral” scumbaggery.
   When in actual fact, the adage of “Those who criticise [the younger] generation forget who raised it” has never rung truer.

These articles may flesh out my arguments better:

1. The UK riots and language: ‘rioter’, ‘protester’ or ‘scum’?
   (via Yu-Mei)

2. Britain’s liberal intelligentsia has smashed virtually every social value.
   (via Andrew)

BTW with regard to the second article, I disagree with the portion on the “destr[uction of] the traditional nuclear family”.

I think the traditional nuclear family is ONE of the ways in which the problem of “a world where the parent is unwilling or incapable of providing the loving and disciplined framework that a child needs in order to thrive” can be resolved.

Also, I’m advocating a moderate approach to parenting/discipline – it’s okay to ‘let children be’, but at times you really have to rein them in.