I hope all my friends in London (and elsewhere) are OK!
Mostly OK so far, but not sleeping much. :( A fairly big crowd of rioters congregated on and around the steps to our house on Sunday night and banged on the door (or window? I wasn't watching, just heard the banging) and apparently made a lot of mess, but no permanent damage, and my nice neighbour cleared up the mess before we got up.
In particular, it seems to me that whilst just dismissing the rioters as mindless thugs and suggesting the army should be called in is unsatisfactory, it also won't do to tell someone terrified by the violence that this is all about the uprising of a repressed underclass.
Thank you so much for saying this. Not least because the members of the repressed underclass who haven't chosen violence are among the worst affected by the crimes of those who have; but also because victim blaming isn't OK even when the victims have more privilege than the people committing crimes against them/us. (And given that much of what I heard the rioters shouting was sexist abuse, I think it's fair to say that they were wielding privilege as well as expressing their reaction to non-privilege).
And it does feel like victim blaming when compassion for victims only comes as a footnote to blaming social factors that they/we have a part in (me more than most, I guess, but even so ...)
To your list of causes I would add: "people wanting stuff". To dismiss anyone or any act as "simply criminal" is a mistake, I think. It's always good to look at what wider society can do to prevent people from desiring to commit crime.
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Mostly OK so far, but not sleeping much. :( A fairly big crowd of rioters congregated on and around the steps to our house on Sunday night and banged on the door (or window? I wasn't watching, just heard the banging) and apparently made a lot of mess, but no permanent damage, and my nice neighbour cleared up the mess before we got up.
In particular, it seems to me that whilst just dismissing the rioters as mindless thugs and suggesting the army should be called in is unsatisfactory, it also won't do to tell someone terrified by the violence that this is all about the uprising of a repressed underclass.
Thank you so much for saying this. Not least because the members of the repressed underclass who haven't chosen violence are among the worst affected by the crimes of those who have; but also because victim blaming isn't OK even when the victims have more privilege than the people committing crimes against them/us. (And given that much of what I heard the rioters shouting was sexist abuse, I think it's fair to say that they were wielding privilege as well as expressing their reaction to non-privilege).
And it does feel like victim blaming when compassion for victims only comes as a footnote to blaming social factors that they/we have a part in (me more than most, I guess, but even so ...)
To your list of causes I would add: "people wanting stuff". To dismiss anyone or any act as "simply criminal" is a mistake, I think. It's always good to look at what wider society can do to prevent people from desiring to commit crime.