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London-Style Riots Closer
to Home Than You Might Think
In early August, the western world watched as London was taken over for a week by violent mobs which tore down buildings, set cars on fire, looted storefronts and generally caused mayhem throughout the city.
Pundits and politicians tried to explain the situation, some saying that “government spending cuts had caused the trouble,” according to former London Mayor Ken Livingstone. 16,000 police had to be called in to London’s streets to restore order.
Now, after hundreds of arrests have been made, the British seem unwilling to lock anyone up. Former Scotland Yard official John O’Connor told the BBC that while Americans “locked people up…we haven’t got the heart for that over here.”
Another police head explained, “Americans police by force. We don’t want to do that here.” Hard to call it a police force if the police are not authorized to use any force. London has survived the civil unrest for now, but given the sudden startup of this round of riots, it seems very likely that another wave of violence could occur at any moment.
Mayor Michael Nutter of Philadelphia has shown firm resolve to prevent further violence by flash mobs by implementing strict curfew policies
and increasing police patrolling.
Irish philadelphia photo essays, jeff meade
While flash mobs wreaking havoc on the streets of London might seem far away, the phenomenon has actually already occurred in the United States. The flash mob idea started as a public prank.
Hundreds of people would coordinate via social media to meet at a designated location at a designated time and suddenly engage in a goofy activity like the “Thriller” Dance or a giant pillow fight. Yet, in recent months, thuggish groups have co-opted the flash-mob method and used it to organize and subsequently carry out violence. Think A Clockwork Orange, but with cell phones to help coordinate.
In the past few months, flash mob incidents have taken place in major cities, including Chicago, Cleveland, Milwaukee, and Philadelphia. Primarily ethnic in makeup, the mobs congregate and carry out violent action, sometimes attacking random people, sometimes destroying storefronts and looting merchandise.
Some say this is motivated by socio-economic frustration, others say it is just young people looking to get a rush, and still others just call them criminal. The mobs display the same “gleeful assaultiveness, party atmosphere and unembarrassed rationalizations for criminal brutality” as the British mobs, according to a WSJ article.
As Britain tries to make sense of this alarming incident and clean up the destruction, America must ask itself: Are the mobs a threat to our domestic security?
Thankfully, the American response has already been typically strong. Mayor Michael Nutter of Philadelphia has come down hard on the mobs, who he sees composed primarily of criminals.
In light of the attacks on Philadelphians, including random public assaults and a looting spree in the Philadelphia suburb of Upper Darby, Mayor Nutter imposed a strict 9pm weekend curfew in mid-August, effective until early September.
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The London riots featured large-scale destruction, including the burning down of buildings and storefronts. Dan Kitwood
The decisive action by the Mayor follows a speech he gave railing against the members of these mobs, who are primarily African-American. Nutter, himself African-American, has told them, “you have damaged your race” by acting this way.
He told them they should not be frustrated at not getting jobs because showing up to job interviews with “hair uncombed,” “neck tattoos,” and “pants half down” makes “you look like you’re crazy.”
Nutter highlights a key component of these mobs, that they are primarily composed of young minorities who are frustrated at a “bleak economic outlook, seemingly unending high unemployment and feel the government isn’t doing anything about it,” according to Frank Farley, a psychologist at Temple University.
Bicycles were looted and used to destroy a cycling shop by rioters in London. Mark L
Therein, however, lies the problem. The people rioting feel the burden falls on the government to solve the problem, not on them. In London, “left wing pundits insist that government budget cuts have led to widespread violence, even though most of the relevant cuts haven’t gone into effect,” writes Jonah Goldberg for National Review.
This argument supports a “license to spend ever more on the social programs that have helped to produce the sort of ‘youths’ who will burn homes and cars and beat people to death should the programs be even moderately curtailed.”
Goldberg continues, “According to liberal logic, the mere threat of reforming such programs is enough to cause wholesale violence…but the threat of violence justifies avoiding cuts…It’s appeasement of and appealing to thuggery.”
In London, the rioters made an announcement on their BlackBerrys to organize for “pure terror and havoc & free stuff.” “Mustn’t forget the free stuff,” concludes Goldberg.
Thankfully, the American response is still to arrest criminals, and, if necessary, to imprison them. Thankfully, we still have leaders like Mayor Nutter, who are unafraid to address issues like this head-on and with the unvarnished truth.
We will need more leaders like him to combat such action should it prove a continuing problem. With strong leadership we are less likely to follow London’s example.
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