It's not caused by welfare. My family, when I was younger, was on welfare for a good two to three years while my father tried to find another job due to being fired from a university teaching position. We didn't turn into degenerates!
No, the cause is BAD PARENTING. Pure and simple - parents who don't discipline their kids, parents who use drugs and don't bother to teach their kids, parents who never offer encouragement, never offer support, never offer anything other than harsh words and swearing.
Kids in the UK, even some of the most disadvantaged kids, don't realize how good they've got it, especially when compared to what other children in other parts of the world have to put up with. They live in a relatively stable society that isn't torn by war, large civil strife, or wide-spread famine. The government will provide them with food and water, 24/7. That's already a HUGE leg up over so many people in the rest of the world. The vast majority of these rioters can also read and write (not well, but the basics of literacy are there, because they can communicate with Facebook and twitter). Just being able to read is a HUGE gift, a huge advantage, a huge opportunity. There is a wealth of knowledge and information in your local public library - and it's FREE! Right there for the taking! They live in a society that has incredible technology! Hell, the mobile phone is an AMAZING piece of technology, and they just.... take it for granted. They have no respect for the society or the values that BUILT the first computer, that INVENTED microwave and radar technology, that DESIGNED the jet engine.
This is because some parents don't teach their kids about the benefits of society. They don't teach their kids the benefits of reading and learning. They don't help them plot a course through life. They're disinterested, detached from what their kids do.
So who do the kids turn to? Well, it's our good ol' buddies "Fiddy Cent" and "Lil' Wayne!" You never see them read a book in their music videos! Or see them teach kids the importance of being POLITE! You know, POLITENESS?! Remember that? "Good Morning!?" as opposed to "What up dog!" or "Good evening ma'am" as opposed to "What's shaking B****!"?
It might shock some of these rioters who complain that "I can't get a job!", that if you walk into the job interview wearing gold chains and "Thug-Life" shirts, you are NOT making a very good impression! That if you can't spell properly or bother to use the goddamn F7 key on your computer or, I don't know, PICK UP A DICTIONARY, not many employers will look at your resume! And don't tell me they can't afford a pocket dictionary. If they can afford the ridiculously expensive branded hip-hop hoodies they wear, they can afford a dictionary. They're not expensive, you know.
But I don't blame them: I blame their parents.... and I also blame the media! I blame the media who have decided "Let's give the people what they want! Let's give them the absolute trashiest garbage possible! Let's give them entertainment with no intellectual or moral value! Let's give them "Fiddy Cent" and his "Get-rich-or-die-tryin'" philosophy! Let's give them rap music videos in which women do nothing but shake their buttocks in front of a camera, and are rewarded for doing so! Let's have music videos which show a rap star lounging around in an expensive mansion, with dozens of what I assume to be prostitutes, and glamorize that lifestyle, GLAMORIZE that attitude, GLAMORIZE the ignorance and machismo and the "bad-boy" atttitude!"
Don't tell them the importance of mathematics! That's boring! It's so much easier to grab their attention by putting gyrating breasts on screen! Don't ever tell them how important science is! It's so much easier to show a side-ways-cap wearing man sneering and shouting and thrusting his junk towards the screen! Don't try to explain the benefits of self-control, self-improvement, stoicism or discipline! NO, NO, NO! Let's just celebrate people getting drunk and screaming their heads off!
We have a pop culture that venerates the following:
1) Emotional outbursts. Just say whatever you feel, embrace your feelings no matter how illogical and just GO WITH IT, without ever pausing for a SECOND to reflect and THINK.
2) Rash actions: Don't bother to plan! Don't bother to learn from experience! Just be WILD, and surely success will SOMEHOW find its way to you!
3) Pure Money. The only worth of a man, so these rap music videos and business books say, is in how much money he has. Not how he makes the money. Not how he lives his life! Just the amount of cash he can "Bling Bling" throw around! Intelligence!? Introspection?! Philosophy!? Those aren't dollar bills!
Whereas the following values are NO longer taught or respected by modern day society:
1) Being Quiet. That's boring! Let's be as LOUD as possible, regardless of how annoying or disruptive it is to anyone else! Let's cackled and laugh and bray like obnoxious morons on the bus, on the train, in the supermarket, because surely EVERYONE loves to hear the semi-intelligible gibberish I spout about my girlfriend's "ass" or my "F-ing hot ride"!
2) Being intellectual! After all, mathematics are science are so overrated, right!? It's not like they UNDERPIN THE VERY FABRIC OF MODERN DAY SOCIETY AND ALL THE TECHNOLOGY WITHIN IT, or anything like that!
3) Responsibility. Who wants to feel RESPONSIBLE!? No one, that's who, and you're not responsible for anything! Success should be a right, right? Fortune, fame and a happy life should be GIVENS, not something anyone has to work towards! It should all fall out of the sky! I mean, look at all those mega rap stars! THEY'RE never shown to work or read or write or pursue intellectual endeavours! They're rich, but they're never shown working to get rich! So why work!? Why try!? You're not responsible for making your own life! It should be given to you, right? Right?
4) Being Polite. Who wants to be polite these days! No! Let's be edgy and swear a lot! Let's address our prospective boss as "dude" or "dudette" in the job interview! They're SURE to appreciate the rough and "cool" edginess that's so HIP with today's youth! It's not like BEING RUDE could have ANY repercussions on my employability, right?! Fiddy swears a lot, and I want to be just like him! I also apparently think it would be cool to get shot a lot!
5) Propah Speling! Bruv, dat stuf's 4 wankas! Spelin's not importent! Wheneva I'm gunna use dat shit!? Srsly, txting's all da raje! Imployers gunna RESPEC my FRESH way o spelin bruv! Whuts a diksionaree?
Now before you jump on the bandwagon and accuse me of being racist: I'm not white! Well, I'm half white. I'm also half Chinese! This is not to say that non-white people can't be racist, but that I'm not coming from the "oh you hate black culture because you're white" place. I actually have GREAT respect for REAL african culture - not the pathetic corporate constructed nonsense that is currently being practised in the US and the UK. That's not real African culture or real Black culture - that's American culture.
I've met many poor people around the world, of all stripes, colours and creeds! Being poor doesn't not mean you become an animal - bad parenting and bad culture create bad behaviour. I've met many poor Malays who respect their elders, say "thank you" and "please" and work hard. I've met many poor people in India who have such noble spirits it would break your heart to see them live in poverty. I've met many poor Chinese people (some of them my relatives!) who respect property, don't deal in drugs, and believe firmly that scholarship and academic work are the keys TO THE FUTURE (co-incidently my poor chinese relatives are no longer poor. Wanna know why? Because they worked hard and paid attention in school! And Malaysia is a much more deprived nation than the UK, with far worse schools, so you can't use that excuse).
I've met Black people who are respectful, civilized, peaceful and very intelligent! Because they AVOIDED the corporate SLUDGE that American TV tried to cram down their throats and actually practised their real, traditional African culture! Black people are just as smart, biologically, as ANY other race. Just... just read a book by Neil Degrasse Tyson! He's a black astrophysicist, and a damn good one! He succeeded, because instead of venerating "Fiddy Cent" and gangsters and criminals, he venerated REAL role models like Isaac Newton! Or Einstein!
Science and mathematics are the KEYS, the absolute KEYS to wealth and prosperity. Technology is the reason why the West is affluent. Any culture that does not appreciate science and mathematics is a culture that will never help its adherents succeed. The Chinese respect science and scholarship. The Indians do as well. So do the Japanese. Koreans also respect and venerate those that do well in school! And look! All those countries are either highly developed, or are developing at a brisk pace!
Join the dots yourself. Cultures which respect learning and discipline and science do well. Cultures that don't.... DON'T! It's not rocket science. Until the UK and the US get a youth culture or a pop culture that actually respects discipline, good old fashions stoic values, emotional restraint and high intellectual arts (like mathematics), they will continue to decline into the abyss.
The Chinese still respect science. And if the Americans don't re-discover their lost respect for the intellectual activities that made them a superpower, the Chinese are going to eat them alive! But no pressure. After all, wearing a cap backwards and screaming on about banging hoes and cappin' fools is so much easier than learning Calculus, and surely America is a nation that "Doesn't do things because they are hard, but does things because they are easy!". Or wait... has that quote gotten mangled somewhere along the way?
No, the cause is BAD PARENTING. Pure and simple - parents who don't discipline their kids, parents who use drugs and don't bother to teach their kids, parents who never offer encouragement, never offer support, never offer anything other than harsh words and swearing.
Kids in the UK, even some of the most disadvantaged kids, don't realize how good they've got it, especially when compared to what other children in other parts of the world have to put up with. They live in a relatively stable society that isn't torn by war, large civil strife, or wide-spread famine. The government will provide them with food and water, 24/7. That's already a HUGE leg up over so many people in the rest of the world. The vast majority of these rioters can also read and write (not well, but the basics of literacy are there, because they can communicate with Facebook and twitter). Just being able to read is a HUGE gift, a huge advantage, a huge opportunity. There is a wealth of knowledge and information in your local public library - and it's FREE! Right there for the taking! They live in a society that has incredible technology! Hell, the mobile phone is an AMAZING piece of technology, and they just.... take it for granted. They have no respect for the society or the values that BUILT the first computer, that INVENTED microwave and radar technology, that DESIGNED the jet engine.
This is because some parents don't teach their kids about the benefits of society. They don't teach their kids the benefits of reading and learning. They don't help them plot a course through life. They're disinterested, detached from what their kids do.
So who do the kids turn to? Well, it's our good ol' buddies "Fiddy Cent" and "Lil' Wayne!" You never see them read a book in their music videos! Or see them teach kids the importance of being POLITE! You know, POLITENESS?! Remember that? "Good Morning!?" as opposed to "What up dog!" or "Good evening ma'am" as opposed to "What's shaking B****!"?
It might shock some of these rioters who complain that "I can't get a job!", that if you walk into the job interview wearing gold chains and "Thug-Life" shirts, you are NOT making a very good impression! That if you can't spell properly or bother to use the goddamn F7 key on your computer or, I don't know, PICK UP A DICTIONARY, not many employers will look at your resume! And don't tell me they can't afford a pocket dictionary. If they can afford the ridiculously expensive branded hip-hop hoodies they wear, they can afford a dictionary. They're not expensive, you know.
But I don't blame them: I blame their parents.... and I also blame the media! I blame the media who have decided "Let's give the people what they want! Let's give them the absolute trashiest garbage possible! Let's give them entertainment with no intellectual or moral value! Let's give them "Fiddy Cent" and his "Get-rich-or-die-tryin'" philosophy! Let's give them rap music videos in which women do nothing but shake their buttocks in front of a camera, and are rewarded for doing so! Let's have music videos which show a rap star lounging around in an expensive mansion, with dozens of what I assume to be prostitutes, and glamorize that lifestyle, GLAMORIZE that attitude, GLAMORIZE the ignorance and machismo and the "bad-boy" atttitude!"
Don't tell them the importance of mathematics! That's boring! It's so much easier to grab their attention by putting gyrating breasts on screen! Don't ever tell them how important science is! It's so much easier to show a side-ways-cap wearing man sneering and shouting and thrusting his junk towards the screen! Don't try to explain the benefits of self-control, self-improvement, stoicism or discipline! NO, NO, NO! Let's just celebrate people getting drunk and screaming their heads off!
We have a pop culture that venerates the following:
1) Emotional outbursts. Just say whatever you feel, embrace your feelings no matter how illogical and just GO WITH IT, without ever pausing for a SECOND to reflect and THINK.
2) Rash actions: Don't bother to plan! Don't bother to learn from experience! Just be WILD, and surely success will SOMEHOW find its way to you!
3) Pure Money. The only worth of a man, so these rap music videos and business books say, is in how much money he has. Not how he makes the money. Not how he lives his life! Just the amount of cash he can "Bling Bling" throw around! Intelligence!? Introspection?! Philosophy!? Those aren't dollar bills!
Whereas the following values are NO longer taught or respected by modern day society:
1) Being Quiet. That's boring! Let's be as LOUD as possible, regardless of how annoying or disruptive it is to anyone else! Let's cackled and laugh and bray like obnoxious morons on the bus, on the train, in the supermarket, because surely EVERYONE loves to hear the semi-intelligible gibberish I spout about my girlfriend's "ass" or my "F-ing hot ride"!
2) Being intellectual! After all, mathematics are science are so overrated, right!? It's not like they UNDERPIN THE VERY FABRIC OF MODERN DAY SOCIETY AND ALL THE TECHNOLOGY WITHIN IT, or anything like that!
3) Responsibility. Who wants to feel RESPONSIBLE!? No one, that's who, and you're not responsible for anything! Success should be a right, right? Fortune, fame and a happy life should be GIVENS, not something anyone has to work towards! It should all fall out of the sky! I mean, look at all those mega rap stars! THEY'RE never shown to work or read or write or pursue intellectual endeavours! They're rich, but they're never shown working to get rich! So why work!? Why try!? You're not responsible for making your own life! It should be given to you, right? Right?
4) Being Polite. Who wants to be polite these days! No! Let's be edgy and swear a lot! Let's address our prospective boss as "dude" or "dudette" in the job interview! They're SURE to appreciate the rough and "cool" edginess that's so HIP with today's youth! It's not like BEING RUDE could have ANY repercussions on my employability, right?! Fiddy swears a lot, and I want to be just like him! I also apparently think it would be cool to get shot a lot!
5) Propah Speling! Bruv, dat stuf's 4 wankas! Spelin's not importent! Wheneva I'm gunna use dat shit!? Srsly, txting's all da raje! Imployers gunna RESPEC my FRESH way o spelin bruv! Whuts a diksionaree?
Now before you jump on the bandwagon and accuse me of being racist: I'm not white! Well, I'm half white. I'm also half Chinese! This is not to say that non-white people can't be racist, but that I'm not coming from the "oh you hate black culture because you're white" place. I actually have GREAT respect for REAL african culture - not the pathetic corporate constructed nonsense that is currently being practised in the US and the UK. That's not real African culture or real Black culture - that's American culture.
I've met many poor people around the world, of all stripes, colours and creeds! Being poor doesn't not mean you become an animal - bad parenting and bad culture create bad behaviour. I've met many poor Malays who respect their elders, say "thank you" and "please" and work hard. I've met many poor people in India who have such noble spirits it would break your heart to see them live in poverty. I've met many poor Chinese people (some of them my relatives!) who respect property, don't deal in drugs, and believe firmly that scholarship and academic work are the keys TO THE FUTURE (co-incidently my poor chinese relatives are no longer poor. Wanna know why? Because they worked hard and paid attention in school! And Malaysia is a much more deprived nation than the UK, with far worse schools, so you can't use that excuse).
I've met Black people who are respectful, civilized, peaceful and very intelligent! Because they AVOIDED the corporate SLUDGE that American TV tried to cram down their throats and actually practised their real, traditional African culture! Black people are just as smart, biologically, as ANY other race. Just... just read a book by Neil Degrasse Tyson! He's a black astrophysicist, and a damn good one! He succeeded, because instead of venerating "Fiddy Cent" and gangsters and criminals, he venerated REAL role models like Isaac Newton! Or Einstein!
Science and mathematics are the KEYS, the absolute KEYS to wealth and prosperity. Technology is the reason why the West is affluent. Any culture that does not appreciate science and mathematics is a culture that will never help its adherents succeed. The Chinese respect science and scholarship. The Indians do as well. So do the Japanese. Koreans also respect and venerate those that do well in school! And look! All those countries are either highly developed, or are developing at a brisk pace!
Join the dots yourself. Cultures which respect learning and discipline and science do well. Cultures that don't.... DON'T! It's not rocket science. Until the UK and the US get a youth culture or a pop culture that actually respects discipline, good old fashions stoic values, emotional restraint and high intellectual arts (like mathematics), they will continue to decline into the abyss.
The Chinese still respect science. And if the Americans don't re-discover their lost respect for the intellectual activities that made them a superpower, the Chinese are going to eat them alive! But no pressure. After all, wearing a cap backwards and screaming on about banging hoes and cappin' fools is so much easier than learning Calculus, and surely America is a nation that "Doesn't do things because they are hard, but does things because they are easy!". Or wait... has that quote gotten mangled somewhere along the way?