British PM David Cameron considers ban on Twitter and Facebook during U.K. riots | The Cutline - Yahoo! News
I see that David Cameron and the rest are talking about trying to regulate twitter, facebook, BBM and the rest, in order to stop anyone who tries to incite violence or riots from doing so.
I'm sorry, but this is pathetic. Its exactly what I assumed would happen, the real social issues affecting the youth of today are going to be ignored because we are too busy burying our heads in the sand, pretending that in actual fact everything is fine and this is just a case of idiots causing destruction and mayhem. Now of course, there is a large percentage of people who were just joining in for the fu and the free stuff, but the fact is these things don't 'just happen'. There has to be enough anger within people in order for this level of mayhem to start.
I swear, people in their late 20's, early 30's and above have no idea what people from rough areas under the age of 25 actually think and feel about the country. All through this rioting all I have heard from people in the street and on tv is that 'they should be ashamed of themselves' and 'how could they do this to their own communities'.
In order to feel ashamed of what they are doing to their communities, they surely first need to feel like they are part of the commmunity, and need to feel pride in their community. In reality, what everyone else called 'their community' boils down to being just 'where they live' to these kids. Their 'community spirit' was in evidence all through the rioting, one steps up and smashes a window, then disappears into a crowd of people who then disperse and the perpetrators get away, it was in evidence through the BBM broadcast that went out that said something along the lines of 'It doesnt matter what ends you're from, we're hitting xyz place and all are welcome'.
They were willing to put aside any gang related differences in order to pull together and become one massive youth community, and people dont like it because they were neither prepared for it, nor had any idea that the kids could manage this on their own.
A woman I work with said they should have respect, and when I replied 'where is your respect for them' she said 'respect is earned, they dont deserve respect'. This attitude is something I myself have experienced, I'm not talking about respect for my achievments because I am still young, and have my whole life ahead of me, but basic respect, common courtesy, that a few years ago I didnt get from people of a certain age just because I was young. I'm talking about stuff like holding a door for me when I'm walking behind them, saying please and thank you, stuff like that. But you can be guaranteed that they expect me to extend those courtesies to them, purely because they are older than me.
Show the youth some respect, they are not complete idiots as we have seen in the last few days. Right under the noses of the politicians, the police, the parents, these young people have managed to organise mass chaos, the level of organisation shown surely deserves some respect.
Give people a sense of pride in their communities, by actually having something for them to be proud of. All of these kids that are being arrested, have them be involved in the rebuilding process of the buildings they have destroyed and they will feel a sense of ownership and attachment to the places, which is more likely to prevent this from happening in future than banning twitter is.
And make a system where it is not more financially viable for a person to claim as many benefits as possible rather than get a job. Get people out in the real world, with jobs that they work hard at, and then they themselves, and will feel like they are part of the community.
Again, I'd like to make it clear I dont condone the rioting and looting. But I do support the cause that this should be bringing to the attention of the nation.