[I present below 2 articles I've come across that address what has been behind the riots taking place in London. The first one presents a Christian view whereas the second one speaks more of how there are parallels for what has been happening in America. I believe they are both worth your time.]
P.S.- Please be sure to check my Sunday Special on my essay on a Christian response to economic uncertainty.
[bold and italics emphases below MINE]
No Shock that London is Burning - Dale Hurd CBN News Sr. Reporter; http://blogs.cbn.com/hurdontheweb/archive/2011/08/09/no-shock-that-london-is-burning.aspx August 9, 2011
"Why, exactly, is it wrong to loot and to burn?" Imagine hearing this question from one of the London rioters, if you were to stop them as they were lifting a sweet flat screen from a shop in Brixton or Hackney, and if they didn’t just give you a violent shove out of their way instead. If they did ask you this question, it might even be sincere, accompanied by a puzzled look. When you live on the bottom strata in a post-Christian moral vacuum, it’s not about right or wrong, but simply about have or have not.
The destruction began after a shooting involving London Police and has spread to several cities. Some news agencies and politicians have tried to tie the rioting to unrest over welfare cuts. This paints a respectable political veneer over top what is a feral mass crime spree. There undoubtedly is some political expression within the looting and burning, and that would be rage and revenge against a society and a system that the poor feel is stacked against them. To quote one rioter, "(We're) showing the rich we do what we want." One cannot pick on Britain exclusively, because America has this problem as well, and the crisis du jour in Britain is a crisis of the whole Western world, and it’s coming to a city near you. It is a crisis of faith.
Britain is a nation now so secular that when former Prime Minister Tony Blair wanted to end a speech to the nation with “God bless you,” it was nixed by his staff for fear of offending too many people. Some years ago, when a Mori poll for the BBC's Heaven & Earth program asked the British to name an 'inspirational' figure - Jesus finished at the bottom, not even close to "none of the above" or Britney Spears. The only real operating “moral” code in a post-Christian nation like Britain is a very vague, conditional sense of the Golden Rule used to reinforce the new national creed of selfishness and hedonism. The other is the threat of jail.
This is true across Europe and in many parts of America. One cannot expect young people, taught to believe that Christian morals are evil and oppressive, and that the only final reality is material and energy shaped by pure chance, to decide to honor law or property or their fellow man. Without God, it becomes the law of the jungle.
The Ministry of Making Too Much by John Hayward (HumanEventsDaily@email.humanevents.com) August 9, 2011
After I was critical of the tactics used by striking union members against Verizon, I received several responses to the effect that vandalism and violence are justified because Verizon makes too much profit, and its executives make too much money. One correspondent defended union lawbreaking by citing Verizon executive Ivan Seidenberg’s $18 million annual compensation package. That sure is a lot of money, so I guess cutting fiber optic lines and stealing electronic equipment is justified. I know some young people in Britain who would enthusiastically agree. The BBC recorded an interview with two giggling teenage girls who explained,“It’s the rich people who have got all the businesses. That’s why all this is happening, because of the rich people. We’re showing the rich we do what we want.”
If you’ve been following the British riots at all, you’ve noticed the targets of looting and robbery have not been exclusively “rich people,” by any stretch of the imagination. Perhaps we could avoid confusion, both in America and England, by setting up a Ministry of Making Too Much, to declare the exact point at which increasing wealth completely erases the rights of an individual.The Ministry will need a large staff and lots of funding, because it’s got a big job ahead of it. There are many nuances that must be ironed out. Will the salaries of union executives and politicians be regulated too? Do entertainers and athletes also make too much money? Will the lifetime earnings of each individual and corporation be considered, or just how much they pulled down last year?
Since all the smart people inside the Beltway assure us that moving back to a system of greater economic liberty is impossible, maybe it’s time we went the other way, and created a powerful bureaucracy staffed by selfless public servants to strictly codify envy. At least we wouldn’t have to wait for Presidential speeches, rowdy union demonstrations, and riots to find out who we’re supposed to hate.
- For more about this action agsintst Verizon, check: Striking Union Extremists Imprison Verizon Replacement Workers In Pennsylvania, http://www.redstate.com/laborunionreport/2011/08/11/striking-union-extremists-imprison-verizon-replacement-workers-in-pennsylvania/
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment