August112011
London Riots
There’s an age old saying that if you throw a frog in a boiling pan it will hop out quickly and live, but if you put a frog in cool water and turn the heat up slowly it’s a different story. Alas, this is not a new story, oh no, not at all. The London Riots are just another example of bored, ignorant, malleable youth following a media-driven plan to “get their voices heard” [for a measly two seconds] while being completely counterproductive in the process.
I’m reminded of the Milgram experiment in the 1960s where studies were conducted to see if subjects would electrocute “prisoners” if told to do so by an authority figure. Subjects were asked to administer a shock to the person on the other side of the wall if they answered a question wrong. Each question answered incorrectly would heighten the voltage of shock. In the end, 26 of the 40 candidates were convinced to ‘dispense” a lethal shock (keep in mind that actors were screaming in pain and agony through out). Now, that was on an individual level, the mob mentality, as we are well familiar with this year, significantly stupider. The authority, in this case, is social- media spawned indictment against government oppression and the Londoners are mindless executors.
Supposedly, first youth were invited via Facebook and other social media to wear pink and dance, next they were told to bring in a pillow fights, etc. (put the frog in the cool water). Naturally, as everything symbiotic wants to revert to barbarism and a chaotic state (and we-are-after-all-just-frogs) these “angered” underprivileged, or hell, people just wanted to break shit to break shit, went on a killing, rampaging, murdering, violating , and destructive spree (kill the frog dead). The irony is who pays for the consequences? Oh you know, the middle class and the poor who have to clean up, pay up, stumbling over the debris of their businesses, cars, homes, and streets. Congratulations, youth, we have thus further been dehumanized and the government and rich sit with their 100 inch plasma screens watching the uprisings unfold Live.
What’s startling to me is how many recorded events and experiments in history there are supporting the same exact thing yet so many people can STILL be controlled on a mass scale. Whether you function as an individual or en masse there are multitudes of examples that clearly state that violence is not a suitable resolution to socioeconomic instability in modern society (uprisings and rebellions may have worked in the 1800s but our system is a lil different now).
Take Jared Loughner, the man who shot Representative Gabrielle Giffords 6 months or so back. Sure, he was right to be skeptical at our government’s refusal to disclose certain information. His method of making his distrust in the government known was Ludicrous and again, counterproductive. I agree with his cause but not his methods, just as I agree with how fucked up our government institution is currently. Hell, I am trapped, we are trapped, but instead of burning down streets and killing people I am going to make it happen so it’s a permanent fix.
Get off your computers, televisions, and social media networks and actually do something beneficial that will change the world for the better. Make feasible, clear arguments that will demand the world’s attention. In the meantime, research the Civil Rights campaign and bus boycotts or just be patient and don’t jump or shoot when da man says so (whichever man it is).
Tags: /change /come on really? /frog /london riots /riot /society /the clash /war /bomb /youth
