A substantial section of the chavs have become black. The whites have become black. A particular sort of violent, destructive, nihilistic gangster culture has become the fashion.
Black and white, boy and girl operate in this language together. This language which is wholly false, which is a Jamaican patois, that’s been intruded in England and this is why so many of us have this sense of literally a foreign country
Starkey's comments are definitely rather racist and xenophobic on several levels; political commentators eager to toe the current politically correct climate, denounced him gleefully and failed to see the little merit that his comments had. While classifying the chavs behavior as being "black" is irresponsible, it is true that there is an increased romanticization of "a particular sort of violent, destructive, nihilistic gangster culture" in the media today so much so that calling oneself a "G" is a badge of honor. The younger generation looks upto celebrities like Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. (aka Snoop Dogg), Clifford Joseph Harris Jr. (aka T.I.) and the denizens of reality shows like Jersey Shore as role models because they best epitomize the high flying get-rich-quick-and-make-merry lifestyle that attracts them. The media is greatly to blame for creating a sick and poisoned society because they promote the glitz and the glamor of such lifestyles instead of promoting a culture of conservative spending and values.
The gradual disintegration of the old-fashioned family values for various reasons have contributed to the attractability of such celebrities and with it has come a false sense of self-worth and entitlement. Families with new-age values from developed countries worldwide should regard the England riots as a caveat to change the blueprint of their personal family ethos. Several sociologists noted the lack of participation of the South Asian population in the English riots. At the risk of repeating Starkey's mistake of generalizing several ethnic groups, the conservative values imbibed by most of the South Asian children definitely contribute to their mindset of working hard (sometimes perhaps too much) to obtain their goals. I have to mention here though that I do not approve of the claustrophobic traditions of most South Asian cultures but perhaps an amalgamation of different world cultures is required in the changing global society.
Another worrying development is the social unrest because of the increasing unemployment rate. Young and college educated people are disappointed at not finding jobs and are getting increasingly disillusioned. In the meantime, entitlement benefits are staying the way they are leading to a meaningless drain of a country's resources. The socialist system in England has absolutely failed and America is on the fast track to civil unrest unless someone in the government steps up and does the right thing. Jobs need to be created and useful people must be given gainful employment and people living off perks and social welfare should be sent a stern message that they HAVE to learn to fend for themselves.
It will be very interesting to see the reaction of the David Cameron administration. Depending of what you read, the incumbent government has been put to the sword for its financial austerity or lack thereof. Increasing spending is no longer a viable option in cash starved England and the next address from the Chancellor of the Exchequer should surely be interesting. The Prime Minister has already ruled out race, poverty and spending cuts as reasons behind the riots. The punishment meted out to the rioters will be scrutinized worldwide. The administration is really in a no-win situation because regardless of its response it will be castigated by leftists for being too harsh on people stricken by poverty and by rightists for being too lenient to wayward entitled people poisoning society. Cameron has promised more riot-trained troops in case of future reoccurences; the police were found to be severely understaffed this time
Measures must be taken to prevent such future occurences and while security measures could help protect the common citizen it is but a bandaid over a bullet wound unless measures are taken to repair a fractured society. The biggest lessons should start at the school levels where children must learn about their rights and responsibilities as a citizen of a country. The American (private) education system does a rather admirable job of enforcing these values and perhaps the British educators could do worse than look over to their cousins across the pond for a few lessons.
Meanwhile Britain's fractured society remains a source of concern for Cameron's present administration. The Guardian reported on the 16th August:
In a speech setting out his analysis of what led to the riots, Cameron highlighted those families across the UK who were dealing with multiple complex social health and economic problems. Lifting them out of extreme worklessness would be regarded as a measure of his success in his wider agenda of fixing Britain's broken society, he said. Cameron said he would put "rocket boosters" on attempts to rehabilitate those 120,000.However, this is easier said than done. Society needs to be restructured at least partly from the core; the politicians in the government and the media have to put aside partisan issues while debating social programmes and be united if England and other similarly afflicted global societies are to be repaired. The powers to be should learn important lessons from the riots and attempt to institute policies to provide an andidote to the poisoned society. Economic issues will no doubt go hand in hand with the success of these programs. Utilitarian solutions for a lot of issues are very important. Big decisions need to be taken throughout the world or else we face a very bleak future indeed.
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