Lessons From London Town Part 1
It is all too easy to dismiss the UK riots as mindless thuggery. You've got to ask why these youth are so compelled burn and loot. Shrugging their actions off as apolitical opportunism without considering the origin of these destructive impulses will do nothing to get to the root of the issue. It is indeed a damn shame the targets could not have been more intentional. Cop cars and corporately run chain stores are one thing but locally-owned businesses and residences... not cool. Still the message is loud and clear... the pressures of a techno-centric consumer culture and capitalist economy have fucked-over and alienated our youth and everyone else. We can only hope to re-direct the rage in the right direction and re-shape the desire for a new pair of sneaks into the desire for a more meaningful, less materialistic form of liberation.
