Posted on 08/13/2011 9:13:31 AM PDT by george76
If these riots had taken place in America, the outcome would have been very different. America has the intellectual and emotional tools necessary to deal with this kind of social disaster: Britain doesn’t. The riots were caused, prolonged and misinterpreted by English bad manners. We don’t know how to talk to one another anymore. Our yin and our yang are out of chi. We brought this on ourselves and we need Oprah’s help out of this mess.
Here’s what the Americans would have done different.
1. The public would have fought back more aggressively. America has a tradition of self-reliance that extends even to the sphere of criminal justice. When the 1992 riots broke out in Los Angeles, the Korean community didn’t flee: they set up barricades and shot looters. Here in Britain that spirit of individual autonomy has long been surrendered to the state. It makes a mockery of routine calls by Conservative politicians for people to tackle vandals and thieves by themselves. What unarmed man would be foolish enough to do that? Britain needs a National Rifle Association.
...
4. In America, the riots would have been followed by a national day of prayer. In Britain, no one has yet mentioned God. That’s a pity, because Yahweh is a useful tool in these situations
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.telegraph.co.uk ...
There were lots of good reasons why we left there.
"A lot of our problems probably stem from our emotional introversion. Americans vocalise their “issues” and their ideas about resolving them. Their society is far less stratified, far less neurotic than ours. The British live their lives through patterns of passive aggression (hating everyone, but never having the bad manners to say it) that inevitably erupt in occasional bouts of mysterious violence. And when they happen, we have no way of expressing why they happened. Our political leadership is inarticulate and out of touch. These last few days, the three main parties have displayed all the emotional sensitivity of a firm of particularly boring management consultants. In many ways, America’s social problems (especially race) are bigger than ours. But they are articulated better too."
England needs a 2nd Amendment. When a police officer has to fill out papers in order to check out a weapon, he loses. When you have meeting with the politicians, trying to figure out what to do, you lose. They, and we, need to react to riots right now and sort it out later. Mistakes will be made but the people didn’t ask for the riots or to have their lives and businesses put in danger.
Uh, like Watts?
They are more than welcome to take Oprah off our hands.
Interestingly, we witnessed point number 3 this week. Mayor Nutter of Philadelphia’s speech was pretty much a call to stop the behavior.
“Yahweh is a useful tool in these situations”
And they wonder what is wrong with their country. God is not a tool.
Very glad I don’t live across the pond. Look forward to the battle here. Ain’t gonna be pretty.
These are my people. Where is the cooler?
If only England had the resolve NOW as they had in 1939!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9UktXoM6Zw&feature=youtu.be
Americans better know, it is coming.
In my Pickup, Were You at? :)
Todays new rioters in America wear Union shirts.
SEIU predominant among them.
Some of the Brit comments are realllly sad. The mighty Empire has fallen so far.
Bad guys should “beware the green laser dot on their chest.”
That dot is the point of the bullets impact.
The SEIU symbol on a purple t-shirt front (usually size 3X on a Walmart stroller frame) makes a fine target.
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