Messages

Looting a shop for a new telly because you can't afford one may just be a prelude of things to come.

As the private creation of money continues apace, with all the costs and expenses this vampiric system incurs, as debt continues its inevitable rise, as VAT increases, as costs increase, as energy gets scarce and the currency in your pocket is worth a little less every day - what's going to happen when people can't afford shelter or food? If some of these "rioters" are knocking off jewellers for silver, gold and precious stones then they've got the right idea. Gold and silver prices are rising fast, always a sure sign that the smart money is running for cover.

What will the hard-working people do when this happens? When you can't afford to buy 2000AD any more with your hard earned money. That might be an annoyance. If you can't afford to replace a broken appliance. An impediment. When you can't afford to pay for petrol. Longer walks. When you fall behind in your mortgage. More debt to pay the interest. When you can't afford the high quality foodstuffs. A dip in health. How much will you have to lose before you get angry enough to act?

Those at the bottom of society are more sensitive to these subtle on-gong changes in the economy and less able to adapt. Thievery, in this context, makes sense. It's like ransacking in order to get stuff that can be traded for the essentials later on. A squirrel gathering nuts for winter. Maybe some of it is instinct.

Whatever the cause, what of the future? When the economy and banking system collapse (as I think is inevitable) and your money is literally worthless so that it costs £1,000 for a loaf of bread - what will you do then? When the bailiffs come for your house through no fault of yours, what will you do? Will you comply or rebel? Best consider this now, I think.

Heh, nice one.

The full expansion pack would be prohibitively expensive, I'm afraid, so yes, just the solo stuff for now.

It comes on nine CDs. Count 'em. Nine. Zipped.

Legendary Shark , I just want to say you're my fucking hero.

Please God, don't say that. (Unless you're being ironic, in which case - carry on!)

Yap Shop's open again by the way, if you need it.

KNEW IT...It's the geeks, this was the prize, all the other riots are a smokescreen.

Oof. Glad you're okay, Rich. Stuff like that can really shake you up.

Stay safe, DDD.

And everyone in the shadow of this.

I don't think I'm apologising for anyone's behaviour, I'm just trying to understand it. Yes, looting and rioting and arson are not the best uses to which human beings can be put, but there are worse. To look at the looting and arson and shaking your head and condemning it is all very well, but just leaving it at that is lazy and counter productive. I suppose it's human nature to dwell on the acts and the people who undertake them because that's the bit that's visible. That's the inflammation, not the infection.

I don't apologise for anyone's behaviour except my own (and then only rarely) and I know that what's happening is frightening a lot of people, endangering a lot of people and causing actual damage. I can't change that, I wish I could but I can't. So I try to understand it because then maybe, just maybe, if the same thing starts to happen around here I might just have a chance of talking some of my neighbours out of it - or into it. When all said and done, though, human beings will do what human beings do. Sometimes that means building a bridge and sometimes it means tearing the place apart.

Offering possible reasons for behaviour is a far cry from condoning said behaviour, but failing to condemn is not condoning either. It's too easy to fall into the trap of not thinking of rioters or protesters or looters or arsonists or politicians or whoever as actual complex human beings with every bit as much relative decency, honour, humour, needs, strengths and weaknesses as anyone else. We dehumanise people by labelling them as idiots, cretins, looters, scumbags and so on because then it's easy to condemn them for who they are alone without considering all the possible personal and social factors. There are more than enough people willing to condemn others, I don't need to add my voice to theirs. If that causes some people to lose respect for me then good, because that's the kind of respect I can live without (and only a muppet would respect a tosser like me in the first place).

The most important part in all this isn't the property, it's the people. I don't care who is involved, either directly or indirectly, I don't want anyone to get hurt. Beyond that, I'd like to see us starting to build a better society for us all. I think I've said it before, but all I want is a decent life for everyone - no exceptions, no compromises.

Sorry. I should have said "cretin."

You've got enough spare to buy an internet connection and carp on here though, evidently.

Apologies. I forgot that only people who have money and spend it properly are allowed an opinion. As a peasant, I should know my place and keep my mouth shut, eh?

Should I ditch my TV also? My radio? My collection of 2000ADs? My good pen?

I don't often call people names, but for you I'll make an exception. You're an idiot.

Being poor is about more than just having no money. It's about having no job, no self respect, no future, no choices, no education, no encouragement, no assistance and no prospect of it ever getting better.

I don't know what it's like to be homeless or not to have eaten for three days, but I do know what it's like to be poor in an affluent country and it's not a nice place to be in. I can't afford to hop on a bus and go to the local town, for example. I haven't had a holiday for ten years and more. No car. The cheapest food possible. Decorate the flat, buy a new carpet, a new washing machine? Dreams of the rich!

If there was a free telly going, I'd bloody have one and arseholes to the system.

Freedom does mean freedom to riot, I guess - so maybe things aren't as bad as all that quite yet.

We've been stripped of our birthright to live our own lives free. We've had the wealth of our nations and our families sucked up by bankers. We've been hoodwinked into virtual slavery, chained to the compound we call The Economy by chains of worthless paper. We've been beaten down by myriad statutes, by-laws and regulations that should be there to help us. We can only watch as our heritage is stolen from under us and used as a building site for palaces or ghettos. Youth clubs closed down for the unforgivable crime of not making a profit. Jobs wiped out because there are cheaper and less bolshy slaves overseas. And everywhere we turn we have to pay. Pay to live in a house. Pay to stay warm. Pay to eat. Pay to piss. Pay to travel. Pay to sit still. Pay to be sick. Pay to get well. Pay to have fun. Pay. Pay. Pay. All that money going in only one general direction. All that wealth stolen a penny at a time. And then there's tax.

And then there's the media encouraging us to think narrowly, to be small and divided. Be a good Tory. Be a good Lib Dem. Be a good Labourite. Choose your colour and stick to it. Don't think about what it means. Don't think about what the others mean. Don't think beyond blue or yellow or red or green. The world is simple, you only need the news to tell you one or two sides of the argument. If you've got time to watch the news while you're being a good worker, that is. And the news is always bad. Murders and rapes and fires and famines and fear and destruction and death. Occasionally a cute kitten rescued from up a tree. Be a good citizen. Believe the news, hold one of the Authorized Opinions, feel outrage when prompted, feel sympathy when told to. Don't think; we have people to do that for you.

We're starting to see through it all. In a movie, this would be the part where the artificial holographic matrix that we've all believed to be real from birth begins to flicker. What we are beginning to see, if not yet fully realise, is how the ruling elite have been milking us, shearing us, repressing us and sending us off to fight their profitable wars for decades. How they must laugh when they hand out medals to the plebs for bravery. Like giving a dog a biscuit. Well, I think their time is almost over.

To benderise Churchill, I don't think this is the end of society or even the beginning of the end of society. But perhaps, on the longer time scale, it is the end of the beginning of society. And God knows, it's about bloody time.