Why I Riot: A View on the London Riots
What must it be like in the minds of the rioters who looted, burned, and tore parts of London, and other English cities to shreds in the August riots? A personal opinion follows, written by Richard Jackson in the persona of a ‘rioter’.
People are saying I am just a violent hooligan, a mindless thug, a criminal, an anarchist. They’re saying I lack proper respect for authority and for people’s property. They say I am engaging in wanton destruction and causing mayhem just because I’m wicked. People are saying I am part of a small, criminally-minded minority who should be locked up. Maybe they’re right. Maybe I am just a worthless piece of shit. Maybe I should be locked away forever, punished, excluded. But what do I really care what ‘people’ think?There are reasons why I riot. You might not like them, but they’re mine.
I riot because I’m angry. Anger envelopes me like a blanket every day of my life. I’m angry because I’m poor, I’ve always been poor, and I know I will never be able to afford all those nice things people are supposed to have. I’m angry because my life is shit and I know it’s always going to be shit. I’m angry because I know that there’s no future for me; no one will ever give me a decent job or a hand-up in life. I will live in the same shitty housing that my family have always lived in, drawing down the same shitty benefits. I’m angry because I live in a shit place full of poverty, crime, vandalism, gangs, garbage, grime and neglect. Most days I take my anger out on myself; I engage in a wide and creative array of self-destructive behavior. But sometimes, like last night, I direct my anger outwards. I let my rage take over, and for a brief moment, I feel a profound sense of release.
I riot because I hate the police, and because I know that the police hate me. They’re racist and brutal, and they treat me like scum every day of my life, always coming around blaming me for everything bad that happens, harassing me when I walk down the street. I hate them because they think they’re God and they don’t have to answer to anyone for what they do. I hate them because they show me no respect. In a riot, you can fight back against the police; you can stand up to them and tell them how you really feel.
I riot because I am nobody, nothing, less than nothing. I am invisible, a ghost in this city, this country, this world. People don’t see me, and don’t give a shit about me or what’s going to happen to me. My parents don’t care, my teachers don’t care, the politicians don’t care, the police don’t care; no one gives a fuck about me and my life. If people do ever see me, they don’t really see me; they just see an anti-social, worthless, feral teenager; they see a danger to society, a threat to the peace. If no one cares about me, why should I care about anyone else?
I riot because no one ever listens to me. No one has ever really listened to me; nobody hears what I have to say. But when I riot, it seems the whole world stops and listens. My riot is my voice. It is the expression of my feelings, the sound of inarticulate rage which I cannot express any other way. I don’t expect anyone will understand what I’m saying, I cannot put it into nice words; but I feel the need to say it anyway. I have to let it out somehow, and right now, music, or drugs, or vandalism is not enough.
I riot because I feel powerless every day of my life. I’m not in control of what happens to me; other people are always deciding about my life, telling me what’s right for me – teachers, cops, social workers, pastors, politicians, media commentators. When I riot, I feel powerful, I feel in control. It may only last a few hours, but for those brief moments when I smash something or burn something, I feel like a free person in control of my own destiny. I feel like somebody. When I riot, I feel like a real man.
I riot because it is the most exciting thing that has happened to me in forever. It’s like being high, but way better: the adrenaline, the sheer thrill and terror of fighting with the police, burning shit down, smashing and stealing, running, hiding. What would I be doing otherwise? Watch the TV? Studying? Hanging out with my friends on the corner? Smoking dope? Fuck off! This is so much better than the mind-numbing tedium of my regular life where I simply exist from day to day with nothing to look forward to. In my usual life, I am like the walking dead, a real zombie; there’s absolutely nothing exciting to do around here, especially when you have no money. I will live on this excitement for ages.
I riot because when I’m in a group with my friends, we sometimes egg each other on. I’ve done things with them that I would never have done on my own. It’s a group thing; I feel braver and stronger when we’re together. We try to impress each other; we give each other respect. It’s how I get my esteem, the only way I get some respect.
I riot because it might allow me to loot a few shops. I know I could never afford all those beautiful things everyone else seems to have, but in a riot, you can just take them. I need some new trainers, a new phone, a laptop, clothes, money, games. It’s a consumer society, my friend. We have all got to have these things, otherwise we won’t be happy. I just want to be happy.
I riot because I have absolutely nothing to lose. You want to lock me up for it? Go ahead. It means nothing to a nothing like me.
Categories: Martial Law, Revolution, Economy, International, Conspiracy, Government, Police Brutality, Anarchy
Tags: riots uk riots london revolt revolution
What do the people whose shops you destroy and loot have to do with your problems?
You shouldn't be locked up, you should be shot on sight.
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Will your right on track as to the real reason these riots have been orchastrated ; so that the governments can install even greater draconian measures of wire taping,social media & police servailance arest without warrent etc etc. Losing even more of our freedoms.
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In my opinion it could not be any more obvious that this was written by someone who works for the police and/or the government's (so-called) "intelligence" operations, as a "false flag" type of statement.
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First I was thinking, "DUDE, you could get a job as a writer!"
But then it dawned on me that you likely already had one--just working for the wrong employer.
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To keep focusing on what these people looted is not important, its academic, It really doesn’t matter. What really matters is that we have a whole generation of disslusioned young people out there with no hope and no sense of self worth, whose well being is pivotal to the well being of others in later life.
Also; if a countries total economic well being depends wholly on the populace being avid consumers of trappings, why do people critisise said populace for being greedy, when avarice and greed is pivitol in enabling its economic wheels to keep turning? Then blame these youngsters for coveting said trappings.
If you keep using the carrot and the stick; sooner or later the donkey lies down and refuses to co-operate. This is exactly what has happened here. If the Establishment puts into place systems that ensure that no matter how hard you try it is always going to be an unreachable goal; and also implies that if you do not reach such goals you are a failure, the mindset created is a timebomb waiting to go off.
It appears too many people do not have the capacity to explore any avenue that takes them out of their owncomfort zone. Its easier just to call these youngsters mindless thugs.
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having our cake and eat it iscoming to an end, as individuals we can chose to look at things and change our selves away from the prevailing paradigm that is poisoning us. May be look at the christ's again and see if that appaels to our inner man and then have the courage to be what we perceive.
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Certainly not written by a chav scumbag.
Also, "behavior" should have a "U" in it
9/10
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I firmly believe that the moment they banned corporal punishment in schools was the day the country started to descend into what we see today.
Bring back the birch.
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Did you realize this was a writer who was ASSUMING what a rioter felt?
Even if it was a real article - the reasons for rioting are beyond materialistic views of property.
Rioting MAKES people listen. It makes people take notice of what is being said.
Burning/Looting/Violence is all just a side effect of ANGER. Anger at what is going on in our environments, anger at what is going on in our government, anger at what is going on in our school system, anger at police brutality, anger at the economy. ANGER.
Where is your anger? Your feelings of injustice? What is wrong with YOU?
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Knuck.
I'm afraid they missed it
Its ironic that the general populace look on appalled and full of venom at the protestors for their wanton destruction of businesses; yet the cost to British business caused by arson, will be small peanuts whencompared to the destruction caused by fraudulent financial instruments.
The rows of boarded up shops on High Streets across the country, were once flourishing trade outlets, decimated long before the first petrol bomb was launched in anger; and was not personal gain also fundamentally at the root of these machinations?
Yet the majority of us refuse to accept the wanton destruction the financial sector has wrought; for surely if we did, we would already be alongside the 'thugs' wouldn’t we ?
Somehow we find it an easy step to classify the underclass as an abhorrent, hostile force, yet struggle when applying such a classification to the well spoken man dressed in a suit and tie. Maybe rather than time, we need a bucket of cold water to rectify this.
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I am so frustrated at these stupid populace of sheeple. Where is their anger? Where is their support? If those same business owners refused to serve police and put a sign in their window that said WE SUPPORT YOU - what do you want to bet that they will be left alone? These fucking sheeple are ruining what could be a TOTAL CHANGE IN GOVERNMENT by rallying against those FIGHTING FOR THEM. UGH. These business owners and community members should be SHELTERING/FEEDING/HELPING these revolutionaries.
Pissed....
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When society's leaders are all totally corrupt, what do you expect? We know that trickle down economics is BS, but greed and corruption do trickle down.
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What do the people whose shops you destroy and loot have to do with your problems?
You shouldn't be locked up, you should be shot on sight.
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So Max - you feel that the way we are treated is totally just, totally fair and totally should be pursued withoutcomplaint or protest? You feel that the radiation we all breathe in is OK? you feel that the rich elite is RIGHT? You feel that us, serfs, should be confined, looted, raped and abused by the system?
Max, I worry about you.
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I don’t remember saying that I agreed with any of it. I feel the same anger, but I don’t see how destroying someone else’s home or store, and stealing what they have worked for has to do with my anger. You direct your anger at the wrong people.
In a separate post, Brian is exactly right about orchestrated riots being used to give the police more power. If anyone understands this, then why do you play into their hands? You’ll never beat them this way, because you turn people against you who would otherwise be on your side. I feel for you plight, we will all be in your shoes before long the way this world is going. But, if you want to somehow blame me for your problems and try to steal and burn my property, then I would have no remorse at all about shooting you either. You do no good for everyone else who would also like to see the world change when you react this way.
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And you have that right to protect your home or business - who said you didn't?
I still don't think it is the right way to think about it..... these people are not AGAINST you. They are fighting the fight that you nor I have dared to fight - yet.
What are you going to do when the bank or the government steal your home or business? What are you going to do when police pull you over and beat you because you sped or forgot a blinker? What are you doing to save yourself from the radiation of fukishima? NOTHING. You will do NOTHING to the police and you will do NOTHING to protect yourself from the government.... You just keep bending over - begging for more.
Wake up max.
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Geez, this piece is very well written for a self-declared pos.
Good viewpoint nontheless.
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how do we know the writer is not someone who has never rioted? He seems a bit expressive for a ghetto hoodlum.
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and many of the lyrics by the sex pistols and the band that meant something..the clash...havecome home to roost like vultures on a dead corpse..even after 35 years...the writing was on the wall in some music publishers office..even the gang of 4...there are people who are insane in this country..and they are in charge...my name is called disturbance too...all it takes is one spark to start the fire..the bankers must go..to hell...
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The people who should be doing the rioting are the ones who never would, and the people doing the rioting always seems to be the ones you'd expect. Whether this was written by a rioter or not, the sentiment remains relevant. Nothing has been learned since Brixton in the 70s clearly.
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Stacey is right, divide and conquer. They set up the ghettos and then they fire them up get a response then control a hate and fear campaign to cow the fearful masses to allow more control. You could see the orchestration straight away from as far away as aust. the talking points had all been in the mailbags of the corporate minions because they were straight at it the lying manipulitive media gov and so on.
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written by Richard Jackson in the persona of a ‘rioter’.
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Clearly the author of this piece claiming we he riots on the London riots IS NOT A BRIT!!! He's as American as any other CIA agent! If he was truly a Brit he'd spell behavior with a U: behaviour! that is how a Brit spells behavior!
You ARE the weakest link! Goodbye!
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Tell us : what religion were you born into?
That will tell us the answer why you are violent, psychotic and a monster.
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What makes someone a monster? The GUTS to stand up against WRONG? That makes them heroes in my book. Too bad you don't have a solution to our world's problems - or do you? If not, realize that ANYONE who stands up for ANY reason is doing more than you - or even me.
WAKE UP for FUCKS SAKE.
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ROFLOLOLOL ..... me me me me .... I I I I .... this monkey needs to realise lifes not all about him ..... I agree with Max .... do the world a favour if you feel so bad get a gun and blow your head off noone on this planet will miss you .... you might even clean up the gene pool and add a couples of points to the global IQ by removing yourself ...
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What exactly don't you people get - a WRITER wrote this from the VIEW of a rioter. It's not true or written by someone there, now.
Geesh.
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Not sure if this one is real or not but one thing that the mainstream media mass is succeeded in blaming the looter instead of the economic and social problem
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The only people who need to put a gun in their mouths are the greedy-ass scum-sucking bankers, regulators, and politicians who've put us into this mess. It's the wealthy elite who've bent us over far too long, eternally sodomizing the masses through taxation and fiat currencies.
The only gene pool that needs a little cleansing is the crooked elite. Please for the love of God, lift your head up high and blow your brains out! Revolt against the bankers first, the dirty regulators second, and finally the politicians. The message might trickle down to the later of the categories once they see a bunch of dead bankers.
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Thank you for your words, thought and emotions. I have been trying to figure out the riot dynamics. This article has given me some insight. Thanks again. Jason
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First of all, I am aware that this is just a writer, but it is a writer, most likely a provocateur, who is trying to justify violence and property destruction as a solution to all the simpler weaker minds out there. I was just having a little fun screwing up the writer’s intent.
I would like to ask Alex the same question though. What do the people whose property is being destroyed and lives threatened have to do with bankers, the crooked elite and your anger?
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It has to do with support. Those business owners are doing nothing to support those who are fighting against the elite for YOUR RIGHTS.
You are choosing the wrong side. Of course sometimes it can get out of control but the main point is to prove to the fascist money junkies that WE THE PEOPLE are in control.
I think that the store owners and home owners should be standing out front of their homes/businesses with cold bottled water and words of support and offerings of what you can help with. Making signs, offering a restroom, offering a hot meal.... etc etc etc etc etc etc - there is so much you could be doing to SUPPORT what these BRAVE PEOPLE are doing.....
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Max if you seriously have to ask me that then you know little of what's going on around you. Maybe you play into the main stream media and believe everything they force down your throat.
The global elite have tirelessly worked to keep the majority of people numb, tired and scrambling to feed themselves. Only now with the internet have things changed in the behaviour of people willing to learn, and apply their new found knowledge to use. That is one of the many tools we have to use against the elite, until their plans arecompleted.
I do not condone violence in any way. It only plays into the elite's reasoning and basically makes it easier for them the construct the police state in which we now find ourselves. I feel badly for the shop owners and all their "stuff." I feel badly for those who are fearing for their lives. What I don't feel badly for is the anger that has overwhelmed so many to the point where they don't know how to express it in peaceful and mannerful ways. The rioting and looting started from a peaceful process. Maybe people took advantage of the situation to fill their pockets with "stuff." I don't know. What I do know is that a man was needlessly murdered and shot, repeatedly, apparently for no good reason at all. It happens all too many times as I myself have witnessed.
The main point of mycomment, however knee jerk it seemed, was to point out the massive disconnect between the majority of population and the power, wealth, and influence that, literally, a few thousand people reign down upon them. Look at America for instance. A huge disproportionate in which a few percent of the populace control over 85%, or so, of the wealth. J.P. Morgan controls the EBT system for food stamps. Welfare, which is massively abused, actually hurts those who continue to feed from it, keeping people placated into the ghetto. Is it really any wonder why Florida started mandating drug screening for welfare? I think not. Many states will follow, as they should. If people have to submit to a urinalysis for work, why shouldn't they do one for receiving free money from those who work their asses off to give?
If fiat currencies hadn't been permitted to exist in the first place, we would never have had either WWI, nor WWII. The bankers funded both sides simultaneously, basically aiding and abetting the "snuffication" of millions all the while greasing their over flowing pockets.
Do some research on credit default swaps, mortgage backed securities, naked short selling, high frequency algo's and find out why the crooked elite continue to be able to keep their boots to the necks of those who do not deserve so.
WE BAILED OUT GREEDY BANKERS AND PUT THE TAB IN THE POCKET OF THE ALREADY STRAPPED MIDDLE CLASS. MY GRANDCHILDREN'S CHILDREN WILL NOT BE ABLE TO PAY THAT BACK, AND THAT IS WHY WE SHOULD ALL BE PISSED. AUSTERITY MEASURES ANYONE?
FIAT MONEY, FIAT MONEY, FIAT MONEY, FIAT MONEY.....
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Alex, I know quite a bit about what is going on. Also, I haven’t watched TV in about11 years, I turned if off right around the false flag attacks of 911 because I no longer wished to waste my time listening to lies and disinformation from media whores.
I am also aware of the elite hidden hand that has manipulated people into poverty, and added to the problem by forcing immigrants of different cultures into the mix, ensuring hate and chaos when society collapses.
Nothing scares these elites anymore than a peaceful mob, armed with the truth; they can’t control them, and the police that stand between them and us have no reason to attack; they are finished.
The problem is that even if a riot does start out as a peaceful grassroots riot, they are ready for situations like this. It is quicklycompromised and taken over by provocateurs that turn it violent, and when the crowd gets out of control you have punks like the ones we saw in London, and the persona in the article, who just want revenge on society for their plight in life. This type doesn’t know the first thing about how they are being manipulated, and are not willing to take any part of the responsibility of their plight; they are no better off than animals.
It is part of the elite plan to cause the people to revolt in the end, they are counting on it, this is the only way they can take over. They either manipulate the event to start with, or quickly take control of any peaceful event by provoking violence through provocateurs. And of course this is what their media focus on.
These elites game is falling apart and there are those that are doing their best to expose their lies. It’s a slow process, but it willcome to nothing if we have rioters burning down cities on the evening news and scaring the shit out of everyone that still have something to protect. You won’t get any support there. Even though they will soon be impoverished themselves, they will turn against you and acquiesce to the police state freely, just to protect what they have.
This is an insane approach, and if itcomes to this they will crush everyone, you won’t stand a chance, not with the weapons that they have now. And their plan is to get rid of 90% of humanity under cover of all the chaos and wars they are bringing down on this world. They don’t need us anymore; they want it all for themselves. Check out this site, http://wwwprahlad.org/pub/bearden/scalar_wars.htm to get an idea of the type of physics and energy weapons they have now. You saw an experiment at work in the first Gulf War when 250,000 Iraqi soldiers all just dropped their weapons and walked out and surrendered, just to escape the pain that was being inflicted upon them with energy weapons directed at them. In the end, even the 2nd amendment will no longer matter. I’m not choosing the wrong side, I just hate to see these imbeciles playing into their hands, and ensuring that we all loose.
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"I’m angry because I’m poor, I’ve always been poor, and I know I will never be able to afford all those nice things people are supposed to have."
So if you're poor you steal from other people so they are poor and suffer as you do?
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If anybody believes this is a genuine article without any spelling (apart from the American spelling...) mistakes, they need to stop taking drugs, or increase their IQ by about 100 points. So I think this article is BS.
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yes, some propaganda with some semi truths mixed in with a little smear.
word is - it was not anarchists.... it was middle class youth. imagine that.
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Every creator painfully experiences the chasm between his inner vision and its ultimate expression. ~Isaac Bashevis Singer / http://airbrushactioncom/airbrush-getaway-workshops/vegas-february-20-24-2012
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All that we are is the result of what we have thought. / wwwalafayadentistrycom
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To be sure of hitting the target, shoot first and call whatever you hit the target. / wwwirmocosmeticdentistcom
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