London calling

[LMNO]

It hasn't gone so far as FB blocks, but I have been quite surprised at how many of my Lib'rul friends are pro-cops on this one.

[Xooxe]

I've been losing facebook friends at an alarming rate the last 36 hours.

Apparently it's bad form to be on the side of the rioters.

It seems to be bad form to even suggest that there are reasons why it happened at all. 

Also, shooped looters. http://photoshoplooter.tumblr.com/#.TkLP9cBbVmk.twitter

[P3nT4gR4m]

It hasn't gone so far as FB blocks, but I have been quite surprised at how many of my Lib'rul friends are pro-cops on this one.

Most people will be. Most don't look at the situation deeply enough to be sympathetic. "Evil" that's all they see. Personally I can understand how they got that way and sympathise with how they feel but only until they're charging down my street trying to burn down my shit. Then they're just targets. Objects to be neutralised. They're no different to any other people I don't know. Same judgement call - threat/harmless. Talking monkeys most of them, rioters and cops and news of the world readers alike. They're setting each other on fire. Enjoy the show.

[BadBeast]

Official reason for the riots.

[Anna Mae Bollocks]

Any word from the evangelicals on this? Was London going to "do something gay"?

[Chairman Risus]

In related news:

Amazon UK's riot gear sales soar: Aluminum bats up 6,000%
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Aluminum bats, police nightsticks and other weapons dominated the "movers and shakers" list of hot-selling items in Amazon.uk's Sports shop on Tuesday as riots spread across Britain for the third day.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

In related news:

Amazon UK's riot gear sales soar: Aluminum bats up 6,000%
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Aluminum bats, police nightsticks and other weapons dominated the "movers and shakers" list of hot-selling items in Amazon.uk's Sports shop on Tuesday as riots spread across Britain for the third day.

Wow, that gif! 

[Cain]

It hasn't gone so far as FB blocks, but I have been quite surprised at how many of my Lib'rul friends are pro-cops on this one.

IOZ and his ilk would no doubt say this is due to Liberals, for the most part, secretly yearning for the strong hand of authoritarianism, so long as it is non-discriminatory and not socially regressive.

Over the years, I've found it increasingly hard to discount this POV.

You could point out to these people that one person dies in police custody every two weeks in the UK, and not a single police officer has been put in prison for it.

Either, the police are issuing especially severe beatdowns a lot of the time, and sometimes end up killing people, or, the police are picking out certain individuals (almost uniformly black) to be killed while in custody.  Either way, that sounds pretty awful.

[BadBeast]

It hasn't gone so far as FB blocks, but I have been quite surprised at how many of my Lib'rul friends are pro-cops on this one.

IOZ and his ilk would no doubt say this is due to Liberals, for the most part, secretly yearning for the strong hand of authoritarianism, so long as it is non-discriminatory and not socially regressive.

Over the years, I've found it increasingly hard to discount this POV.

You could point out to these people that one person dies in police custody every two weeks in the UK, and not a single police officer has been put in prison for it.

Either, the police are issuing especially severe beatdowns a lot of the time, and sometimes end up killing people, or, the police are picking out certain individuals (almost uniformly black) to be killed while in custody.  Either way, that sounds pretty awful.

The worst thing is, that this scenario doesn't even sound far fetched. It seems that every week there's yet another story about how massively corrupt  the Police Force really is. At top level too, not just the occasional 'Bent Copper'. Couple this with the ever increasing list of powers they are armed with these days, and the lack of any accountability whatsoever, and it's no wonder people take to the Streets. They have no other recourse open to them. The  I.P.C.C is a giant piss take,
with any complaints against Police being investigated by, and dealt with by. . . . . . .  . The Police. Which kinda makes you wonder about their remit, and whose protection they are concerned with in the first place. 

[Cain]

Well, one or the other has to be true.

Also, if people want to whine about the rule of law and economic damage, just point out that banks destroyed 40% of all global wealth in 2008 (figure from Moody's).  Not a single banker has gone to prison.

[East Coast Hustle]

I've been losing facebook friends at an alarming rate the last 36 hours.

Apparently it's bad form to be on the side of the rioters.

You say that like it's a bad thing.   

Oh, not at all. My real friends know how I really am, and the yahoos that are getting offended on facebook are, of all things, immigrants who live in London. It's fucking hysterically funny.

[Cain]

This thread has had some fascinating IP traffic over the past day.

[BadBeast]

Care to elaborate?

[Cain]

Couple of government departments in the USA, Australia and Japan, more than a few UK universities and a Sky Wireless Internet IP which is quite unlike any other I have seen (and I use Sky for my own wireless internet, so I know their usual band of numbers).

[Anna Mae Bollocks]

That's just fucking creepy.