Originally Posted by
Ged
This might be over simplified and possibly a generalisation but I see what led to the 1981 riots it in this order. Black immigration into Liverpool - ghettoised by the council - Ethnic minorities are isolated both in integration and employment wise. Due to this and in some cases possibly due to a natural culture anyway, drugs become a problem. No jobs = no money, no future, no aspirations = crime to support drugs and the cost of just living. It becomes a no go area - locals who are not of that ilk complain. The police clamp down - more times than not overly zealously including racism - a vicious circle grows - it's us and them.
Fast forward to 2011 and generally there is a wider void between the rich and poor. If you've no job and want a car, flatscreen tv or computer - and drugs - crime pays for it. There is a breakdown in communities as to 30 years ago. Divorce rates up, one parent families up. The shelves are filled with glossy magazines, Sky channels fill us likewise with what the haves have got and the have nots will never have. Cribs, XFactor quick rich schemes, Big brother joe soaps being idolised. Lottery millionaires every week, footballers on 100k a week - actors likewise but not only that z list wannabes. The greedy bankers are bailed out for billions for doing their jobs wrong. Mps are at it - the world's gone mad. Wars we shouldn't be in for greed, oil and land. A guy is killed in Tottenham - his family didn't want or ask for riots but it's a good excuse. The copycat riots elsewhere we just an opportunity to get in on the act or seem subserviant to the powers that be - nothing more than yob culture by the few - the very few really. The police are seen as the Government, the authority that's why they're given grief but in reality, in 2011 the police probably seem far removed from their employers than ever given their cuts too. 1981 and 2011 were 2 totally different scenarios.
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