Cynicism seized my mind and ceased my heart as I watched horrible fires and rioting in Clapham, Ealing Broadway, Croydon and Peckam. The kids are apparently not organised crime gangs. They're just angry teens with ski masks and no jobs or social centres. They're 'organising' with social media. The level of deprivation is more dire in Accra. Should we hope the poorest and street kids do not discover social media and its organisational advantages or find it affordable? God help the poor. God help the rich to help the poor. Or else, God help the rich!
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The riots in the mid 80's preceded the social media boom. So I would say, the problem lies less with social media, and more with the ongoing fight for social justice. Perhaps, it would have been a more smoldering riot w/o the bbm's & twitters, but not avoidable. That being said, I say God help the poor and the racially oppressed to help themselves!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Yeh, the problem is so much deeper, whether they had the help of social media or not, this would still have happened. The fact that the rioters have no fear; showing their faces; physically confronting the police, etc., shows how little they feel they have to lose.
ReplyDeleteGod help those who feel they have no future!
I think the use of social media in this issue is being over-hyped. Social media or no social media, people have their ways of getting around issues. So the authorities better start addressing the basics and stop making it look like in the absence of social media this would probably not have happened. Martin Luther King did not have social media to use but he organized massive protests (albeit peaceful) which led to reforms with great effect.
ReplyDeleteAlso, read here, on the positive aspects of social media in these riot times:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-14456857
Had not been following this story until I discovered the riots are approaching a fourth night. Not the first demonstration to happen in London in recent months but some believe the police have been less forceful - hence the propagation.
ReplyDeleteI hope things cool down soon enough. Can't help thinking that if this were a city in a 'different' country, we would be hearing traveller warnings and government cautionings about planning trips to the area.
I say, God help us all!
Culture: you better share your riches with the poor before they share dem'a poverty with you.
ReplyDeleteI've heard and read that the youngest person to be arrested so far is an 11 year old boy, 11!
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ReplyDelete"God help the poor. God help the rich to help the poor. Or else, God help the rich!" Co-signed!
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