Iain Duncan Smith says role models don't work hard

[ParadigmShifter]

And cause riots!!!

http://www.metro.co.uk/news/884457-iain-duncan-smith-x-factor-culture-fuelled-uk-riots

Including premier league footballers. I don't remember Iain Duncan Smith ever being picked to play for a Premier League team, maybe he hasn't worked hard enough.

 

[Traitorfish]

That would explain the French Revolution, then. With role models as idle as King Fatso, it's a wonder they managed to restrain themselves as much as they did!

 

[Quackers]

In an interview with the Guardian, the Conservative MP said many of today's role models for young people seem to be those who have got to the top without working hard.

The chair of the Social Justice Cabinet committee added that more needed to be made of individuals who had succeeded as a result of 'serious hard work', adding that a 'get rich quick' culture has created a society 'out of balance'.

'If you look at the footballers, you look at our celebrity culture, we seem to be saying, 'This is the way you want to be',' Mr Duncan Smith remarked.

'We seem to be a society that celebrates all the wrong people,' he added. 'Kids are meant to believe that their stepping stone to massive money is The X Factor. Luck is great, but most of life is hard work.'

The former Conservative leader went on to suggest there is a strong sense of injustice in society, particularly over large bonus payments handed to bankers who were bailed out by the government during the financial crisis

Read more: http://www.metro.co.uk/news/884457-iain-duncan-smith-x-factor-culture-fuelled-uk-riots#ixzz1gB73A9tq

Isn't that the mainstream narrative of the riots anyway?

 

[useless]

In various interviews, the rioters cited an intense dislike of the police, and viewed rioting as a form of "revenge" (especially among Asian and Black rioters who are disproportionately stopped and searched).

 

[Traitorfish]

Isn't that the mainstream narrative of the riots anyway?

It's what you might call the "centre" narrative, but I don't think there's any one "mainstream" narrative yet. The left have been arguing for socio-economic causes, the right have been arguing for community-specific cultural causes, while the centre have been trying to compromise with general, society-wide cultural causes, but no-one really holds the field. Dunan Smith weighing in for the centre probably indicates that the right's explanation isn't proving convincing, but you're still left with the debate of socio-economics against culture (and all the shades in between).

 

[useless]

It's very telling that people like David Cameron and the coalition have simply dismissed the riots as being full of "looters", an incredibly simplistic dismissal of the entire event, rather than focusing on their cuts to youth centres, changes to EMA, raising of tuition fees and the general hopelessness of the current british youth.

 

[Quackers]

Well lots of the rioters were looters weren't they?

 

[Traitorfish]

Well lots of the rioters were looters weren't they?

It's not clear. There was certainly an overlap, but nobody's entirely sure of the extent, or of the exact relationship between the two phenomena. What can be said is that there were enough non-looting rioters for Cameron's characterisation to be inaccurate at best.

 

[Quackers]

I think a macro timeline went something like:

1) Mark Duggan shot,
2) Demonstrations,
3) Full scale riots,
4) Peace.

 

[Traitorfish]

I think the timeline went something like:

1) Mark Duggan shot,
2) Demonstrations,
3) Full scale riots,
4) Peace.

And the timeline of the French Revoltion went:

1) Storming of the Bastille
2) Terror
3) Thermidor
4) Napoleon

But that doesn't actually constitute a historiography, does it?

 

[ParkCungHee]

It's funny, because athletes are one of the few professions where the Hard Work = SUCCESS narrative still holds.

 

[Traitorfish]

Are suggesting that our beloved Chancellor, the 18th Baronet Obsorne-to-be, didn't earn his position through blood, sweat and tears?

 

[Yui108]

It's funny, because athletes are one of the few professions where the Hard Work = SUCCESS narrative still holds.

YES. I hate it when people knock athletes as spoiled children. For 95% of them (aka not named michael jordan, lebron james, peyton, wayne gretzky, etc.) they had to work harder getting to the pros then most people do in their lives, let alone as college kids.

 

[ParkCungHee]

michael jordan,

Okay, I can't really comment on the rest of them, but Michael Jordan has a reputation as one of the hardest working players in Basketball.

 

[Silurian]

Well with the Condem government likely to lead the UK back into recession this winter there could well be riots during the Olympics. As more people see the future disappearing, a high police presence due to the Olympics in the poor areas around the Olympic park and the display of wealth it could well trigger a repeat.

from The Guardian

The Olympic divide: rioters resent the approaching Games

...

...
Perhaps the prime minister's statement helped allay the concerns of the sporting authorities and governments of countries planning to compete in next year's games. But it prompted an angry response from the 20-year-old from Victoria. "If the government tries to take the piss [and] things don't get better ... 2012 is not going to be successful," he said. "They think: 'Oh, yeah, they've mended the buildings, everything's going to be OK.' No. We know how much they treasure 2012. They cannot lock everything up. So if they don't fix things by 2012, there's not going to be a good Olympics."

He added: "The whole point of the Olympics, yeah, is to see people perform. If they don't fix it by the Olympics, they won't be safe to perform. Regardless if they try and lock us [out], nah, they can't do that, we'll find a way to get in. So, they won't run smoothly for that. All of this, all of this recession because you want to waste money on Olympics. It will go to waste. It will definitely go to waste because the athletes ain't going to be safe."
....

....
They were vulnerable to explosion, perhaps implosion. Hackney, Newham and Tower Hamlets have benefit claimant rates of 11.3%, 11.6% and 11.5%. "There's no jobs out there," said one unemployed 18-year old who joined the disturbances in central Hackney. "Nothing to do out there for no one. So like everyone's getting bored and everyone was just waiting for an opportunity. So when something happened just everyone went on that."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/dec/06/olympic-divide-rioters-resent-games

The Olympic park is at the junction of Hackney, Newham and Tower Hamlets, they are all within walking distance.

 

[aelf]

It would be extremely interesting to have riots during the Olympics. It would probably completely discredit the current government.

 

[Silurian]

Rioting during the Olympics would be a PR disaster for the UK.

 

[aelf]

I think that might be something that the UK actually needs.

 

[Silurian]

Well I do not recall any great changes after the riots in the early 80s. Some extra spending did happen in inner city areas and policing was improved to some extent following the Scarman report.

Rioting during the Olympics would be far worse PR than the rioting this summer because it would be personnel to a lot more people. A Dallas TV station reporting Dallas athlete can see "London Burning from Olympic Village" when they can see a fire in Leyton will carry a lot more weight than this year’s pictures.

 

[RedRalph]

These riots occured because English people are inherently uncivilised. The sooner Wales and Scotland work with Ireland to invade and enslave the English savages the better. Liverpool, Chiswick and Kilburn will be spared; Finchley will be burnt to the ground.

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