I am of course talking about the wave of violence which recently shook Britain – and Philadelphia. Why is that relevant to us? There are plenty out there casting blame and offering excuses, stating disaffection and brutality, racism and injustice. Where were we when we were facing similar? Our very lifestyles were illegal at one time, and yet I don’t recall gangs of queers attacking shops and stealing HD TV’s! Did we miss our chance to do what we liked while blaming everyone else but ourselves? No, it’s not simply about a group of society being routinely under attack from outside forces or being denied a fair existence. That’s far too simple an excuse.

It all began on Thursday 4th August in an anti-gun operation in London, when 29 year old Mark Duggan was shot and killed by Police. It was understood at that time that an exchange of fire had occurred and that the Police had to act. Cases like this are automatically referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

Unfortunately, neither the Metropolitan Police nor the IPCC bothered to discuss anything the with the family of the deceased. They were left to deal with their grief without knowing what had happened, and without any assurance that it would be thoroughly investigated. At the very least, as a mark or respect and reassurance, they should have been consulted about the death of Mark Duggan.

On Saturday, anger had increased at the lack of information or even basic respect for the family, a vigil was held in Tottenham outside the local Police station. This then became violent.

Cars were set alight, Police came under attack and the London Fire Service had been called to attend numerous fires in the area as Police struggled to maintain control.

That’s how it started. Like numerous other public disturbances all around the world, an injustice is perceived, and those in positions of authority are deemed to be the enemy.

However, there are a few things that quickly became clear; Mr Mark Duggan had possession of a firearm. Whether he fired it or not is irrelevant prior to the investigation. Police are required to take adequate action to defend themselves and protect others against an armed individual. While the circumstances of the incident do have to be clarified, he was carrying a loaded weapon in a country where such weapons are illegal and deadly force can be used to stop them. In addition, the Duggan family understood that what was happening was not in response to the death of Mark. They were immediately condemning the massive destruction around them and making it clear that it was not related to his death.

We also have to look at what happened next, after the initial protest turned violent in Tottenham. While the buildings burned and over 20 local people were forced to flee from their homes as they watched their possessions go up in flames, the looting started. Kids and young adults attacked their own local businesses. It was no longer about an injustice, it was now about selfish greed and a complete lack of respect for any other Human.

Personally, I think the Police made a fatal error on this night (and subsequent nights). They stood back and watched the community be torn apart by gangs of roaming young thugs who value Nike footwear more than Human life. It was clear from everyone in the country that they should have been acting to prevent it from spreading. But, fearful of making things worse and turning it back into a race issue, they stood back and allowed it to happen.

This spread the message across the country that the Police were unable or unwilling to act, and it showed gangs of kids that they have strength in numbers. We have seen governments fall through the sheer swell of Human will, and we know that when the people of a nation come together they can outnumber and outmanoeuvre any authority.

In this case, however, it wasn’t about an unjust government, or even an unfair social system. It was about sheer greed and consumerism, arrogance and selfish attitude, violence and the glorification of criminality.

What many do not know about the Riots in the UK is that it didn’t just happen in London, Birmingham, Bristol, Liverpool and Manchester. It happened everywhere. Numerous smaller towns and cities saw flash looting as kids in all areas decided that they could get away with it too. It might have been on a smaller scale, but it was happening all over the country.

Now we have the inevitable mess afterwards, where pundits and talking heads all vie for their camera time and people who elected themselves as “spokespeople” for communities try to excuse the actions of their young thugs. We’re hearing people talk about lack of opportunity, disaffection, government cuts and racism, all offering some kind of explanation other than “they’re just criminal thugs”.

I’m very liberal, I believe that people should be able to do as they wish as long as they don’t harm others. But I do not subscribe to the idea that we need to look further than their immediate families and friends to understand why this happened. Their exposure to Police and government is not as consistent as their exposure to their family, friends and environment. If we want to place blame anywhere, it should be placed at the feet of the single mother who gets wasted every weekend and leaves her kids with others, or the parents who don’t bother to ask where their 16 year old is a midnight, the absent father and the mother who can’t be bothered to sit with their kids to help them with their homework, or the family who places value on material gain while not offering their kids any tools to improve their lives and actually achieve something.

We only need to look at the words and responses of the parents of these kids as they rush from the courts after standing before a judge. They yell abuse at the press, they feel like the victims, they demand respect while refusing to offer it back. These are the people who are raising these kids, and once you see how their parents act, it’s no surprise that these kids have become the animals they now are.

However, although I do not often subscribe the theory of media influence (I didn’t when it was Manson blamed for Columbine, for example), I do accept that much of the culture we are looking at reinforces the “I DEMAND!” attitude. It’s like a perfect storm, we have a youth across the country who have very low moral values through pathetic parental example, while they have music surrounding them telling them that if they can’t afford something they should take it through any means. They’re told that they deserve things, and that they don’t have to work like the rest of us to get them. They’re bombarded with advertising and media placing value on status and property. They’re encouraged to believe that they live in a survivalist society where anything is justified as long as they get what they want – not what they need.

So, what do we do now? As the businesses rebuild and the lives lost remembered and mourned, as people gather together to help those who have lost their homes, we need to do several things to fix this society, and none of them involve providing excuses to mindless thugs who DO know better and chose to follow their culturally induced greed instead…

We need the Police to act with reasonable force in the right circumstances. It’s not hard. We saw them charge at protesters in London at the student protests, and that was without mass destruction, looting and fire-bombing. During the first night they should have used force to stop it, and if it continued the following night baton rounds and tear gas should have been used. Because they didn’t act, it emboldened kids up and down the country to do the same.

We can all recognize the difference between a political protest and a violent riot. Why was it that students and those protesting events such as the G20 are treated to such overwhelming Police control, and yet violent looters destroying businesses and homes with no political opinion at all are allowed to continue? There is something deeply suspicious about this. Are we to believe that the Police were too scared to act? All of a sudden? I don’t think so. This needs to be clarified for the future, with specific events and actions leading to an immediate escalation of Police response. For example, if more than ten people are involved and a business is looted, the officers are then given authority to use baton rounds.

We need to name and shame those families who have done such a thoroughly disgusting job of raising their kids. I was born in North London, we were a poor family with two working parents, and we would never have even remotely considered behaving like this. We weren’t raised to value material gain above moral decency. But even if that were not the case, we would have been too ashamed to disappoint our parents! We’ve lost the social responsibility that is encouraged by shame. If people were antisocial back when I was a child, people knew about it. Parents didn’t want to be the outcasts in their society because of the actions of their kids, and that helped to keep them in line. Parents are no longer scared of being seen as failures, because their identities are often protected from the press. They should not be protected, they should be publicly humiliated.

We need to send those responsible for violence and destruction to prison, for reasonable sentences. We need those who are too young or those found to have taken part in a minor way to face community service, visible to all those they hurt and visible to all those kids out there who think they have a right to act in this way and without consequences.

And, perhaps as a concession to all those extreme liberal “hug a hoodie” people out there who would like to blame society, the Police, the government (basically anyone but the individual committing the crime), we should explore methods to get these kids into programs that further their education. Quite simply, we should perhaps look at doing the job their parents should have done and try to save the next group of kids from being raised in the same way. Those kids should be forced to work for their benefits. Whether it’s cleaning up graffiti or replacing the windows they’ve smashed, rebuilding the Reeves furniture store or working on the Police patrol vehicles, they need to be put to work and they need to start realizing that claiming benefits is not an acceptable career.

For now, the chaos in the UK is over. But unless we learn the lessons from this and take action to show that it will not be tolerated, it will happen again. We need to show these criminals that society is not going to be their victim, and that doesn’t mean giving them more money or more state resources – it means forcing individuals and families to be decent members of society, with consequences if they refuse.