Clapham Junction Speaker (London Riots 2011)

There's nothing I can say more than this guy. He's angry and he's right. There's no amount of sanctimonious supercilious judgemental crap that invalidates his point.

Wandsworth eviction.

The decline of Britain humanity.

So Wandsworth council decide to evict a mother of boy who was charged but not convicted of something in connection with the riots in Clapham Junction.  Well I am fed up with all these self righteous, smug, arrogant, angry fascist pigs.

I have spent many years on this planet and in the UK.  I have been well educated and at times have had a very middle class life.  I have endlessly listened to judgemental comments and condemnations from supercilious people.

FACT: In British law you are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
FACT: You can't be punished twice for the same crime.
FACT: You can't blame someone for someone else's crime.
FACT: You can't punish someone for someone else's crime.
FACT: Even people who do bad things need somewhere to live.

This is sanctimonious, bigoted, judgemental bullying in the extreme.  Get real you mindless gits.  Deal with the real problem.  Deal with the fact that the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer and it cannot work in the long run.

It is laughable that we regard the concept of the whipping boy for the prince as ridiculous but we do it ourselves.  It is pathetic that we understand that making scapegoats is avoiding the problem, unjust and makes things worse but we still do it.  But the mob that is "Britain" is baying for blood in the most primitive and obscene way.  And the public in their sorry state of fear are going along with it with the most appalling enthusiasm.

Bring back the ducking stool for God's sake - Why not?  It would be simpler.

And as a thought to consider: Why not apply the same judgement to the people in authority who are continually damaging innocent people's lives by their illegal behaviour and ruthless greed?  Is it perhaps because the people of this country are basically cowards who find it easier to doff their caps and mutter "Yes sir" to save their own sorry skins.

And David Cameron might be the first to be judged for his illegal behaviour in inciting this terrorism.  He is in a position of responsibility and has no right to encourage and support this illegitimate action by Wandsworth council.  But the mob will, of course, side with him in the hope that some security may be afforded to them by their unquestioning allegiance to the hierarchy.

The rioters behaviour is not nice but the public's response is disgusting and nihilistic in the extreme.

Who's biting whose bottom?

There seems to be this stupid idea floating around commentators on the riots that the looting and arson have got nothing to do with the austerity measures. How wrong can these people be? Obviously the people doing the rioting are the disaffected and they were probably never thinking of going to college and they are somewhat criminal and their personal 'motive' has nothing to do with a deep understanding of the political situation and the cuts themselves. But the only reason this state of affairs has arisen such that large numbers of young people are so disaffected that they don't see themselves as belonging to the culture is directly caused by the same attitude which has given rise to the austerity measures.

Do people really think that these hooligans are a sort of blight sent by God. A surprising amount of people who God just arbitrarily created evil. Can people not think a little further than the end of their nose. I guess I am being a little extreme because I do understand that when people are afraid and in the midst of a problem they cannot afford to 'consider the other chap'. But the commentators are not in the midst of the crisis they are sitting in posh television studios and have nice secure middle class lives. They surely can see that Britain is in decline and to increase the cutting of pensions, benefits, education and police is going to make things worse. What do people imagine 'worse' means? Consider what animals do when they are trapped. Of course the dregs of society are going to take advantage of the situation. Of course their behaviour is extremely wrong and undesirable. Of course it is disruptive and criminal. It is so obvious it is almost worrying that the commentators don't seem to get it.

I really hate to say that what Ed Miliband said made sense. He said that the criminality has to be dealt with and order and security need to be restored but after that there are some very complex underlying issues that need to be addressed. I don't like the guy and after all he is a politician but at least the words he said on this occasion made sense.

Whilst I am paying compliments I will add that police have acted incredibly well. I know that some would want them to rush in and bash the hooligans and I can empathise with that sentiment. However I believe that had they acted in a more heavy handed way that the situation would have got far worse. Let's hope the politicians don't start getting heavy handed because that is my biggest fear. I could almost imagine that these riots have been orchestrated behind the scenes by political individuals who want excuses to increase the authoritarian control of the population.

A last point worth making is that it may seem I am glad the rioting has occurred and in some significant way I am. I am not pleased about anyone's individual bad experience and I would want things to be sorted with less pain. But it seems clear to me that the pain being perpetrated by the people at the top on the people at the bottom is unacceptable and getting worse. Without these riots nothing was being done about the abject poverty experienced by millions in this country. The whole Islamophobia and cultural diversity failure issues are fuelled by poverty as are so many other unsatisfactory consequences. The people in power must start treating ALL of the population with the same human respect as they treat the privileged echelons. Britain is collapsing into an 'us and them' culture and it is both unacceptable and unsustainable. These disturbances are at least causing people to wake up a bit and begin to see the damage being caused. Although the people who have had their businesses bunt and their expensive shops looted are suffering and I am sorry for them, the scale of suffering caused by these riots is minuscule compared to the lives being ruined every day and the pain and suffering being brought about by this ridiculous approach of the government to take money from the poorest in society and to feed billions of pounds to the richest. I wonder how the poorest millions in Britain feel when they see a sad executive in his smart suit looking at his burnt out business and wondering if the insurance will cover the loss. A princess who has lost her diamond ring has exactly the same legitimacy in being distressed about it as a poor person who has lost their teddy bear. The executive in the suit is understandably very distressed about the destruction in front of him and I am not trying to suggest he should not be seriously upset. But I am pointing out that there are millions who live with more than that level of distress every day because they have no opportunities, no money and no hope. Unfortunately if the people at the top will not take the people at the bottom seriously they will, eventually, get their bottoms bitten.

Double Standards

I have just read an article on Al Jazeera and it is nice to see the leaders of the three main political parties in Britain are all still capable of towing the same line in bull-shit.

David Cameron said "We will do everything necessary to restore order to Britain's streets.  Scenes of people attacking police officers and fire crews, this is criminality, pure and simple, this has to be confronted and defeated."

Nick Clegg said "It was needless, opportunistic theft and violence, nothing more, nothing less.  It is completely unacceptable."

Ed Miliband tweeted "Shocked by scenes in parts of London and Birmingham. We need strong police response to restore calm and for communities to work together."

BULL-SHIT!

The tragedy, it seems, is that people who happily take on board the authoritarian paradigm are inherently incapable of realising what I am talking about.  The fact that I suggest these remarks are bull-shit is erroneously interpreted by them as meaning I am in agreement with what they see as "the enemy".

How can I explain this?  Most people seem not to like algebra.  It is a consequence of bad teaching in school.  But let me try a bit of literal algebra.  Think of an archetypal bad guy.  In this case a 'hoodie' who opportunistically loots and sets fire to buildings.  An unpleasant individual who is unkind, rude, violent and doesn't give a damn about other people.  Not a nice sort.  Okay.  So have you got that little model sorted in your head.  Let us call it BadGuy.  So a lot of the population have this little definition in their heads.  On their televisions they see people (let's call them hoodies) acting in a way which fits this 'model', this algebraic representation of a 'thing'.  They quite erroneously think the person on their television screen is a BadGuy.  They don't really understand that the BadGuy is in their head, they think it is 'out there'.  It is a kind of Freudian projection.  There is no doubt that the hoodie is acting 'like' the BadGuy but there is a difference.

Now let's think of the political leaders (and all sorts of other people in positions of power and influence) and consider where they are coming from.  Take a simple situation with man A and man B (more algebra).  Man A gives an apple to man B who looks hungry.  So man A is a "GoodGuy".  Man B snatches the apple, utters some obscenities and hits man A.  He quite clearly fits the BadGuy description.  The politicians use this algebraic model to define the world and they call the hoodies BadGuys and the rest of the law abiding innocent citizens going about their legitimate business GoodGuys.  It seems to make sense to get rid of the BadGuys.  Then all that is left is us GoodGuys.  Simples!  But there is a glaring contradiction.  The politicians are not GoodGuys.  Take a look at the rules in the country.  Take a look at the game of musical chairs being played with people's jobs and their ability to simply survive in this culture.  Look at the unjust laws governing the little people's finances and the big boys' finances.  Look at the behaviour of the banks.  Look at the disgusting and irresponsible behaviour of the oil companies.  Look at the lies perpetrated by the pharmaceutical industry.  When the industrial scale rip off including credit card scams, consumerism, consumption etc starts to creak at the edges what is the authorities' response?  Squeeze even harder.  Take money from the support mechanism in society to bail out the otherwise bankrupt bankers.  The authorities' behaviour is not that of the GoodGuy.  But the morality, the simple algebraic equation, is brought to bear on the detail of the situation.  It is too easy to see the 'hoodie' as equal to or equivalent to the BadGuy.  Out comes the moralising and the apparently legitimate judgement that the BadGuys must be stopped.  (Out comes the rod of righteous retribution! - See the light entertainment below.)  When I object to this stance a common mistake is to think I am agreeing that the BadGuys behaviour is good.  No - BadGuy behaviour is decidedly undesirable.  My problem is that it is the authorities' BadGuy behaviour that is both unacceptable and has given rise to the hoodies' behaviour which looks very like a BadGuy.

 INTERVAL OF LIGHT ENTERTAINMENT 

Free Speech for Hamsters
(or 'the Rod of Righteous Retribution')

In simple terms the problem starts with the rules in the country.  The problem is that the people at the top are acting like cruel psychopaths.  (N.B. I said 'cruel' psychopaths - there is nothing wrong with being a psychopath per se.)  It is not an 'excuse' for the behaviour of the looters but it is an observation that you would expect something like this to happen if you continue to abuse the population.

So the leaders' comments are bull-shit because they are continuing the deception by suggesting that the solution to the problem is to be more forceful, judgemental and punitive against the 'consequences' of the rich and powerful's abusive behaviour.  There is a moral judgement being applied by one set of people against another set.  This morality is applied to the hoodies by a group of people who are not applying it to themselves.  Simply put you can abuse and cheat other people until they lash out and then claim that they are acting immorally.  Double Standards!

Here's the BIG QUESTION.  If there is something wrong with the hoodies' behaviour can anyone out there tell me WHAT is wrong with it?  Because, in a Socratic kind of way, in answering that question, you might just encounter that the problem with abusive behaviour is precisely that it degrades the whole situation.  The problem with abusive treatment of other people is that it causes aberrant behaviour and the problem with aberrant behaviour is that it is uncomfortable and not conducive to sustainable life.  What people imagine is wrong with the hoodies' behaviour is that it will destroy our culture and our reasonable comfort.  YES!  That is what is wrong with abusive behaviour.  The hoodies are the evidence of the abusive behaviour of the politicians, the bankers, the rich and powerful and indeed the priests, vicars, imams, rabbis, teachers, doctors, judges and the list cascades throughout the culture.  If you abuse people they act erroneously otherwise there would be no meaning in the idea of abuse.  If abuse had no consequence what would it be called abuse for?

So the politicians need to say "Yes, this is unacceptable and we must do something about it."  but what they must do about it is to start to dismantle the self-contradictory, deceptive and immoral state of the country.  People in positions of power MUST act reasonably and fairly toward the community.  It is no good occasionally having an 'expenses' scandal, or a 'phone hacking' scandal, or an 'abuse of prisoners in Abu Ghraib' scandal and sending a few scapegoats to jail.  This is allowing the bad behaviour to continue so long as you don't get caught.  The whole culture of acceptable abuse MUST STOP.  There was never any excuse to bail out the bankers.  There is no excuse for the amazingly self destructive 'austerity measures' imposed on the poor.  This is perverse, self contradictory behaviour and it must STOP.

But the politicians will continue to 'blame' the hoodies for their own corrupt behaviour and the frightened population will continue to bleat in agreement with the punitive actions against them.  And the churches and the synagogues and the mosques will all see an increase in attendance and there will be more mutterings of prayers to some fictional benign oppressor.  But the abuse will continue until Allah, in his infinite wisdom, will bring about the destruction of the abusive culture.  And lest my little humour here is misinterpreted by some fascist Muslims he'll get you too (and the Christians and the Jews).

Having a riot of a time!

Oh how delightful.  Riots in Tottenham on Saturday night and more riots on Sunday.  Then, as if to put the icing on the cake, on Monday night there are riots in Croydon, Hackney, Clapham, Lewisham, Peckham, Bromley, Catford and who knows where else.  In Croydon there is a massive fire involving a furniture store and a pub and other fires have been lit.  Then it turns out there is unrest in Birmingham and Leeds as well with reports of a man being shot in Leeds.

There are serious questions as to what happened on Saturday when Mark Duggan was shot.  The police seem to be uncertain about their story.  It sound as if they are hedging their bets until they feel they cannot be proved wrong in whatever story they invent.  But there is something very suspicious emerging.

In Peckham a PriMark has been looted along with many other shops.  It is not limited to males, the girls are also doing the free 'shopping' too.

In Clapham Junction Currys was ransacked with people taking suitcases of stolen goods away from the store.

Why are people asking "Why?"  Do they really believe the illusion of the financial system, of the consumer culture, of the wealthy abusing the population and the charade of democracy?  It is like trying to understand the Middle East in terms of religion or 9/11.  It is the crumbling of an unsustainable oppressive system.

Sally Leivseley, a security expert, was interviewed on Al Jazeera and was saying that the police need better communications and systems in place to be quicker than the youths.

The Interior Minister, Theresa May, said there should be no doubt that everybody responsible for the trouble will be caught and will face justice.  She said there was no excuse for violence and thuggery.

Tony Sewell was interviewed on Al Jazeera.  He sounded confident as if he knew what he is talking about but he really doesn't understand what is behind these riots.  He is a director of Generating Genius, a charity helping youngsters in poor communities.  He thinks there should be more 'authority' to keep these youngsters under control.

Mike Hardy the director of the Institute Of Community Cohesion was interviewed and he was the first person who seems to make sense.  He understands that this behaviour is the consequence of seriously disaffected groups of people.  He sees this in a much larger time scale.  It is the erosion of our culture.  There are more and more people growing up who in no way feel they belong to the society they live in.  They are deprived, sidelined, without hope and what do they care?

Most discussions on the subject of these riots are still anchored in the supposed values of the previous 100 years.  Theresa May's comments about there being no excuse for violence and thuggery is simply appalling.  What was our government doing in Iraq?  What are they doing in Afghanistan?  What are they thinking of when they bail out the rich bankers with billions of pounds stolen from the poor in society.  They hock the youngster's future by 'lending' them the money to get educated.  It is just a way of keeping the social services from having to pay them as unemployed.  The joke is that by the time they should be paying the loans back the economy won't sustain it either.  They renege on their deals with pensions, they cut every benefit they can lay their hands on.  The Children Services are apparently being funded to the tune of £7,000 per week for every child they can kidnap.  The 'authorities' are the thugs!  What the hell did they think would happen if they kept lying through their teeth about 'values' and morals' that they assumed everyone else was bound by but somehow didn't apply to them?

Someone said this is a sad day for everyone.  NO.  Not for me.  I love it.  It wasn't so long ago I was a relatively well off middle class, well educated, employed, family man.  But our culture got hold of me and I have been lied to and cheated by every 'authority' I have encountered.  They seem to think their little bit of corruption doesn't matter as they push it all under the carpet.  But now there is a lot of debris under the carpet.  So much that it only takes an excuse like Mark Duggan to get shot and the carpet starts heaving.

Toxic Drums has been saying for some time now that this would happen.  Unfortunately it will only go on for a few more nights.  But the problem is still there and like a smouldering volcano it will erupt.  The prediction is in about 3 years time.  It would be possible to address the problems and to stop the revolution occurring but the authorities are still as blind as ever and they will think they are winning by being more draconian.  But all they will be doing is making the situation worse.

These riots will prove to be the excuse to 'toughen up'.  They will be used to bring in more laws violating human rights and dignity.  They will increase the police's powers and overall there will be less justice.  Since it is fundamentally the lack of justice that is behind these riots you can see the situation can only get worse.  Why am I pleased?  Because I have gone from okay to near destitute in seven years because of the self serving authoritarian monsters who are running our culture.  The majority of people are still believing in those projected values and the worse things get the more they will become judgemental, punitive and vengeful.

So all I can say is carry on being judgemental, carry on thinking these youths are out of hand, criminal, nasty, selfish and lawless.  Think of as many negative attributes as you can to lay on them to make yourselves feel good.  Because the more we condemn them the less we realise it is 'our' problem.  It is not 'them'.  It is the culture that allows the rich and powerful, the privileged and the control freaks to lives like a cancer off the back of the oppressed.  The more condemning and superior judgemental crap that emerges the sooner the real revolution will occur.

Our culture is collapsing and if a lot of people in positions of power and influence don't understand that, then there is nothing they will be able to do about it.  And it is not just the people at the top that matter.  It is all of us.  People must stop supporting the oppressors.  People must stop tolerating the inequality and the injustice of this culture.  The banks, the petroleum companies, the pharmaceuticals, the politicians, the police, the social services, all of them must be held to account.  They must not be allowed to continue getting away with the abuse.  If you support the authorities in their injustice because it makes you feel safer at the moment take a look at your history books.  This kind of abuse cannot continue as if it works in the long run.  There will always be a revolution in the end.

There are too many disaffected people in our culture.  They see the wealthy and the powerful as the enemy and they really don't care anymore.  I am very close to agreeing with them.

What I want to see is less of the punitive judgemental crap in our culture and for the 'austerity measures' (code for rip off the poor and keep the rich happy) to be seen for what they are and not to be accepted.  I want people to make their voices heard that the politicians and the rich and powerful do not own the ground the rest of us walk on.  We are all humans on this planet and we all have to cooperate.  The pollution of the planet must stop.  The poverty inflicted as a device of control must stop.  The lies and deception perpetrated by companies for their own benefit must stop.  We have to stop swallowing the bullshit.

So:  For the time being I am delighted that the country is sinking into hell.  If I really thought the revolution had started I would probably be ecstatic because it would mean the end of this perverse culture was close at hand.  But sadly the majority of the population will carry on as normal muttering condemnation of the naughty people whilst they wend their way to work for their particular oppressor.

Just a thought before I go.  We are like ants.  We do what we do.  These riots are NOT 'them'.  These riots are what 'we' are fermenting in our corrupt and inhumane culture.

Viewing JavaScript Output.

A problem I encountered recently was how to actually see the HTML output by JavaScript.  The trouble with producing HTML code from JavaScript is that when you view the source of the rendered page you only get to see the original JavaScript.

For example:  Can you see what is wrong with this JavaScript?
<script type="text/javascript">
  //<!--
  var SquaresAcross=16;
  var SquaresDown=16;
  document.writeln("<table width=\"100%\" border=\"0\" align=\"center\" cellpadding=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\">");
  for (i=0; i<(SquaresAcross*SquaresDown); i++)
    {
    if ((i%SquaresDown)==0) {document.writeln(" <tr>")};
    document.writeln("   <td width=\"34\" height=\"34\"> <img src=\"pics/maze/maze-11.gif\" alt=\"s"+i+"\" name=\"s"+i+"\" width=\"34\" height=\"34\" id=\"s"+i+"\" /> </td>");
    if ((i%SquaresDown)==(SquaresDown-1)) {document.writeln("  </tr>")};
    }
  document.writeln("</table>");
  //-->
</script>
Is it going to produce the right HTML code?  And if it doesn't but still runs can you see, from the output, what the problem might be?  It would be so convenient to see the HTML it produces but if you load the page into a browser and view the source all you get is the original JavaScript.

There is a solution!

Load the page into a browser and save it to your hard disk.  Then load the saved version into a browser and 'View Source'.  Hey presto! (Or even Ali Bongo if you like.) The HTML output is in the source for the page.

A useful little tip and more is explained at Toxic Drums: View JavaScript Output

Also... If you want to know how to get HTML code in your Blogger post (like the above example) the simple solution is to go to Simple Bits where you can simply put your code into the processor and it spews out the code required for Blogger.  You can work out how to do it after that.

Amazing insanity!

Just to make sure no one is in any doubt this web site is utterly insane.  Here is an example of the insanity that is Toxic Drums.  http://www.toxicdrums.com/amazing-insanity.html.  This is what I spend my insane time doing.  Please send as many complaints as possible to Sam from the contact page.

Is Lamb a Faux Pas?

Whew! Thank goodness for that.  Or should it be Thank God!  Oops... I mean Thank Allah (may all his camels have ice cream for breakfast).  At last someone has got the courage to stand up for what's right.  We have been waiting for this for years, nay, generations.  In this country we have been trying to get things right with Christianity.  Christ was a good egg of sorts but somehow he seems to have lost the plot.  For all his peace loving ways the upshot was death by crucifixion.  These Muslim geezers have a more practical and efficacious approach.  Say it like it is.  Down with all non-believers!  They have the courage to make posters and enforce sane, reasonable, moral standards for the benefit of the poor degenerate population.  Where would we be without their guidance, nay, enforcement of their moral code.  Well we might be suffering from drug crazed orgies and hangovers, God forbid.  At least they are brave enough to sexually mutilate young girls for life.  Women are such a threat after all and you have to be brave to do that.  I love Muslims.  There is something quite special about them.  Somehow they must be handpicked by Allah and injected with some superior sacred insight and knowledge because they evidently know something that the rest of humanity couldn't know without their enforcement.  They understand the utter profundity of telling the truth.  They understand that no matter how distasteful it might appear to the unbelievers the truth is that the truth is not true.  It is evidently a spiritually profound reality that the way to love and peace is through hatred and violence.  I can see it now.  Someone terrifies me with threats of violence and to avoid the pain so that I can remain alive and free I submit to their will and become subservient to them for my freedom.  Oh how liberating it is when you realise the truth for the first time.  Thank you Anjem Choudary and all your faithful followers in the UK for enlightening me.  I love you and I'll never go against your wishes.  You are always welcome in my home and I promise I will stop drinking and smoking and fornicating and... (is wanking allowed?).

Hooray for Islam.  Hooray for Muslims.  Hooray for the Qur'an.  (Am I safe now?... please.)



All about Pat Condell.