London's Burning

[Rhianne]

I hate cities in general - and perhaps London more than most. I don't understand the rioters at all but then nor I can't understand why people would choose to live in what seems, to me, to be the ultimate shit-hole.

A little nearer to where I live the rioting seems to be taking off too:

[Undertoad]

Comedy gold: http://photoshoplooter.tumblr.com/

[footfootfoot]

Originally Posted by TheMercenary

Tonight a group of the rioters blamed it on the "rich", and these were their neighbors. The business people who served their communities, again, pull out and let them rot. See how that works out for them.

While the "rich" may be at fault, these looters fail to make the critical distinction between "richer" and terminally "rich."

It's not the fault of the richer, and if you are not terminally rich then you are unlikely to ever encounter one of them.

People are just knuckleheads. Angry knuckleheads.

[zippyt]

Has any body else noticed that ALL this started when Monster and Beest went away for a few weeks ????

[Aliantha]

I had a dream last night that I called Dani (and I don't even have her number) at 1am for her birthday. There was more to the dream, but it was weird.

[footfootfoot]

Originally Posted by Aliantha

I had a dream last night that I called Dani (and I don't even have her number) at 1am for her birthday. There was more to the dream, but it was weird.

taunting vixen

[infinite monkey]

I blame soccer.

[tw]

Originally Posted by infinite monkey

I blame soccer.

Now that makes sense. They are so confused as to even call it football.

[Big Sarge]

Ref Sundae - I tried calling her earlier today. Got no answer

[tw]

Originally Posted by Rhianne

I don't understand the rioters at all but then nor I can't understand why people would choose to live in what seems, to me, to be the ultimate shit-hole.

Good luck with this explaination.

Why an adolescent does something and why those girls just blame the rich may be two completely different reasons. The concept is called epistemology. As an adolescent enters Level 3, abstract reasoning and metacognitive abilities emerge. An adolescent should grow out of this Level and into Level 4 by high school. Should learn how different truths have perspectives. How some beliefs are more valid that others. Unfortunately many adolescents never graduate to that stage of cognitive development until their twenties or older.

Rice and Dolgin describe this in their book The Adolescent:

Once adolescents enter the formal operations stage, they become either dogmatists or skeptics, at least in the short run. Boyes and Chandler see these opposite types as being rooted in the same awareness that truth is always constructed and that facts are open to multiple and valid interpretations. This is an unsettling revelation at best, and adolescents feel beset by uncertainty. They wonder: "if you can't tell the truth from the false, if you cannot be certain who is right and who is wrong, how can you make good choices?"

Skeptical adolescents react to this uncertainty by rejecting rationality. The take the attitude that if they cannot be certain bout what to do or whom to believe, then all opinions and positions are equally valid and they don't have to listen to any (or to anyone in particular). They lose respect for authority and have little patience for those who parade around as experts. Because they have lost faith in logic, these adolescents behave impulsively (without reasoning through situations), intuitively (doing what their emotions, rather than their logic, tells them to do), and indifferently (without attempting to choose a good course of action, "going with the flow"). They are apt to conform to others, letting the majority make their decisions for them, and they become rebellious or disengaged.

In contrast to skeptics, dogmatists flee from their uncertainty, rigidly clinging to one set of beliefs. They are intolerant of other views because they find them threatening, and they do not want to question their own beliefs. They conform to the views of those they have chosen as allies. They insist that their way of thinking is right and that any who disagree with them are wrong.

Whereas skeptics believe that anyone who believes too deeply in anything is foolish, dogmatists believe that anyone who espouses something different than they do is misguided. Clearly neither of these reasonings is desirable. Boyes and Chandler view skepticism and dogmatism as short-term costs associated with entry into formal operations. Again, many people never outgrow this stage of reasoning.

Formal operation is the fourth and last stage of cognitive development that starts about 11 or 12 years of age. Formal operation involves four Levels. However some adolescent are late or never fully achieve Level four abilities. These rioters are typical of those who never get beyond Level 3. Who remain at the skeptical or dogmatic stage. Resulting emotions are triggered by environmental conditions that must be defined to understand their otherwise irrational behavior.

Their illogical explanation of ‘why’ is based in their interpretations of what they only understand: their emotions. Our understanding means understanding what triggered their emotions.

Grasping the hard realities of logic come later during Level 4. Postskeptical rationalism is when some beliefs are finally understood to be more valid than others. The ability to understand perspectives. Some never achieve that cognitive level until at least their twenties. Remain victims of their own emotions.

[Sundae]

I'm back.
I may enter this discussion at some point, but I just wanted to let you know I was okay.

Mum & I headed off to Cardiff first thing Tuesday morning, and didn't get back until last night. We were watching the footage on SkyTV while we were away, but I had no internet access.

On the coach on the way down we heard that there were rumours of trouble in Grangetown and in Splott (parts of Cardiff), but it must have been contained as we heard nothing more of it. There were definitely a lot of police cars zooming about on Tuesday though, making sure that trouble didn't get a chance to start.

Funnily enough, saw a photo in the paper when we were on the way home of a Welsh policeman deployed to London. How could we tell? He had his back to the camera and Heddlu printed on his hi-vis jacket. Heddlu is Welsh for police, although it transaltes more correctly into "keeper of the peace".

[grynch]

glad to hear you and yours are safe and well..
Wales huh?.. their licence plates should be printed with the motto

"I'd like to buy a vowel please" ( love the accent tho.. especially on the *ahem* ladies. )

[Trilby]

I'm glad to hear from you too, Sundae.

[Aliantha]

It's good to know you're ok Sundae. I actually think it was thoughts of you that prompted my dream of calling Dana. lol Weird.

[Sundae]

I dreamed that people kept congratulating me on my Australian accent the night before.
But in the dream I'd actually performed Steve Pemberton's part in the Go Johnny Go Go sketch, which definitely does NOT have an Australian accent. I was being self-deprecating and saying I'd been listening to it for about 10 years, so no surprise I nailed it...

And I think that came from twice being identified as an American on the way through London (I was wearing & stars & stripes top though, and carrying a tourist sized bag). I used to be identified as an Aussie when I was a teenager. Something to do with the way I pronounced some words.

Dreams tangle things up in funny ways.