London Riots

[steve_earwig]

remember being scared of the teachers?

Terrified, evil child-hating psychopaths. Fortunately most of them are dead now.

Send in Thatcher, she'll sort them out! (Free bricks for all!)

[Welly]

I was referring to respectfulness, this starts at school and is sadly lacking now - well doesn't seem to exist. When I was at school you'd be expelled in an instant if you even thought about back-chatting a teacher - you'd have to run to the other end of the Rugby field, think it, and then run back and say nothing

It probably wasn't all that healthy for us being ruled/repressed by the teachers but I don't believe it has done any harm either. The 1970's/80's generation, in my belief, is the last of the proper hard working folk with strong family values and respect for others.

I despair at this new generation of money-grabbing, lazy-arsed, unruly tossers we have in our communities now.

[highlander]

3) X-Box type games

Here's something I posted on the Coupe Club forum about the same thing:

I wish people would stop blaming real-world violence on video games. There is *no* link.

I've been playing video games since I was 5 (I'm 31 this month) - sword fighting, first-person shooters, combat flight simulators - if it involves killing other people, I've probably played it. Yes, I've played the "Postal" games. Yes, I've played all of the "Grand Theft Auto" games. Yes, I've played every game id Software ever wrote.

No, I've never shot, stabbed, blown up, punched, sliced, cut, dismembered or eviscerated anyone or anything at all, let alone as a result of playing games.

The reason kids have become such utter swine these days (they have - trust me) is because parents are no longer allowed to properly discipline their children. If I was bad when I was growing up, my parents or grandparents would smack my arse, hard. I would have privileges withdrawn, even means ("Go to bed, now, without any supper").

These days, the spoilt little sods know they can get away with it, so they will push every button and press their luck, left right and centre - and all because nobody tells them they can't - they don't understand the meaning of what is right and what is wrong.

I see kids - young children, under the age of 8 - swearing at their parents, and they get nothing - no come-uppance. No punishment. Kids punching their parents in the legs. What's that all about? I know if I did that, I'd get smacked in the arse and sent to my room.

Schools used to use corporal punishment, too - while I was in primary school, I got a ruler smacked across the back of my hand as punishment for simple things like forgetting to hand in homework. Schools aren't allowed to do that now, at all - so you get chaos in the classrooms - kids shouting at teachers, hitting teachers, throwing things at teachers. Teachers have filed complaints about kids bullying them!

Violent video games are not the root cause, not even close.

[Harshan]

Sad indeed and overheard through my friends that lot of immigrants and Asians are being beaten and shops belongs to immigrants are being targetted. Any truth behind that ? Deciplined police forces are too good for these morons I guess, need some bad ass cops you find in Asian countries to tame these brainless uneducated idiots.

However, it still better than the days we passed, where a bomb going off killing about 20-30 became an accepted norm in the capital of the country.

[DiscoPol]

remember being scared of the teachers?

Terrified, evil child-hating psychopaths.

Did somebody call?

I am sat in a very foreign land watching my home country slowly destroy any last shreds of international respect they had had from the rest of the world, its very very sad indeed.

This has been due for a while, when asked why am I in Poland by many of my students my answer has always been that the UK is both financially and socially bankrupt, its just so very sad to see it unfold on the world stage like this, if i was an emotional man i could shed a little tear for what has happened to the once great Britain I used to call home.

[Bailes1992]

Does anyone think it's suspicious that all these riots start just after Mr Rees goes on holiday

[steve_earwig]

Wasn't the PM and that inbred arsehole Johnson on holiday too? Something we should know?

Sad indeed and overheard through my friends that lot of immigrants and Asians are being beaten and shops belongs to immigrants are being targetted. Any truth behind that ?

Hold on, Allied Carpets, Miss Selfridge, Sony... Not that I'm aware of.

Deciplined police forces are too good for these morons I guess

More like emasculated, all they're allowed to do is little more than shout a lot

need some bad ass cops you find in Asian countries to tame these brainless uneducated idiots.

My dad reckons they should start cutting fingers off, which reminds me - say what you like about Vlad The Impaler, there was NO crime. Prison is obviously no deterrent, all it does is turn petty criminals onto hard ones and prisoners get treated better than pensioners in an old folk's home. Off with a couple of fingers, a few quid for some minor surgery verses a few hundred grand for a few months stay in what isn't much more than a holiday camp at the public's expense. Wow - he just cured prison overcrowding too!

Just chucking it in here

However, it still better than the days we passed, where a bomb going off killing about 20-30 became an accepted norm in the capital of the country.

That is no way to live, my only experience of that sort of thing is when the IRA started doing their thing on the mainland when I was a wee small lad. Still, it's not just the nutcases, now it's your fellow citizens you have to watch!

[Harshan]

Wasn't the PM and that inbred arsehole Johnson on holiday too? Something we should know?

Sad indeed and overheard through my friends that lot of immigrants and Asians are being beaten and shops belongs to immigrants are being targetted. Any truth behind that ?

Hold on, Allied Carpets, Miss Selfridge, Sony... Not that I'm aware of.

Deciplined police forces are too good for these morons I guess

More like emasculated, all they're allowed to do is little more than shout a lot

need some bad ass cops you find in Asian countries to tame these brainless uneducated idiots.

My dad reckons they should start cutting fingers off, which reminds me - say what you like about Vlad The Impaler, there was NO crime. Prison is obviously no deterrent, all it does is turn petty criminals onto hard ones and prisoners get treated better than pensioners in an old folk's home. Off with a couple of fingers, a few quid for some minor surgery verses a few hundred grand for a few months stay in what isn't much more than a holiday camp at the public's expense. Wow - he just cured prison overcrowding too!

Just chucking it in here

However, it still better than the days we passed, where a bomb going off killing about 20-30 became an accepted norm in the capital of the country.

That is no way to live, my only experience of that sort of thing is when the IRA started doing their thing on the mainland when I was a wee small lad. Still, it's not just the nutcases, now it's your fellow citizens you have to watch!

ok so most of what I overheard are baseless gossips, moving on.

What I've mentioned about the situation one and a half years back before, we battled and wiped out terrorism from our land. Now it's a free and one country again, they say one of best tourist destinations

[Welly]

Highlander, I tend to refer to Computer Games as a bad thing. I can only compare my childhood to that of a typical kid these days. We didn't have computer games - there wasn't any, so we 'played'; we played on our bikes, we played hide and seek, the worst thing ever would be knock-a-door-run! we would never have looted the shops or set fire to cars.

There has been comparisons drawn and documented between violent behaviour and computer games, even violence in Films has been allowed to escalate with a 'relaxing' of censoring. Youths are becoming numb to violent behaviour, they don't see it as being real or of any consequence and this can be played out on the streets in certain circumstances.

Sure the thuggish behaviour on the news isn't because they've all been playing 'Manhunt' the previous day but I can't help thinking it's not helping much either?

I guess I'm saying that a lot of youths these days don't care enough about others, the root of this behaviour could be debated indefinitely though

[sirwiggum]

I agree with Highlander.

Riots have always happened. Would you blame the 80s riots on Pacman and Space Invaders? Teaching kids to munch pills manicly or to think they are in space?

What would you blame the Battle of Cable Street on? Arousing radio broadcasts?

There have always been cutting edge media and they have always taken the blame for whatever society deems their fault.
From forbidden books, racy radio, video nasties and now the computer game shooter.

I would say that most people have a sense of reality, that when they are running around in GTA4 it isn't a real city, and that getting on like that in real life would have real consequences.
I don't play Bioshock and then try and flood the house and inject myself to try and get plasmids.
I don't play Mario Kart and then try and throw bananaskins down on the M2.

People who have an unhinged temperament are going to perform actions no matter what media they happen to see/hear/use.

I do agree, however, with Welly's other 2 points:

1) Lack of respect and discipline
2) Lack of 'proper' schooling (see No.1 above) - remember being scared of the teachers?

These two I suspect are because people are now actually scared of kids. So no teaching of respect and no clip round the ear. No interacting whatsoever, lest you be accused of all sorts. The kids now know this and know they can get away with anything. For this I blame the witchhunts in the gutter tabloids.

[sirwiggum]

Highlander, I tend to refer to Computer Games as a bad thing. I can only compare my childhood to that of a typical kid these days. We didn't have computer games - there wasn't any, so we 'played'; we played on our bikes, we played hide and seek, the worst thing ever would be knock-a-door-run! we would never have looted the shops or set fire to cars.

There has been comparisons drawn and documented between violent behaviour and computer games, even violence in Films has been allowed to escalate with a 'relaxing' of censoring. Youths are becoming numb to violent behaviour, they don't see it as being real or of any consequence and this can be played out on the streets in certain circumstances.

Sure the thuggish behaviour on the news isn't because they've all been playing 'Manhunt' the previous day but I can't help thinking it's not helping much either?

I guess I'm saying that a lot of youths these days don't care enough about others, the root of this behaviour could be debated indefinitely though

I agree somewhat that people are becoming desensitised to violence. Heck, NI used to have horriffic road traffic public service announcements that would never be shown in Britain because it was deemed that people here were desensitised enough that it would get the point across.

Even watching the news you are subjected to graphic violence of all the world's events.

However, if a kid is playing a game like 'Manhunt' (or a similar 18 rated title) then it is no different to the parent letting them sit and watch the 18-rated Saw films. In this case, the parents should not be buying 18 rated titles for their 'cherubs'.


Edit
Intersting article and comments - http://uk.news.yahoo.com/comment/talkin ... 21728.html

[highlander]

However, if a kid is playing a game like 'Manhunt' (or a similar 18 rated title) then it is no different to the parent letting them sit and watch the 18-rated Saw films. In this case, the parents should not be buying 18 rated titles for their 'cherubs'.

This.

My step-son is 17 now, and I'll occasionally let him away with an 18-rated game - but when he was 13 all his mates were playing Grand Theft Auto games, and I refused to let him play them. He was annoyed, but understood that I was refusing to break the law, and not just doing it to piss him off.

He is now mature enough to play this sort of game unsupervised (he will be going to college next month).

The problem with violent computer games is that a lot of parents don't seem to realise that they exist - a lot of parents who would not allow their kids to go to the cinema to watch 18-rated films, or let them watch violent movies on the TV, wouldn't think twice about buying these games for their kids, because they just don't understand that some games can be for adults.

What I believe is a lot more damaging to kids is "Gansta" rap culture - these rappers talk about life in the ghetto, they boast about the money they have, their guns, their fast cars, the respect they gain from violence towards people they think they are better than, the women they pay to have sex with. Some of these guys get shot dead because they have actually been engaging in these gang-related activities. The dangers are that kids who actually do grow up in these deprived neighbourhoods may relate to these guys, and try to emulate them.

[sirwiggum]

Highlander for Prime Minister!

However, if a kid is playing a game like 'Manhunt' (or a similar 18 rated title) then it is no different to the parent letting them sit and watch the 18-rated Saw films. In this case, the parents should not be buying 18 rated titles for their 'cherubs'.

This.

My step-son is 17 now, and I'll occasionally let him away with an 18-rated game - but when he was 13 all his mates were playing Grand Theft Auto games, and I refused to let him play them. He was annoyed, but understood that I was refusing to break the law, and not just doing it to piss him off.

He is now mature enough to play this sort of game unsupervised (he will be going to college next month).

I will admit to playing the "old" GTA games when I was a teenager, but they were more like Micro Machines than a city simulator.



Even the likes of Carmageddon you were killing blocky sprites, not fully articulated persons.
I think the quality and graphics of computer games of the current generation are similar to movies, and so the ratings should be taken as seriously as films.

The problem with violent computer games is that a lot of parents don't seem to realise that they exist - a lot of parents who would not allow their kids to go to the cinema to watch 18-rated films, or let them watch violent movies on the TV, wouldn't think twice about buying these games for their kids, because they just don't understand that some games can be for adults.

Some parents still think PS3s and Xbox360s are something for the kids room, like a ZX Spectrum or Commodore 64. Since the 1st generation Playstation I would say that games have became ever more adult, I am nearing 30 and the Xbox360 has pride of place under the TV.

Of course, other parents don't care. If the 'cherubs' want manhunt or the Saw game, then thats what they get.

I agree with Highlander though, if I ever am in a situation financially/socially (ie. can afford to marry, pay childcare and get a mortgage) in order to breed, I think that the kid would get child-friendly Wii/DS games when they are young, then strict controls on their other console titles, and maybe some of the 18 rated titles like GTA4 when they are older and can demonstrate a bit of maturity and respect.

What I believe is a lot more damaging to kids is "Gansta" rap culture - these rappers talk about life in the ghetto, they boast about the money they have, their guns, their fast cars, the respect they gain from violence towards people they think they are better than, the women they pay to have sex with. Some of these guys get shot dead because they have actually been engaging in these gang-related activities. The dangers are that kids who actually do grow up in these deprived neighbourhoods may relate to these guys, and try to emulate them.

I also agree with this, I have spoken out about the whole gangta rap and celebrity culture before. They are growing up thinking that they are entitled to everything, and if they want a range rover they just have to shoot for it / go on X factor and sing a kareoke song. No culture of hard work or effort. The likes of Germany (as much as I hate their cars) take pride in their science and engineering, whereas the UK has a culture of under-acheivement, anyone doing well in school is bullied into submission such that they never better themselves, and the Eton crowd continue running the country. With the latest increases in higher education costs, so much for social mobility.
I grew up in a rough council estate, went to a good university (with royalty) and while I got in a lot of debt, I appreciate the chance I had and now have a half decent job because of it.
If I had to do it all again today, I would probably not have the same opportunity.

[FarmerPug]

I even seen when i was in school the diffence in the students. When we arrived in 1st year you feared the senior ones and just showed them respect, when we got to the final year the first years were the rudest people you could imagine there was none of the respect that we had shown.

[sirwiggum]

I even seen when i was in school the diffence in the students. When we arrived in 1st year you feared the senior ones and just showed them respect, when we got to the final year the first years were the rudest people you could imagine there was none of the respect that we had shown.

I noticed that too and that was the late 90s-early 2000s. As an upper 6th (7th year) prefect, having to ask one of the form tutors for advice when taking cheek from a 1st year!