Not sure where this came from, was sent to me by email. An excellent cartoon.
Where I differ from so many of my commenters is in seeing all three caricatures as representing a real type of deeply unpleasant person involved in what has gone so wrong in our ultra-materialist society. Most of my commenters view the first two that way and the third as a noble class warrior fulfilling a legitimate desire for material goods (and killing pensioners and burning families out of their homes). Or some such bollocks.
can’t see the cartoon!
Surely this is all the fault of (poor peoples) ‘feckless’ fathers?
Gosh! Is that a hardened gangster coming out with the trainers? Are the two in the front the real gangsters, the gangsters-in-charge?
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,,now i do,,,,,,jail the adidas’ boy!!!
I like it. It speaks a rarely-heard truth. I agree with you, Craig, that these characters are different incarnations of the same problem. Their greedy, opportunistic behaviour is largely encouraged and then we are surprised when that behaviour gets out of control. I wrote at length about it here – http://www.terrorbullgames.co.uk/blog/2011/august/on_looting_gangsters_and_fisting/ – if you’re interested
Been said before many times but Woody Guthrie expressed it best:
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“Yes as through the world I’ve wandered,
I’ve seen lots of funny men;
Some will rob you with a six-gun,
And some with a fountain pen”
Now I think about it, Craig, I think you’d really enjoy our ‘War on Terror’ board game. It would be my absolute pleasure to send you one. Drop me an email if it grabs you.
Its from the Financial Times and its very good. What he fails to put there is the wholesale looting from the taxpayer of large immigrant families who have never worked and have always been on benefits and who live in mansions that most working people could never afford, because they are looting our taxes aswell.
Dr Rohen Kapur (phd in xenophobia, I’m guessing), would you care to substantiate and elaborate on your bold claims?
Spot on Craig.
“Most of my commenters view” …
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He’s channelling Larry. Run away, now.
“Most of my commenters view the first two that way and the third as a noble class warrior fulfilling a legitimate desire for material goods (and killing pensioners and burning families out of their homes)”
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I think the moderator must have deleted most of these posts.
Precisely, MJ. It’s clearly not the case – I don’t think any commentators I’ve reda were suggesting that the rioters were ‘ noble class warriors’. Where did you read that on this blog, Craig? We’ve all trying to assess what might have led to the riots and sometimes also to offer possible parts of solutions, or just to express dismay or whatever. I think, with respect, that you’ve drawn a caricature, Craig. I agree with you wrt the nonsensical ‘tabloid’ punishments – they are knee-jerk, ill thought-out, will acheive nothing and risk worsening the problems.
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Oh, and ‘Dr Rohen Kapur’ (is that a large brass plaque?), I assume that you are not part of one of those ‘large immigrant families who live in mansions’? I assume that you are part of a very small family and that you live in a shoebox? Or were you referring to the multiple offshore cartels who make billions – trillions – pay no tax at all? Or were you even being deeply ironic? Or are you just a joke by one of the regular contributors? If not, perhaps then, you may wish to audition for a regular column in The Daily Mail. You might get to sit next to Melanie Philips at parties in the House of Lords.
Hearfelt cry from the depths of Lenin’s Tomb:
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‘I remember a time when a copper could clip a young fellow round the ear and send him on his way. I remember a time when the most violent thing in the charts was the Foxtrot, when nuns rode to morning service on bicycles, while mist rose from the countryside. And I remember when rioters had some respect, and some principles. Not like today’s mob. Today’s mob, would-you-Adam-and-Eve-it, have been known to half-inch items that they otherwise could not afford to purchase or otherwise honestly come by. This practise is described in the ‘lingo’ (a mutilated argot in which inarticulate young people communicate) as ‘looting’. The ‘looting’ craze has swept the hitherto respectable subculture of rioting during the last generation, (not insignificantly, the generation after which I personally happened to arrive). Where once, rioters could be depended on to only hurt their own/outsiders (delete as appropriate), they now hurt their own/outsiders (delete as appropriate). It used to be possible, in the good old days of rioting, to leave your back door open. Today, however, consumerism has left us with stuff worth nicking. The new neoliberal rioter is a Thatcherite. The decent working class values of old – hard graft, family, community, and a good kick up the arse – have been replaced by the values of the Carphone Warehouse. ‘Greed is good’ is the slogan upon which these feral yobs have been raised. They are Thatcherites. That is why they should have their benefits taken away, and they should be reported to the police, conscripted, and deported. It never did me any harm… (Contd, p. 94, and ad infinitum).’
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http://bit.ly/oSWcgh
Excellent cartoon Craig, but you wrote: “Most of my commenters view […] the third as a noble class warrior fulfilling a legitimate desire for material goods”…
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Sorry, I’ve read most of the comments over the last few days, and I really don’t see much of this, certainly not “most”. A few, and not regular commenters. I really haven’t seen comments from regulars supporting the rioting or hoping for it to spread further.
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Maybe you’re influenced by a general lack of condemnation and few calls for the use of additional force against the rioters, but I’m speculating. Your statement as it stands mystifies me.
John McDonnell tells it like it is.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PM-p-ZZVkYo&feature=player_embedded
A couple of years ago I was invited to join a Facebook group, the “Riots Re-enactment Society”; I didn’t join as I would be unable to attend. But it occurs to me that they’d have big trouble trying to re-enact this lot. They’d need the combined resources and legal influence of the entire Bullingdon Club several times over.
It is a good cartoon. Bankers and politicians don’t need trainers to escape from retribution. And that is the difference. Their thefts are perceived as being legitimate while the guy who steals a pair of trainers he may not be able to afford is just a common criminal.
And Craig, when one group leads and other groups follow, our strongest condemnation is rightfully directed at those who led, those who set the bad example, especially if those leading groups have much influence upon society and the media, whereas those who emulate them do not.
Guildford High Street, a modern day temple to consumerism, – clothes, shoes, phones, estate agents, fast food, banks, building societies,cosmetics, jewellery etc etc – was once the scene for regular rioting in the 19th century.
http://www.icons.org.uk/theicons/collection/bonfire-night/features/the-guildford-guy-riots
Some sort of letting off steam by the sounds of it.
I’ve previously been criticised in the comments for referring to the politicians as “our leaders” rather than “our rulers”. I now suggest that it was my use of the word “our” that was in error, rather than the word “leaders”. These slash-and-burn politicians have certainly led the way in promoting rampant materialism, lack of morality and wide disregard for the consequences of their actions upon others.
“Most of my commenters view the first two that way and the third as a noble class warrior”
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I fail to see why Craig should get away with these statements while not being forced to provide any evidence. I’d like to see the names of the “most” you have in mind, Craig.
Mr Murray,
It really is ridiculous to see rioters and looters as noble warriors.
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Lets imagine for a second that we are allowed (by our moral standards) to compensate from those bankers/politicians what they UNDERpay us? So tomorrow we broke to the house of a know banker and help ourselves by taking some of his wife’s jewels or 50+inch plasma TV from his bathroom.
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By doing it would it be fair to prevent even poorer neighbours of ours from breaking to our houses and helping themselves from taking stuff from us (for what we worked hard and saved to purchase)?
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There are millions of people who work hard, save money in order to purchase goods they want, and there are those who abuse the system by stealing whether millions in bonuses or knickers from broken window of the shop. And the latter are CRIMINALS and should respond to the society according to the law.
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And no one can really blame so called consumer society. Why on earth hardworking people should NOT be allowed (or judged to be morally wrong) to purchase plasma TV or sofa or bed, or anything else they feel they need? Purchasing these goods on credit cards and pushing themselves into debts it is another matter but those who are able to afford buying goods cannot be judged.
Uzbek in the UK; Let me reiterate: As far as I can see, NOBODY contributing to these threads has called the looters “noble class warriors”. It’s a straw argument.
@ Craig,
I disagree with your assessment – and I will tell you why.
The first two are allowed to get away with significantly more harm and damage inflicted on the general society than is the Adidas looter.
You say:-
“… the third as a noble class warrior fulfilling a legitimate desire for material goods (and killing pensioners and burning families out of their homes). Or some such bollocks”
If you check carefully, you will find that to the contrary, most see opportunistic looting for precisely what it is.
There is truth in some of what you have said, but in the quotation above – there is discernible inaccuracy.
Our planet is running out of resources, I can see your beautiful green oceans through my enhanced optical vision scope. Your greed sickens me, you have everything, including all the tv sets you want, we are down to our last plasma tubes. We are going to have to start thinking about smashing your houses and shops down and taking what we need; and to avoid endangering ourselves we are going to focus first on those sympathetic to social-economic explanations of our depravity; our desire for theft and vandalism. Now let me see, who goes first? Definitely Mary; maybe Clark oh … let us not forget Dreolin.
“and the third as a noble class warrior fulfilling a legitimate desire for material goods (and killing pensioners and burning families out of their homes).”
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and yet the former two have killed nations of people, vaporised away women children and pensioners . no mention of that.
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dont the financial terrorists, bankers / city traders kill in a more silent subtle way and sometimes not so silent or subtle.
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and our corrupt politicians , never too afraid to spill blood, to deny the comforts that they impose on themselves. with their corrupt media affiliates
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so how can the looter not be a noble class warrior , more honest and brutal in his/her material quest?
“the third as a noble class warrior fulfilling a legitimate desire for material goods”
I see three thieves. Two are above the law. The thieves don’t need to hide their identity, and the last one is obviously outside the law. But all three are out to get what they can, in whatever method is available to them. I don’t see the cartoon as giving legitimacy to any of the thieves.
HG Alien, sorry, you won’t find any plasma tubes at my house. If there is anything else you’d like, there is no need to smash the house down. Just knock at the door and ask.
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PS, can you give me a lift to M16 please?
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http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/97/Stellar_spire_eagle_nebula.jpg
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Warning – Very large Jpeg image aprox. 35MiB
Gospodin Clark, I thank you for your kind invitation and for you wonderful photo of my brother’s neighbourhood.