scum??

I wish I had a tenner for everytime I've heard or read the word 'scum' over the last few days. Of course it will mean different things to different people, especially when put in context of the current 'riots'. It seems the people using the word as a descriptive exclamation think that the word is enough to describe or even explain the 'troubles' (yes, that is what they are). What they are doing is to use the strategy of "they're just scum"
"why?"
"because they are..."
(one can persevere here if you have the patience)
"what do you mean?"
"they're just scum"
- and there we go in ever decreasing frustrating circles.
To ask these questions against these banal comments is not condoning anything that has happened, but that certainly, is what is happening, as those with intelligence and a voice in the puclic sphere face unprecedented attacks for being 'sympathetic' with the rioters. Of course, this is ridiculous.
This society, and this is not party political as the Labour government of Blair is just as responsible as the Tories, has bread, through rampant consumerism and the ideology of greed (thank you Mrs Thatcher) a specific 'underclass'. By that I mean a class that is 'beneath' the working class, and by definition, has less hope than 'no hope'. We all know it's there, laughingly called the 'chav' class, and sneered at by the rest of us, lucky enough to not be a member. A friend recently commented that 'there has to be shit at the bottom, so leave it there and batter it to control it' (paraphrased I'm afraid). Not only is this view narrow minded and stupid, it is also deeply uncaring, and furthermore, very dangerous.
These troubles are not happening accidentally, they are not spontaneous. What has shocked me is the scale and the numbers involved... how big is this 'underclass' that we have created? At this moment in the 'eye of the storm' it seems massive, and incredibly powerful, so that those dismissing them as 'scum... 'cause they are' had better be aware that to dismiss these troubles as opportunistic looting is to fuel the fires of discontent and expect more of the same.
The governement are now on the front foot (eventually after their jollies) to demonstrate that they are the party of 'law and order' because they see the 'opportunity' for vote catching after listening to the knee-jerk rhetoric of the masses. This is a 'heads in the sand' position, of course, and as Seumas Milne states in yesterdays Gaurdian, this is:
"a nonsensical position. If this week's eruption is an expression of pure criminality and has nothing to do with police harassment or youth unemployment or rampant inequality or deepening economic crisis, why is it happening now and not a decade ago? The criminal classes, as the Victorians branded those at the margins of society, are always with us, after all. And if it has no connection with Britain's savage social divide and ghettoes of deprivation, why did it kick off in Haringey and not Henley?... To refuse to recognise the causes of the unrest is to make it more likely to recur - and ministers won't be making that mistake behind closed doors if they care about their own political futures."
There has been many warnings that these troubles are imminent - from the police, Nick Clegg no less, and, more importantly, the youths themselves - as the cuts and economic disparity bites deep. The bankers have legally looted our society and got away with it - there is a paralell analogy here that is so very obvious, that it doesn't need explaining!
In my lifetime I have seen (and this only occured to me recently after the expenses and hacking scandals) the professions (doctors, clergy, lawyers, ect.), and organs of the state (police, military, politicians etc.), which were automatically revered and respected by all and sundry, decline in this aspect - our society is slowly (but quicker now due to the technological revolution) being discovered as corrupt and immoral, through individual greed, celebrity, ambition, envy, and status (social climbing). I hear all too often, indignantly said, 'I'm not working class now, I'm middle class because I own my own house, have two cars, and holiday abroad' - a delusion and misconception allowed and fostered by our rulers through the concept of hegemony.
I hope our society wakes up and recognises these very dangerous times (all deep recessions have ended in major wars - fact!), and these troubles in particular, as an opportunity (buzz word here me thinks) to take stock, re-evaluate, and change course towards a fairer and more equal society.