By Sandrea: – My Opinion
Anyone who watched the carnage that unfold on the street of London over the last four days is left in no doubt that the rioters were nothing more than thugs and thieves and the chaos that they caused had nothing to do with peaceful demonstration or the fact that they believe the death of Mr Duggan by the Police was wrong.
However, it never fail to amaze me that whenever we have any kind of civil disturbance how quick the authorities seem to always find a way to come up with some kind of blame culture. If we are going to sanction technology for what happen during the riots then how far is the government prepared to go to once again to curtail the freedom and liberty of decent law-abiding citizen.
Facebook, Twitter and Blackberry messaging components are used by millions of people whose only reasons for doing so it to keep in touch with friends, families and let others know what is happening in their lives, if the government put any kind of pressures on these social network and curtail the activities of same then they would be telling the rioters of the last couple days that they have won, and that their thuggery and illegal behaviour was right.
The riots that had happen during the eighties in the UK caused similar damages to people and property and those who undertake the previous riots had no Blackberry, Twitter or Facebook then yet they still caused maximum chaos.
It is time that the government start looking at the root cause of violence and put in place effective deterrent to stop these youths from committing the spree of crime wave that the country experience over the last few days and stop trying to blame technology for their failings.
What this country needs is an effective communication strategy to answer the questions of families when and if their love ones are slain by the police service, this will ensure that they do not have to demonstrate to force the authorities to give them answers or allow the fanatical elements in the country to hijack peaceful demonstration and turned it into the chaotic events that we witness.
I am sure that if the rioters use these social network to organise themselves then there is only going to be records of their activities and this can only help the police to identify those that are responsible so we should not be too quick or eager to put any constraints on these network because in fact they are helpful tools rather than hindrances.
The government need to be cautious in their approach to how they are going to prevent future disturbances and knee-jerk reactions to the past events is never the answer, we have seen too much of these quick responses that in the end they only create more harm than good.
Law-abiding citizen of the country was rightly appalled by the unfolding carnage that we witness, but what we really need to see is the government taking the time and effort to get their response right and not because of fear or the need to show that they can erode the rights of decent citizen by yet again put in place legislations that in the long run proof useless and ineffective.
This situation called for calm, cool and collective strategy and one that will be effective and it should be done with both parties and community leaders who know very well what our community needs. I hope the government and the security services will undertake this situation with a level-headed attitude and stop the blame culture because blaming is counter-productive and never solve any problem.
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