David Cameron said this today:
"For me the root cause of this mindless selfishness is the same thing I have spoken about for years: it is a complete lack of responsibility in parts of our society.
"People allowed to feel that the world owes them something, that their rights outweigh their responsibilities and that their actions do not have consequences. Well they do have consequences.
"We need to have a clearer code of values and standards that we expect people to live by and stronger penalties if they cross the line.
"Restoring a stronger sense of responsibility across our society in every town in every street in ever estate is something I am determined to do."
But he has to mean it of banking.
And of some media companies.
And of politicians too.
Because only then is it meaningful.
I utterly condemn the rioting.
But I condemn the excesses of banking, or media companies that broke the law and MPs who did the same thing too.
Unless those with power act responsibly how can we expect the powerless to do so? There has to be leadership. Then we get the right actions from those who we expect to follow.
Can we have that leadership, please?
It's what I've been asking for here for a long time.
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Well we can’t get the kind of leadership needed from the Bullingdon boys, a crowd who themselves went around drunkenly destroying restaurants in their youth. We need leading by example, not by weak and ineffectual PR.
BB
I found myself noting down his words and identifying with it personally. A dark day when you find yourself agreeing with Cameron especially if it has personal significance.
I didn’t link it to bankers and the rest of those in power, but it fits perfectly.
Thank you. Keep up the good work. Fantastic blog.
Impossible to disagree with Cameron’s words, but I’m pretty sure he isn’t applying them to his ilk, the British kleptocracy.
Over 600 looters will be converging on Westminster tomorrow. The drop in the values of their portfolios means they are in urgent need of extra expenses. Expect trouble in the downstairs subsidised bars if the prices are marked up.
I’ve made a similar point myself in discussion with others. Greed isn’t confined to the poor, the uneducated, and the powerless in society. Presenting a “solution” that focuses only those who cause fear in the streets is not, and will never be, enough. Look to where power is held. Martin Luther King knew this only too well:
“There is nothing more dangerous than to build a society with a large segment of people in that society who feel that they have no stake in it; who feel that that have nothing to lose. People who have stake in their society, protect that society, but when they don’t have it, they unconsciously want to destroy it.”
“But he has to mean it of banking.”
And the elite fat cats who dodge tax with the assistance of “off-shore” secrecy jurisdiction tax havens.
These relatively few greedy scroungers (and companies) are seen to be above the law as they set a loathsome example accumulatng £millions which is never taxed or recycled into the world community/society.
These islands cause more social and economic damage than any rioters.
I couldn’t agree more with Dave Cameron here. His second paragraph describes bankers like Fred “the Shred” Goodwin to a tee. Appalling and indefensible as these riots are, they pale into insignificance set against the scale of what the bankers have inflicted on the economy.
And we need corporate responsibility as much as we need personal responsibility. As Joel Bakan points out in his excellent book “The Corporation”, most companies operate in an environment where nothing matters except profits, which can be acquired by whatever means are available – legal or illegal. And then we’re surprised when we see rioters applying the same principle to acquiring material goods… it’s the manic individualism of Mrs Thatcher run riot.
There has to be leadership? Who did you have in mind? Don’t we have elections to determine those leaders?
And what happens when we get the “right” leaders , and still there are riots? Or is it an act of faith that you think
the “right” leaders will produce peace and harmony? OK am with you concerning the culpability of bankers, offshore tax jurisdictions etc but there is always “someone else” to blame. But I believe you start with personal responsibility and know the difference between right and wrong – that is an act of faith too I know, but perhaps it is better than believing in “leadership”, which sound very like a right wing doctrine(!).
“you start with personal responsibility and know the difference between right and wrong ” Goodness, someone else who believes in responsible self-government! Another anarchist in our midst! Who has the phone number for Westminster Council?
BB 🙂