London Bridge Ain’t All that’s Falling Down

The disenfranchised and down and out may number in the millions in this world, but they aren’t rioting in the streets of London or anywhere else. They’re out rolling up their sleeves and working for what they want, because we’ve all been down and out at some point and we’ve all had to roll up our sleeves.

Ah, but this is the new generation of the entitled, the ones who haven’t seen war or had to quit school and go to work to support their families. They are the ones who were told they were brilliant for being able to eke out their names and the alphabet at age thirteen and whose garbled squawking passes for singing.

This does not an upstanding citizen make and so we have the riots in London led by the disenfranchised with Blackberries and free tweets.

Perhaps they are not totally at fault because we raised them in a world that quickly excuses most criminal acts by bandying about catch phrases about abuse and post traumatic stress disorder, as if they don’t have any free will and aren’t supposed to know right from wrong. And if society isn’t quick enough to forgive them, then they are quick enough to forgive themselves.

“This is the uprising of the middle class. We’re redistributing the wealth,” said 28 year-old Bryan Phillips, a self-described anarchist, as looters left stores with candy bars and other sundries.

Of course he’s going to stop for a sound byte or two because the police haven’t stopped them either or used one canister or tear gas or any water cannons because it may result in a lawsuit and or may hurt their feelings.

If this doesn’t make for a case for the military, I don’t know what does. We should ship the ne’er do-wells off, both here and abroad, to fight in a war in Iraq or somewhere else. Never mind. The ACLU and their counterparts would step in and defend their rights and artistic, sensitive natures, and that would be the end of that.