WARNING: In this post I will use the d-word – deprivation.
Two kinds of true deprivation stand out in the dimension of recent disturbances, IMHO, one is to deprive people of their livelihoods, property and safety and the other is to deprive a child of the upbringing they need to become a well-adjusted human being[0].
What jumped out for me was the behaviour of Turkish, Bengali and other groups of shopkeepers and residents in defending their businesses, property and homes - a very British thing to do[1] - and some very interesting articles which repeat long said truths, but which should now be a mighty slap in the face to some people.
Dealing
The immediate issue is defence, of lives, livelihoods and property. A strong, visible defence is the best deterrent. I am not talking about locks and shutters, but a pro-active defence whereby those who try it on will be met with a real, immediate, physical response and a real and highly probable legal consequence. If certain groups look around the street and see ordinary people all around them, but know that those ordinary people can suddenly mutate and coalesce into an organized defence force, then even the less controlled individuals will exercise self-restraint.
The problem is we have had decades of emasculation and disempowerment of ordinary citizens, brainwashed and brow-beaten to abdicate their own personal safety and defence to the Police. This drive for abdication is nearly all-pervasive, infesting education, health, welfare as well as personal defence. It becomes a meme, a Pavlovian, passive, sheep-like response. Add wolves and the result we have seen for ourselves.
The spell of Police “protection” was broken, creating chaos. However, that broken spell is part of the wider necromancy mentioned above, which is now in the process of breaking, too, for ordinary people. It is no coincidence, in my view, that some of the communities that have the least exposure to the Fabian witchcraft [5] reacted first and foremost. We saw the Turks of Dalson, for example, take to the streets to defend their community.
Healing
Children do not chose to be born into dysfunction. They rely on their parents and family to instill proper codes of conduct, to distinguish right from wrong, to engender a sense of restraint, deferred gratification, of consequence. Should a child be denied that – deprived of it – that child is not to blame for the lack. However, essential in the rehabilitation of such people is the need to learn right from wrong and too soft an approach risks entrenching the problem, not curing the malaise. Throwing someone in jail with no rehabilitation is equally short sighted.
I have read posts such as that by Camila Batmanghelidjh and Katherine Birbalsingh [2] . Although they approach the situation from different angles, I agree with both of them. Neither set out to excuse, but to understand and try to explain why such things have been a tinderbox and offer their solution or advice. The problem we have, some say, is that there is only one Camila and only one Katherine.
What we should NOT do is try and Xerox Camila or Katherine, systematizing their approach to be implemented by rote-learned practitioners following a protocol. There are others who, though they might use a different methodology, use ways that are effective, that can reach out and heal. If you try to impose wisdom, it ceases to be wisdom. We must try not to get hung up on one way, not to create a monoculture as that will ossify any system and reduce the speed in which innovation and, yes, experimentation can occur in tackling damaged individuals[3] . I am sure Camila and Katherine are not so arrogant as to think they have nothing to learn from others.
The State is pretty hopeless at doing anything other than form monopolies or monocultures. I am not convinced that the State is the right way to implement or drive the spread of good practice in a pluralistic and consensual way.
Repealing
I do think, however, that we still need to go deeper. Healing those damaged and quickly is one thing, but the rate in which such people are being damaged or left to get damaged is way too high, diluting efforts and resources, however superb and heroic, to near homeopathic levels.
I am not talking about the State performing some kind of “pre natal intervention”, which is a stock-in-trade for the Socialist mind of perfecting the clay that we call people. No, we need, first and foremost, for the State to STOP funding and doing things that creates the problems or creates the environment for such problems to occur or multiply.
An example is benefits and housing that should not be focused on those who bear others into poverty. Funding those who cannot afford to have children to have children is madness. Women who know that there is no source of support and accommodation "by right" will be far more discerning as to whom she interacts with, when and how. Of course such things are never perfect, but we are not talking about perfection – I leave that delusion to the Fabians – but about the basic truth that if you subsidize something you tend to get more of it. Such an approach will not eradicate, nor is it the business of the State or politicians to eradicate, the existence of single motherhood. However, it is not the business of the State to make certain choices viable “by right” when they otherwise would not be. The issue here is not support for single mums or those unable to support their children per se, but the automatic right in law for taxpayer support regardless of circumstances.
The failure of education is linked to this in part, for while you have the ability to exist regardless, then the basic, visceral incentive to survive is defused, rendering the absolute necessity to get an education redundant.
We have seen that gangs of ordinary citizens can assemble with weapons and no robbing occurs, no looting and no unprovoked violence. Law abiding people with weapons are not the problem here, but law abiding people WITHOUT a means of self-defence is. We need to repeal laws that limit law-abiding people while exposing them to the lawless who care not for such laws.
The spell restraining the thuggery has been broken somewhat, but that this has also broken the wider spell over the population as to the all-pervasive power of the State.
We need to deal with those who do wrong, heal those who are on a path to or involved in wrongdoing and to repeal the entitlements that contribute in part but certainly not exclusively to the creation of those who grow up without essential foundations for civilized living.
[0] Some of you may know I reject the use of the word “deprived” when it is used to mean “poverty” or “bad housing” or “lack of jobs”, which is to trivialize it and demean the real issues that exist for those who are truly deprived. It is an all too familiar behaviour of the Left to hijack such words for their own agenda.
[1] I now hear that, sadly, three men, and I repeat the word, Men, have been killed, run down by a car, in what appears to be a defence of their community from looters. My condolences to their family and friends.
[2] I have also read some utter tripe from the usual peddlers of such guff, for example Yasmin Alibia Brown, who might on the surface sound reasonable but is in fact a denial of the environment they have pushed for.
[3] I say, damaged, for I feel so very few, an infinitesimally small number of babies are born bad. Almost all are made bad. Many could be maladjusted, but with the right upbringing, guidance and boundaries they could be imperfect – and who is not? - but still decent and productive human beings.
[4] This is not to say that a single person cannot deliver both aspects, but that task is
[5] Those who have engineered it in the law-abiding majority while not managing to deal with the minority are, I am certain, still in denial.
