London Burning

Theo Dalrymple(Theo) talks about how the UK is going under because impulse control has not been taught to the young, the breakdown of family, the lack of discipline, the drugs, the alcohol; the narcissistic no restraints no standards do it in the street mentality that is evident in the London Riots. He has written about the London riots. As the son of a Holocaust survivor he has always tried to understand human evil and that has made him an observer, plus he is highly intelligent, and highly articulate. Here is a write-up on him by Alfred Applegate http://www.edgewaysbooks.com/columns/069dal.pdf Theo has written books and articles and still does. Our Culture, What’s Left of It The Frivolity of Evil All Sex, All the Time *Life at the Bottom The New Vichy Syndrome Not with a Bang but with a Wimper: The Politics of Decline Spoilt Rotten: The Toxic Cult of Sentimentality He wrote: The British Left Goes Anti-Semitic Socialism and anti-Semitism are closely related worldviews. 23 July 2002 http://www.city-journal.org/html/eon_7_23_02td.html “Political Correctness - The Revenge of Marxism” http://www.theroadtoemmaus.org/RdLb/31JdXn/Christnty/SpWr/Marx&PC.htm He was interviewed on Frontpage regarding one of his books. http://archive.frontpagemag.com/readArticle.aspx?ARTID=7445 He predicted the behavior in the London Riots, summer 2011. He has written about the French riots and the London Riots specifically. British Degeneracy on Parade The Barbarians Inside Britain’s Gates And he is still writing about them. Youtube http://www.skepticaldoctor.com/ http://blog.skepticaldoctor.com/ Once a civilization and its civilizing forces are removed it is very difficult to get it back. Stop rewarding bad behavior and allow rewards for good behavior. Stop teaching self-pity to groups. Go back to tradl values. Britain needs to recommit to values with a proven record of working, love and marriage together, and fathers.

Read writer Theodore Dalrymple aka Anthony Daniels [Theo] who has long written in UK. No one knows what happened with the police as the investigation has to be completed. I, Theo, Holocaust Survivors agree about the thin veneer of civilization which needs our help and about the reality of evil, while the Left appear to think that people are born good, society parents cause evil, and they can have all the fun of tearing down society and expect that it will survive. I think they are wrong. I did not know that England was glossing over WWI WWII in educating its young to create the EU. No wonder England appears lost. They don’t know their own strengths. They were not introduced to their Greatest Generation. They forgot to teach their young and immigrants that Britain had a unique civilization and values. My mother, born in N.America, child of immigrants was grateful to teachers for introducing her to the culture she found herself in. Now the teachers seem to think that minorities have a culture but seem unaware that White Protestant English speakers have a culture with its values, holidays, language, heroes, as fish are unaware of the water they swim in. And English youth have been brought up w/o belief in God which a person referred to as belief in “the unseen enforcer”, which in the past helped control behavior. They experience a meaningless life, ennui. And Theo says family life in England was been destroyed by the govt who took over so much, including “feeding“ so that people don’t sit down and eat a healthy meal together where a level of manners, discipline can be passed from the older generation to the younger, and talk. Re the breakdown of marriage, “single mothers in Britain surged from 10 per cent [per] to 25 in 20 years.” “87 per of teenage mothers in Britain are unmarried and 29 per of children are brought up in single mother households in contrast to 1900, when the illegitimacy rate was 3 per.“The Illegitimacy rate in Sweden is 54 per.” [Walter Williams]

Glad that the Jewish Community in the UK is ready to help in the crisis. I read of the unrest in the papers and went to the UK Youth Parliament website to see what they are doing. Unfortunately I had a return email from a Ms O'Leary that she is on leave till Aug 20. The problem I believe is not materialism but overdependence on the State to provide jobs, unemployment benefits and heavily subsidised education. I believe that we could help by getting young people in UK to study and work overseas. Just help by ensuring they get good deals like overseas workers' union support. Do email me if you think we can work together.

Having read the comments on the article, I feel that averyone has missed the point that sickness that has pervaded British society since the 1980's. Materialsim rules! The only things that matter are wordly possessions. It's OK to fiddle your claims or steal from a shop, and only wrong if you get caught. What I find so sad is that all people have lost the ability to distinguish right from wrong. This seems to be equally true of the MPs who fiiddled their expences, the executives who go into sound companies, ruin them and get huge bonuses when they leave, as well as those who loot smashed in shops, rob innocent people in the streets and vandalise cars. As a nation (regardless of our religious beliefs) must look at ourselves and ask how much further down the drain must we allow ourselves to go.

"Shoot to kill the looters? The lives of the looters are more valuable then the items stolen." YOU CAN shoot to protect property IF arson is being committed. You do not know if someone is inside a building being torched. Then lethal force can be used. As far as I have read, the English cops did NOT use lethal force in any circumstances. I would also infer that a lot of folks HAD wished that some looters HAD been shot.

"While we might know how to teach people to be great doctors, lawyers and accountants, we do not necessarily yet know how to teach them to be great human beings" NO, we do know how and make an effort to teach folks to be great human beings, but the person themselves fails, not the teachings. Persons are weak inside and make impulsive and bad choices all the time, knowing better as they do what they do. And there is A BASIC BAD SIDE TO THE HUMAN, AN EVIL NATURE!

Our lives have so often been tested in Israel as well as in Eastern Europe during WWII. The Christians often ask themselves, nowadays with hindside, " IF", if I had taken action and saved the Jews I had lived with in my neighbourhood all my joung life I could have saved lives but I turned my back and went on my way". The same question arose after the burning and looting and, I am proud to read that the Jewish community has taken action to help those who have had their home and livelyhoods burned and looted and are olding out a helping hand. God bless, Anny

It's my understanding (here in US) that originally there was a peaceful protest (permitted by British law) of the shooting of an unarmed black man by police. Surely Martin Luther King and those who follow in his footsteps would have protested such an action. I hope that the British government and people will use the common sense and decency that have defined your country for hundreds of years and not allow the riots to become the rationale for building up a police state. You want to talk about Nazi Germany? A lot of people there were fed up with crime (especially committed by immigrants), fearful of "the left", etc. Or we could talk about how Britain did not live up to itself in its treatment of would-be immigrants to Mandate Palestine, or the atrocities the British Government committed in Northern Ireland, or British occupation of India that was finally liberated by Gandhi's campaign of nonviolence (and inspired Martin Luther King).

I hate to argue with a Rabbi but from over 80 years of observation and experience I have learned things that force me to. Yes, the human animal like the four legged ones have similar instincts and an important one is the instinct for self-preservation. I saw a fascinating film clip once that clearly dramatized this. During a drought in Africa an area of lakes and rivers had been reduced to a few watering holes into which various animals had crowded. There was a hippopotamus mother and baby and next to them in that muddy water was a huge crocodile eyeing the baby hippo. The crocs’ eyes told the whole story as they expressed hunger when looking at the baby and then fear and respect when shifting to the hippo mother who with one bite of her enormous jaws could have bit the croc into two pieces. Out of fear of retribution, fear for its own life, the croc just lay there and curbed its hunger. The animal instinct in low grade cousins of civilized people will not respond to kindness and good will but they can be counted on to behave if they fear painful retribution. And if we need to bring God into the equation, let's remember the old adage, "God helps those who help themselves." Enact laws that let law enforcement officers shoot to kill rioters and you'll have no more riots.

Shoot to kill the looters? The lives of the looters are more valuable then the items stolen. I hope G-d forgives you for wjhat you said..........

Ansy (replier to Andy) says the lives of looters are more valuable than the items stolen. Really? So, what does Ansy say about the 3 men who who were slaughtered--apparently run over by a car deliberately--while trying to protect their shop from thugs & looters? It would appear, from that horrible incident, that the value of lives & the value of "items" iactually overlap, & you cannot simply & neatly separate one from the other. I agree with Andy !!

What a refreshing discussion with only minor incursion into the blame game . This illustrates and confirms that there is present an opportunity for salvation - we just have to confess where we have been, understand where we need to go, then determine how to get there. In my opinion, a major decline in our society began when we institutionalized charity, when we allowed government to take over a function that had been the responsibility of local synagogues and churches. The stigma of receiving rapidly translated into entitlement with ever increasing magnitude and a complete elimination of responsibility. This well intentioned process works when G-d is involved but is disastrous when He is not. Morality, truth, and honesty, are companions of responsibility that are also rapidly fading in our society. We now applaud the promotion of secular humanism, immoral behavior, and turn a blind eye to deceit. It is certainly very difficult to see honesty and truth applied in government or emphasized by our leaders today. I believe that all these "ills" can be traced to the removal of G-d from our society, from education, and from the public psyche. We need to remember that all pathways never led to Rome, they led to G-d and G-d has already told us what to do.

I recently learned more about my heart than I thought I knew. I learned that the future enemy you think you can face with love and forgiveness, is a long cry from the real monster who comes against you to harm you without a cause. I found myself fighting back feelings of hatred and a desire to see him pay for his unjust treatment and the harm he did to me and my family. I take it as a dress rehearsal for the future. I realize that what England is experiencing can come to the US as well. We have all the greed, violence and government and corporate corruption as well as violent entertainment and materialism needed to fuel such mahem. It makes me sad.

Sorry, I can not agree that the majority of human beings have an animal instinct, We need more people to remind the world of the real values in our lives, especially to the poeple with animal instinct

What is "animal instinct"? is it the instinct to roll in the mud? eat when we are hungry? run from danger? protect our young? is animal instinct the absence of intellect? or is our natural inclinations, each unique to our individual being?

The "animal instinct" that the author is referering to is the baser instinct of a person. The instinct to do whatever it is that I *want*, as opposed to doing what I know is the right thing. Everyone has it, but it manifest itself in different ways. For some, it's wanting to eat a second piece of cake when they know they shouldn't, for some it's stealing (whether small things like office stationery or bigger things like robbing a bank), etc. This doesn't mean that the person will behave like an animal - it just means he has these desires. What he actually does depends on his free choice and whether he chooses to listen to his "animal instinct" or his higher instinct.

i think it is time to unite and start teaching the 7 noahide laws to non jews. it is the Lubavitcher Rebbe's wish. Also the moment of silence in schools. it has wonderful success and is so simple.

Some clarification. These are not only thugs but people as symptoms. As long as the Corporate States reign supreme throughout the world (alongside weak governments) without the responsibility to be taxed for their wealth almost beyond imagination, and with politicos protecting them from just taxation, our lands will be like Sodom: "What's mine is mine and what's yours is yours." The selfishness of our corporate states and those who support them, especially Jews unlike our grateful and generous author, bodes poorly for the next generations as well as our own.

As Max Hastings wrote in the Mail, "...They are illiterate and innumerate, beyond maybe some dexterity with computer games and BlackBerries. They are essentially wild beasts. I use that phrase advisedly, because it seems appropriate to young people bereft of the discipline that might make them employable; of the conscience that distinguishes between right and wrong. They respond only to instinctive animal impulses — to eat and drink, have sex, seize or destroy the accessible property of others. Their behaviour on the streets resembled that of the polar bear which attacked a Norwegian tourist camp last week. They were doing what came naturally and, unlike the bear, no one even shot them for it. A former London police chief spoke a few years ago about the ‘feral children’ on his patch — another way of describing the same reality. The depressing truth is that at the bottom of our society is a layer of young people with no skills, education, values or aspirations. They do not have what most of us would call ‘lives’: they simply exist. Nobody has ever dared suggest to them that they need feel any allegiance to anything, least of all Britain or their community. They do not watch royal weddings or notice Test matches or take pride in being Londoners or Scousers or Brummies. Not only do they know nothing of Britain’s past, they care nothing for its present. They have their being only in video games and street-fights, casual drug use and crime, sometimes petty, sometimes serious. The notions of doing a nine-to-five job, marrying and sticking with a wife and kids, taking up DIY or learning to read properly, are beyond their imaginations.

Im tired of the liberal idealism of Jewish thought. Growning up in the 60s & 70 wer were mislead to think we could change the world with idealism and social justice. Years later Israel and jewish peole are the most opressed and hated religion. The rest of the world has a double standerd when it comes to Isreal. When is the LIBERAL JEWISH COMMINITY GOING TO WAKE UP!!!!!!!!!!!! We can only be responsible for ourselves THE JEWISH COMMUNITY, because no body else will. Just as we burned in the concentration camps who stood up for us???? And even worse if this would happen again who WOULD stand up for the jewish community?. Muslim? Good Christians? Your next door neighbor? Your co workers. Perhaps you live in a better community than I. I do not know one person except my fellow Jewish Community who would put them selves in danger to stand up for me. I think it is time we realzie we are not responsible for the world and can not solve the worlds problem. We can only focus on repairing our Jewish Community and taking care of ourselves because if we dont, who else is will???

Rabbi Thankyou for this article that speaks to the listening soul I like the fact that you are not pointing fingers or boasting how good your philosophy on life is but rather inviting us all to look at the mirror and ask ourselves what our contribution to society is whether negative or positive I will personally endeavour towards the betterment of my neighbor/neighborhood/country

A generation of people that have been lied to, miseducated, "liberated" to be libatious, cruel and inhuman...will continue to do what they are doing. No amount of "education" can change them. They are not "human"...and they like it! A Nazi is a Nazi..and there are many incubating now. Only G-d himself will be able to save the world from this "repetition of History"..A few of us get it...but not enough! If a Messiah was needed...to change the human "condition"..and that Messiah is repeatedly REJECTED...then what hope do us "non animals" have? "Chose this day whom you will serve".....When the LIGHT comes...how many will want it?..and how many will chose their latest technology..their porn, their "music"..and their "freedom"..to bash and trash all that is GOOD...i.e. G-d??

I think the author has a very deep understanding of society and where society is holding at the moment and i want to thank him for teaching me a powerful lesson about something i would have otherwise ovelooked. The organisation that the author runs also sounds like a very special and unique one.

The Rabbi's suggestions demonstrate clearly the difference between how a religion teaches people to live in their society and how an ideology teaches people to live in their society. The religion forms character and is based on love. The ideology (socialism or communism or progressivism, etc.) does NOT focus on people developing good, almost instinctive habits of honesty and kindness, but rather trains people to be envious and to hate.

Gloria, I couldn't agree with you more. Leftist ideologies focus so little on developing character. So much of is envy of the rich and accusations of racism, even with no evidence.

Thank you Rabbi Shaul for your article, as a Church Leader in Leicester - also affected by civil unrest, I think it is time to stop making excuses for the lawlessness of others, sooner or later we will all stand before a righteous G-d and answer for our deeds. In that day there will be no excuse, we should try and change our society while there is still time.

Excellent article, really pertinent to today. I am very insulated in West Hartford, Connecticut and need to learn about what effects the rest of my people.

In your article "London Burning" you make a statement "But the core values don’t seem to have penetrated deeply enough" and my question is why? We have been trying to get it done for over three thousand years and apparently have not succeded. Could it be that the teaching technic we have used is not adequate?

The article was very good and quite true. I believe, however, that the British army needed to be called in. They let it go much to far. It could have been stopped sooner with proper tactics.

What would you do If you were among youth of the city who were looting and rioting and directing on their blackberries? ------------------------------------- Not as you are now, but, if you were like them, frustrated, bored, unemployed, easy access to drugs and alcohol, living in ghettos? ----------------------- Imagine If the City of London said " All you young men rioting out there, we will choose 5000 of you, we will educate you at some of our fine institutions or some of our fine trade schools, and we will find you a nice place to live. We will find you work according to your talents, but you must work and pay taxes here. You will become Londons new middle class working men." That is what these men are told, that if they apply themselves they can rise above their current lives---------------------- Wouldn't that be nice if a society would do that for it's members? Wouldn't that be impossible! ------------------------- How many schools would make places for these young men? How many nice homes could London find for them? How many would be accepted into a middle class society in London? It's easy for one man in a hundred to rise above his surroundings. He needs only to decide he wants to. But to have thousands try to 'better' themselves........... it's impossible. Society has already decided on a place for them.

I totally agree with the author. People in all ages have suffered and been deprived. We cannot use an excuse for criminal behaviour. Booker T. Washington was born a slave and taught himself to read and write and the rest is history. He was determined to find a way out. None of those who participated in those riots can compare their deprivation to that of Booker T. Washington. Hard work, discipline and a desire to succeed is what people need to do. No one owes us a living. It is a lameduck excuse for people to use poverty to justify criminal behaviour.

If God can't be God...the Government will....The morality isn't there anymore...it's been replaced by selfish secularism...So we are all in for it!....How many of them? How many of us?..Same old , same old...And were all guilty...We've all forgotten God.

i think the author is failing to see that this is in part what happens when you have a system that traps people with hand outs and lower/ middle class frustration. what we need is a system that limits the ability of the wealthy to use the momentum of their wealth or monopolies to unfairly keep the lower and middle class from achieving. hence the sense of frustration and despair, that leads to this sort of protest.

Jews have taught the world how to rise above their Physical circumstances By education, teaching their children MORAL standards and by working hard if they want to achieve success. NOT wallowing in self pity

I agree with Jeff's first sentence. The rest is garbage. I am sick and tired of hearing how the "wealthy" are responsible for the plight of the middle and lower classes. I straddle the line between the two and have never once blamed those more fortunate or more successful for my frustrations, and certainly not for any action I choose to take. We each have a conscience and an obligation to behave morally, even when times are tough. Repeating your mantra about the wealthy "unfairly keeping the lower and middle class from achieving" doesn't make it true. That's the biggest load of horse manure I've ever heard. It prevents people from taking responsibility for their own actions and shaping their own fate.

Anonymous said everything perfectly. Jeff fairly said that, paraphrasing, people 'get trapped' by a variety of factors. But please, don't blame the traps on wealthy people -- of which I am not one. No one actively "stops" anyone from the potential to achieve.

I agree with you, Anonymous. Well put.

I agree with all the replies. As soon as we blame we loose the wisdom to make the next good choice...which may be presenting itself but we can't see it because of our crumby attitude....

Its not the wealthy that are guilty here. Thats just liberal nonsense. Its the hooligans themselves and the mismanagement of the British government that are to blame for this catastrophe. Please wake up and look at reality instead of blaming others.

I am not sure that this is the best place to discuss this in the first place, but I see the problem in a very different light than Jeff does. The UK is one of the biggest Nanny States in the world; for instance there is more than one surveillance camera for every six citizens. By making people feel like the government is responsible for everything, people feel less and less responsible for their own lives and actions. I think this, coupled with much moral relativism, contributes much more to creating the spirit that leads to these protests, and it is a problem that exists in every welfare state.

The present system, Jeff, was created by the Labour party - supposedly the party of the less wealthy classes. If by a 'trap', you mean that people are handed out so much in benefits that working becomes less lucrative than being unemployed, then I would be inclined to agree - I know of many people in this 'trap'. So yes, a person might have to make an immediate sacrifice in his standard of living to start working, but in the long run, there is nothing to prevent anyone from an ‘underprivileged’ background from rising to the very top of the ladder with hard work and application. It happens regularly, with JK Rowling being a prominent recent example. She wrote instead of rioting and seems to have done much better for herself as a result. We always have choices. You also describe these riots as a ‘protest’. They might have started as that – protesting the killing by the police of an armed and violent drug dealer. But I’m not sure what stealing plasma TVs from Currys is ‘protesting’ against.

What exactly are they protesting..by destroying other people's properties and looting?...It's the corrupt governments..that are usurping everyone..and using the ignorant welfare classes to do it. Same thing happens in all dictatorships.....it's called class warfare..Tactics employed by communists...to gain power.and enslave the rest of us...Very subtle....and very deceitful....No one recognizes what's really going on...That's why it will continue...until the :powers that be" get their way...But you don't see it....