Looting and rioting is easy and fun. After all, Rich kids in Britain do it. It’s cool. “Laura Johnson, 20, was found guilty of burglary from an electronics store and handling stolen goods, and admitted driving fellow looters between targets … Johnson is described as “going off the rails” after a privileged upbringing, which saw her achieve nine GCSE A grades and four A*s at A-Level at the sixth form of St Olave’s Grammar, the fourth best state school in the country. She spent her teenage years in a country house in Orpington with her wealthy parents Robert, 56, and Lindsay, 55, who run their own marketing business.”
Celebrities do it. “The son of Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour defiled the Cenotaph before joining the baying mob surrounding Prince Charles and Camilla.” Gilmour was a student at Cambridge. “The son of Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour did not realise he was swinging from the Cenotaph because he had grown up in the countryside without access to television, a court has been told.” Don’t people know it’s trendy to be rebellious? Who knows about what the Cenotaph is except the members of those dreadful clubs that the poor old pensioners belong to and stand for Last Post on Armistice Day?
So when a flash mob of youths ransacked a 7-11 in Baltimore and beat up the manager who tried to stop them, at least you can say ‘they did it for grape flavor, or raspberry’ slurpees. They did for a couple of Mars bars on the shelves. The poor at least retain the humanity of some semblance between act and need.
What happened at the store is the latest example of large groups of young people creating havoc in downtown Baltimore.
On St. Patrick’s Day, police broke up several fights and disturbances as crowds of teens gathered in the Inner Harbor.
That same night, another group beat and robbed a tourist. Cameras have spotted large groups of teens roaming streets in November and caught big fights on July 4, all of it upsetting to downtown workers.
But pure idealists would never loot anything for money. That would be philistine. The acceptable motive is to wreck and burn stuff for fun. To terrify people in a self-righteous, unadulturated display of cruel power. Watch the activist youth celebrate May Day in San Francisco. In some ways, they are way, way below the crowd that hit the 7-11.
Bob Marley said, ‘you can’t blame the youth’. Cause they know the Big Secret. Bill Clinton did inhale. And Barack Obama thanked his drug dealer, not his mom when he graduated from high school. No you can’t blame the youth.
So You can’t blame the youth of today
You can’t fool the youth
You can’t blame the youth
You can’t fool the youth
All these great men were doing
Robbing, raping, kidnapping and killing
So-called great men were doing
Robbing, raping, kidnapping …But What was hidden from the wise and prudent
Is now revealed to the babes and the sucklings
What was hidden from the wise and prudent
Now revealed to the babes and sucking
Lord call upon the youth
Cause he know the youth is strong
Jah Jah call upon the youths
Cause he know the youth is strong
What could go wrong? Well Jah Jah know that Beelzebub literally means the “lord of the flies”. “Jewish scholars have interpreted the title of ‘Lord of Flies’ as the Hebrew way of calling Ba’al a pile of dung and comparing Ba’al followers to flies.” The historical role of the youth has been as fodder for old and evil causes. Someone supplies the s**t and the flies follow.
Youth is not always idealistic, but as Bob Marley observed, “youth is strong”. We ought never forget that the average age of SS Regimental Commanders was 32 and their battalion commanders averaged age 30. What fun they had. No you can’t blame the youth.
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