London becomes burning hellhole

[P.P.A.]

What violent repression and what peaceful demonstrations?

Unless I've missed something big, the main issue is that the police can't/aren't doing much about the violent riots.

Or am I missing some more irony here?

The joke is that when the rebels in Libya suddenly broke into government arms depots, drove around firing their machine guns in the air, and began their war against the country, Western media and leaders stylised the armed insurgency as “peaceful, democratic protests” (which never took place—the rebels took up arms right away) and titled the rebellion a “popular revolt” (in defiance of the fact that the rebels are a chaotic, unstable coalition of various interest groups ranging from Senoussi loyalists over Islamists to feuding clans). Then, on the basis of completely unverified claims, they accused Ghaddafi of “waging war against his own people”, claimed that he had lost all legitimacy, and rushed to the UN to legitimise an intervention in the rebellion to install a puppet regime (representatives of the rebels have already met with Western oil companies several times to negotiate how Libya's resources will be split up after the civil war). Which, thus far, is failing horribly, because the “Freedom Fighters” are a disorganised bunch of rabble (not unlike the British looters, just more destructive), not even able to capitalise on the NATO bombing the entire Libyan war machinery in to the ground, and even less able to lead a country.
 Now Ghaddafi's representative here was being sarcastic by using the same exact wordings and making the same demands Britain threw at the Libyan government at the beginning of the rebellion on the UK in order to highlight the absurdity of its actions in Libya. Which is utterly hilarious.

[Crowbar]

Thanks. Shows how much attention I pay. I feel really ignorant now.

[P.P.A.]

…pfffff:

RABAT (Reuters) - Libyan state television on Thursday said Prime Minister David Cameron was using "Irish and Scottish mercenaries" to tame riots in England.

"The rebels of Britain approach Liverpool in hit-and-run battles with Cameron's brigades and mercenaries from Ireland and Scotland. God is Greatest," said a breaking news caption on Libyan TV's morning program.

(Play on how the NATO accused Libya of using African mercenaries against the rebe— sorry, “peaceful protesters”.)
Should Gaddafi ever get ousted, I really hope he launches a satirical TV show instead.

[(No Imagination)]

Holy crap, that Scottish and Irish mercenary quote is so funny I know of no internet abbreviation to represent how hard I laughed.

[P.P.A.]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/artic ... ouths.html I am in awe and offering standing applause.

[Delphine]

There's almost a point buried in all that classist bullshit.

[gr4yJ4Y]

That story rings horribly true. It reflects a society in which teachers have been deprived of their traditional right to arbitrate pupils’ behaviour. Denied power, most find it hard to sustain respect, never mind control.

Is this true? Is it so easy to step over teachers like this in England?

As one who teaches in about 20 schools in northern Detroit, I can completely see how not being able to discipline your students could lead them down a poor path and promote a sense of hopelessness for the teacher. If one student can overstep a teacher on something small like swearing, the teacher can lose control of the class and eventually lead to a complete lack of what would be considered a class.

There have regularly been arguments between overprotective, spoiling parents and teachers in America for decades. It's expected as a teacher that you'll have to face against a parent who does not agree with you from time to time. I could see this being newer to England's culture and teachers struggling with it.

Detroit has been having some major education issues for the last 10 years or more. It's hard to blame the problem on one factor - parents, teachers, school administrators, environment, lack of funding, etc. In my worst district I once taught a first grade class which I had an extremely hard time with. There was one student who had just moved to the school who I would've been able to pick out from the crowd for his outstanding behavior amongst the misbehaving mass. I don't believe these youngsters were rebelling so much as lacking a sense of right and wrong. In the high school in the same district there were students who asked me what age I felt it was okay to start having sex, start doing drugs, etc. (mostly feeling like it was all okay as long as you were at least 14). They also asked me what drugs I had tried and many showed honest surprise or disbelief when I told them I'd never had weed or heroine. The kids refuse to do their homework and are careless about the threat of being kicked out of school. The high school has a third-grade reading level average. Most of the students don't realize how hopeless their situations are.

If these problems were wider-spread to other districts I could see how it could incite more gangs and riots.

[Frieza2000]

A teacher? On my GHZ? Now I know I'm getting old.

For a somewhat more optimistic perspective, here's a blog post someone sent me by a teacher in London who works with the very kind of kids who'd end up in such a riot. It's always interesting to learn about the socioeconomic problems of other countries. It reminds me why I still live in this one.

[Crisis]

For what it's worth, my dad was from a working class family, mostly skipped school and left with the bare minimum of O-levels. Then he got a job, moved out of the inner city, turned his life around and 6 years later he talked his way into the London School of Economics to study Anthropology.

Today that would be completely unthinkable. There are no jobs. Housing is more expensive than ever. University placements are massively oversubscribed and about to triple in price from their current cost (they were free for my dad's generation). The future for these kids seems bleaker than ever.

[Radrappy]

Plus it's basically a necessity to have a degree for any kind of middle class occupation today. Didn't used to be so.