If this could encourage people in Britain to use alternatives to Facebook and Twitter, then this could be a pretty good thing for the health of the social media ecosystem.
In wake of riots, British PM proposes social media ban
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Re: In wake of riots, British PM proposes social media ban
#112Good luck enforcing that.
Re: In wake of riots, British PM proposes social media ban
#113Earlier quoted context omitted.
The same impoverished underclass with access to Blackberry's and smartphones with data packages who can't afford to put new shoes on their feet? Are you really claiming this?
Bread and circuses didn't work for the Roman Empire either you know. Phones are not equivalent to: - medical care - education - housing - sufficient wealth to have children - healthy food - self-respect
Are you being serious?
Public health care. Free state education (which is generally of a good standard, but a waste if you are not self-motivated). Council-provided housing, though supply is short due to failing to replenish the housing stock since right to buy in the 80s. A fairly comprehensive benefit system which scales with number of children. Healthy food is cheaper than junk.
The last one (self-respect) is mostly what determines whether you decide to take advantage of all the UK welfare state offers. Poor money management and general ignorance are the main reasons for the poor having big TV's, satellite service and gadgets, yet failing to pay their bills and their friends. Or getting into crippling credit card debt.
So really if you want to be accurate, its the rich doing their best to keep the poor stupid so they may keep the stupid poor. Sure, there are some really dumb things with welfare in e.g. the hoops you jump through to receive jobseekers allowance but its not as if the opportunities aren't there...
Edit: I see you were talking about mental medical care, which again is provisioned under the NHS. I personally know of NHS services in East London for this, some of which started due to this initiative: http://www.iapt.nhs.uk/ All free. That doesn't dispel stigmas attached to it, or course, but that's irrelevant to your assertion that such services don't exist.
Re: In wake of riots, British PM proposes social media ban
#114Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why would you assume that ? - a large amount of the "incitement" that took place caused problems in a large part because it was public in a one-to-many form.
I'm sorry, did I miss the part where they said they would only monitor Twitter? Or am I remembering correctly where they used the broad, sweeping term "social networks", which would include Facebook, and I'm sure BBM chat. Do you live in a fantastical world where governments pass very strictly limited, narrowly defined laws that precisely target one specific problem? Because here on earth the rule is overbroad laws m…
No, but the OP specifically mentioned twitter.
More generally I think we should wait until the government comes out with a formal proposal rather than getting all hung up on a soundbite.
Re: In wake of riots, British PM proposes social media ban
#115Earlier quoted context omitted.
Use of rubber bullets was authorised after the police finally got their act together. I don't think it was a worthy desire to avoid escalation that prevented their use earlier on .. more lack of organisation. The main question is, how will our government discover whether a citizen is communicating about a forbidden subject? I suppose all communication will need to be explicitly monitored. This is another step closer…
Use of rubber bullets was authorised after the police finally got their act together. I don't think it was a worthy desire to avoid escalation that prevented their use earlier on .. more lack of organisation. Do you have a source for that? Everything I've read suggested the police were only considering rubber bullets or water cannons as a last resort.
From http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/blog/2011/aug/11/uk-riots-day-f...
...Godwin and his team came very close to issuing the order for firearms teams to use plastic bullets.
At that point the Met's officers were "stretched to an extent never seen before," deputy assistant commissioner Steven Kavanagh said. "We did absolutely consider it through the night," Kavanagh said. "But these were very fast moving mobile groups and by the time we got baton rounds there this groups would have moved away."
Re: In wake of riots, British PM proposes social media ban
#116Earlier quoted context omitted.
>People wanted new trainers and TVs That's a resource distribution issue intimately related to the economy. If that isn't politics, nothing is. Almost all riots are related to resource distribution issues, especially when an impoverished underclass engages in looting. Are you really claiming these riots aren't linked to the massive cuts to public services that happened during the last year?
What hard evidence is there that the public spending cuts led to the riots?
The best evidence for the reasons I've seen, as gleaned from the rioters themselves, is "fuck the rich" and "fuck the police" respectively.
Re: In wake of riots, British PM proposes social media ban
#117Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's a resource distribution issue My favorite new politically correct euphemism for the motivation for theft. Are you really claiming these riots aren't linked to the massive cuts to public services that happened during the last year? No. But it seems like a leap of reasoning. Was Anders Brevik's rampage "linked" to an influx of immigrants into Norway? Again, a bit of a leap. In both cases I'd be more inclined to…
A lack of mental health is exacerbated by the cuts to social services. If mental health services were provided to the lower classes AT ALL we would not have these issues. As it is the majority of the underclass suffers from multiple mental disorders and they cannot get treatment. Mental health treatment is very expensive and is not covered by the government.
"Mental health treatment is very expensive and is not covered by the government."
For people suffering from actual mental health problems I don't see why they can't get treatment from the NHS like everyone else - ability to pay not being a factor.
However, if by "mental health" you mean the feeling that people "deserve" new trainers/DVD player/etc. without doing anything to earn them I don't see why that is anything to do with the government.
Re: In wake of riots, British PM proposes social media ban
#118Earlier quoted context omitted.
The same impoverished underclass with access to Blackberry's and smartphones with data packages who can't afford to put new shoes on their feet? Are you really claiming this?
Bread and circuses didn't work for the Roman Empire either you know. Phones are not equivalent to: - medical care - education - housing - sufficient wealth to have children - healthy food - self-respect
"sufficient wealth to have children"
Since when does (relative) lack of wealth in the UK stop people having kids?
Re: In wake of riots, British PM proposes social media ban
#119"free flow of information can sometimes be a problem" — I never thought I'd hear these words from a British PM.
Yeah, wow, I'm dumbfounded. If the British government follows through with this, the rioters will actually have a new reason to riot: freedom of speech.
Yeah, that's what I thought, too. That is the one thing which would make me get off my armchair.
Re: In wake of riots, British PM proposes social media ban
#120Because nobody ever rioted before facebook.
exactly. And after blocking it all down, the rioters will be all like "huh, what now? Oh well, we better not start a riot then".