Late...

I've read a couple of the blogs, I'm late to this, I went to (real) work and just speant all day thinking about London. My thoughts about what to do are, as usual, furious. Probably to the point of leaning towards creating a stammering vomit of a piece.

This problem isn't limited to Brixton. The so-called 'post code shootings' of Dalston indicate that. It's not limited to London, the shooting in the shopping precinct in Nottingham over the weekend would indicate that. It isn't even limited to McDonalds, two years ago there was a 'shoot-out' (as it was reported) in Stonebridge Nando's. This problem is one of diminshed responsibility. I don't mean accountability, I mean a central awareness of personal responsibility. We live in the panoptican, watched every day by various lenses, with the voyeurism of Big Brother now neatly assimilated by reality TV into an acceptable social talking point. Our responsibilty has been stolen from us and we live recklessly. We invade countries to maintain our lifestyle, of course, stepping on shoes is going to be a big issue. If oil is more important than human life, why aren't shoes or social standing or 'post codes'?

There is a tendency, in our society to look for the quick fix. The story of that killing is neatly given a tag-line of a 'respect' killing. We can attribute it to a gang, or a petty dispute, and, like Matt, get on with things. I am not seriously suggesting that this shooting was conscious ly related to the 'war on terror'. I am not suggesting that the two bullets fired in McDonalds were fired by people who watched and immitated a government, but I am suggesting that a portion of the responsibility for that act lies with us. That it lies with an entire community and that this social trend is symptomatic of political events.