The speed of twitter commentators going to prejudice and discrimination in reaction to the riots last night is a serious cause for concern.
From what I’ve gathered this morning, children were taken away by social services from a family in Hareshills, Leeds.
It’s unclear where these people are from yet. Some claim they’re Romani people, others claim they’re Romanian… I think that tells its own story. People observing through digital platforms had no idea.
This sparked an angry reaction from locals. A small outbreak of disorder snowballed into chaos from gathering crowds enticed by live footage on TikTok and Facebook.
In one video, people were setting a double-decker bus alight. Another showed a police car toppled over. Huge fires were set ablaze.
I picked up on the news from a series of tweets talking about ‘lawless Leeds’ facilitating ‘dangerous Muslims’ acting as you’d ‘expect’.
A supposedly unsurprising clash of violent culture with our wholly stable British communities. A symptom of ‘mass migration’ and ‘Islam extremists’ freely allowed to act as they please. All these ‘ungrateful, jobless invaders.’ Only two weeks into a Labour Government… are you scared yet?
These conclusions were drawn almost instantaneously. Basically in real time.
I can’t imagine any remote reporters had any idea who these people were or why the riots had been sparked. They just saw non-white faces, violence, and thought… typical.
The most striking example of this was a picture of Councillor Mothin Ali, alongside a reminder of his support for the Palestinian people against what’s happening in Gaza, being shared widely suggesting he was part of the riots. It turns out that the same councillor was putting his own safety on the line by doing everything he could to *stop* the rioters in their tracks. He put himself in harm’s way by confronting people and physically stopping them adding fuel to the fire.
Video footage provided zero evidence of the rioters’ ethnic origins, yet Members of Parliament like Nigel Farage were quick to call it ‘politics of the subcontinent.’
Media actors then joined in.
GB News’ Darren Grimes mocked Mothin Ali for his heroic efforts by using condescending emojis, likened the scenes to Black Lives Matter protests, and repeatedly tweeted about his fear of a ‘clash’ in ‘cultures.’
Talk TV even reposted an opinion suggesting the police were too busy to deal with the scenes adequately because they have to subscribe to ‘diversity, equality and inclusion’ training.
All from a few videos they’ve seen online. Nothing else. No other information about anyone at the scene.
I’m not suggesting they’re definitively wrong. It could well be that the majority of rioters happen to be Muslim. It could well be that the affected family from the initial incident were also practising Muslims. It could well be that an inherent manifestation of violent urges only explainable by one’s faith translated into the chaos we saw last night. It could well be that the police failed to act with a quicker response because they decided to wait in the station out of worry and fear of implementing training about diversity and inclusion...
I’m simply pointing out how quickly these conclusions were drawn by live commentators with such limited information. It’s this specifically that should be flagging deep red.
The same conclusions are backed up by vague understandings of society presented as clear-cut evidence. The likes of Grimes repeatedly used words like ‘culture’ when his anger outpoured.
What exactly is meant by that? What evidence, besides race, does Grimes think gives him an idea of someone’s day-to-day activities?
The likelihood is that most of these rioters were born and raised in Leeds. Most likely attended the same kind of school as Grimes. Listen to the same music. Talk about the same football. Eat in the same restaurants. Consume the same social media content.
So what does Grimes mean by culture? Is it the faith these people practice privately with their family for a small percentage of their time? How would he even know this from the videos he saw last night?
The word culture is dangerous in this context. It can be used to suggest social cohesion is only possible by racially segregating people. This is farcical.
This commentary is ignorant. We know rioting can be a symptom of improper governance and investment. Cuts in public services contribute to a wider feeling of dissatisfaction and frustration amongst citizens who rely on the state to live a healthy life. Inequality, unemployment and poverty create a precarious social environment. Communities become less resilient. A culture of blame on ethnic minorities and those in receipt of benefits makes expression of anger and discontent far more likely. Police operate without the resources necessary to ensure these incidents don’t escalate.
We know all this. Decades of study in sociology tell us this… but it doesn’t suit the agenda of some media actors to mention any of this.
And there’s an irony to that specific point. The relentless blame culture and demonisation of migrants create an environment in which unrest is far more likely. The thing they are scared of is, at least somewhat, driven by their behaviour.
I’ll never know what was in the minds of these people rioting last night. Nor will I know their faith or where most of them were born or brought up. Besides selected accounts presented to me by media outlets with their own story, of course.
What I can gather from last night is when a lot of people in Britain are presented with disruption, alongside non-white faces, they think: Muslim. Middle East. Immigration. Black people. Benefits.
That’s a problem for all of us.
Whilst loud voices can cause a stir on digital platforms, it’s still a tiny minority of people on these islands. We are a largely decent population even with their existence.
It’s the quiet watchers who are starting to believe them that scare me.
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