1. Damasio the neuro-physician in his book, Looking For Spinoza, describes a scene in Spinoza's rather cloistered life where on a beautiful day in the freest of free thinking Holland, an angry mob captured a city official and not only killed him, but ate him.
2. Spinoza hardly ever left his small room and many of the finest minds in Europe would visit him. He had worked out an ethical philosophy which is probably of rank with Aristotle's and according to Damasio, Spinoza's description of human feelings are consistently accurate with current neurophysiological research.
3. But I'm wondering what Spinoza would have made of the London riots in August 2011? Would he have been surprised? Back in Spinoza's time, Holland had just experienced a terrible economic down-turn and people were literally starving. But in London at the time of the riots, the young people were looting shops for kit and goods they could sell on the web, the street or to friends. The kids were "bragging" of their loot as if they were trophies.
4. This reminds me of some anthropological explanations of head-hunting and cannibalism. I've never met a hunt-hunter, but I did meet a student at Oxford who claims that his great-grand-mother told him that "white meat is a bit sweet like succulent pig." Hmm. And I devoured (pun intended) a number of ethnographies on tribes in Papua New Guinea. The explanations for head-hunting differed radically but all revolved around (1) some liminal rite determining a division between in- and out-group where the actor would need to enact or participate in particular prescribed behaviours, and (2) some rite of incorporation where the actor upon completion of said prescribed acts, would then enjoy certain new "rights," "privileges," and "immunities." By performing the prescribed acts, the actor moved from outside to the inside group. As you can imagine, most of these ritualised acts appeared rather dangerous.
5. There are some commentators saying that riots can be explained in terms of a "gangsta culture." I think that this would be at best a very loose affiliation--much like saying one's actions on a Sunday football pitch comes from the fervour of belonging to a particular football team, and not the types of ritualisation that's normally required to become a member of an in-group. But then again, some football parents do bare their teeth!
6. Bottom-line: Will London have more riots? Probably, yes. What can we do to help lessen the risk of future riots? Lock children up until they are 30? Well, there are lots of studies showing that prisons are the best breeding grounds for recidivism. So, no. Locking up children and youths is just stupid in the longer term but convenient to score political points in the short term.
7. A bit of non-PC love is in order from the mum or pop. Oh yes, one question you can always teach children is to ask before taking anything that isn't theirs. If the child doesn't understand this concept then unfortunately you simply have a cannibal on your hands! Sarc/off.
No comments:
Post a Comment