England riots: Government mulls social media controls

Logical, in fact much of it stems from what the US + Allies + many Muslim countries did in 1980s Afghanistan, they effectively hyped up a genie then let it out of the bottle (which in fact was non-existent before this whole fiasco). Then by using various groups (e.g. Talibans) at different times, and then ditching them we created a perfect recipe for this ****.

Also don't forget that it also blinds us from other dangers IMO (ref: Anders Behring Breivik who mindlessly killed 76 people) and christian radicals like him which are present in many countries.

Anyway, I think multiculturalism is a farce, you can't make people to adopt alien values (at best may be they will accept some but that is it).

Unless someone is 'actually' doing something which amounts to racism it is utter non-sense IMO.

Well it seems everyone here has the right attitude. We all know what's been going on, and still is in fact.

Course. You can find evidence all over: San Francisco Chinatown, Little Italy, Bradford in the UK...ect. The very fact of how we talk about "Asian communities" or "Hispanic communities". People naturally always flock to their own kind. Some say that this sort of indirect racism exists deep down in all of us as a defensive mechanism to distrust outsiders, that comes way back from our early ancestors.

Same here. I think i'm right in saying that this "racial profiling" is used most in airport security; I'm all for it and i think it's right.

I think it is already being done in some SEA countries who profile Americans/UK/Frenchies and other nationals mostly because of distrust, and I frankly see no problem with it, because every country have to put in place laws/rules which suite/help them in implementing their security paradigm.

Just watching the news and some info: Two young men (in their 20s) have been jailed for 4 years for putting an "Event" on Facebook titled "Smashdown in Norwich town". The meeting (and the possible riots that could have happened) didn't even take place, yet they still got jailed.

An MP was recently jailed for 3 months for stealing nearly £10,000 from the public purse. So somehow, 4 years for these lads seems rather unfair considering nothing actually happened...But whatever.

Ironic, but conspiracy sometimes carries a worst penalty than the instant offense. Courts like to tack that charge on.

Laws are made to compensate for stupid Humans. I think it is wiser to invest more into educating Human beings than into the laws which attempt to guide them. And then there is technology, which can be used to literally prevent stupid people from harming themselves and one another.

Years ago if you launched a website with the specific purpose of organising riots and unlawful group activity it would be shutdown and there probably would be arrests made. Using "Facebook" is no different, it's just a much simpler way of creating and advertising such information.
General non computer savvy folks still see the internet as a place of anonymity, an unreal world where they can do anything as it is their "online" persona and not really them. Even when they are organising unlawful activity within a social media site that focuses on building a social network around their real life and real life friends/family. :rolleyes:

I do think 4 years is over the top, probably to try and make an example out of them given the lack of action during the actual riots. I'd have said a reasonable length of community service, possibly cleaning up and helping sort out the mess made by the riots would have been more appropriate.
And the MPs jail sentence is laughable.

I would have thought that the ultimate example would have been community service, seeing them clean up some of the mess they could have done with their act.

They're talking on the news about the lack of continuity country wide in sentencing: Like a boy in Birmingham getting 1 day in jail for theft of a t-shirt, while a boy in southampton is getting 6 months for theft of a £2.50 bottle of water. And it has emerged that another lad - just like the two who have already been sent to jail - put up something on Facebook regarding rioting, yet was released without charge.

All this discontinuity in sentencing is going to do is clog the courts up even more when all the appeals start coming through. It's like the courts are just making it harder for themselfs on this one.

Look up, "Ethnocentrism", it allegedly is not the same as"racism".

I think it's a concept the sociologists pulled out of their a**es, so they didn't have to bandy the "R" word around. But what do I know.

It does seem very close, indeed.

It works the same for if i did it though. If i moved to a foreign country, I would much prefer company with white atheists rather than say, black muslims or even asian atheists. This isn't because i'm racist, It's more because of what i feel comfortable with.

Obviously the line has to be drawn somewhere though; if i had a business and only sought to employ white atheists inside it, the "comfortable" argument wouldn't fall on easy ears in any court of law

If that " comfortable feeling" is racism, then all humans are racists.

And I feel sorry for you guys in England. Lucky me, I am in Slovakia. During the Comunist's regime they didn't accept any foreigners, they were pretty damn good racists, not that I remember, I wasn't even born back then

Ethnocentrism is usually the foundation of ethnic cleansing. That is usually when sociologists begin calling it "racism". I love the way we "church-up" our verbiage in this species. I must admit however that the term ethnocentrism is more accurate than racism, considering the genetic similarities among Humans around the globe.

A comfortable work environment is worth fighting for, isn't it? Balancing the concept of unity with the reality of diversity is surely proving more challenging than previously thought. Globalization may take longer than previously imagined.

We certainly are an ethnocentric species in general, but one day our tribal roots may be the sanctuary of the Human race.

I too am nostalgic of an era I wasn't even born in.