[smc]

Originally Posted by ila

I feel I can speak on this with some authority as I have experienced poverty first hand. This is not a theory for me, but was my reality at one time.

One of my purposes in my original post was to refute the opinion of experts who stated that all those growing up in poverty will eventually react in a way that we have seen in the past week in England. As can be seen in my original post I illustrated the fact that not everyone growing up poor will react with rioting, looting, arson, and killing.

Any so-called "expert" who states that growing up in poverty results in someone eventually reacting in this way should be discounted not for her or his theories, but for the unscientific nature of the conclusion. After all, a propensity to riot is not something with which a person is born. Socio-environmental conditions are what lead people to such action, right or wrong, and the idea that "all those" who grow up in poverty will eventually engage in such action is preposterous.

Originally Posted by ila

Perceived breaking of a non-existent social contract is, as you state, no excuse. The breakdown is in those that expect everything to be given to them without any effort being put forth on their own part. Most of those with material possessions did not have everything given to them. They worked for them. It is sloth, envy, and greed that the rioters use to justify their actions. Hard work has been a recipe for success in the past. There is no reason why the rioters cannot also follow that path.

The social contract is not, as you write, "non-existent." Again, irrespective of how one analyzes the reason for the riots, the existence of the social contract must be recognized as a given. In Britain, a social safety net has existed. As it is dismantled, the dynamic in society changes. Unless society as a whole renegotiates the contract or agrees to its dissolution, it is being "broken."

In the United States, the safety net components cynically dubbed "entitlements" by politicians who wish to eliminate them are part of a social contract.