British riots have important lessons for Ireland and US

muchas gracias themurphia. I'm no problem with disagreements! best

OK It is not acceptable to accuse you of being a FF supporter ...! People have enough **** to deal with in their lives...It is my experience that people are so used to dealing with hostility that what really disarms them is politeness/kindness...However sometimes that would require the patience of Job...Sometimes it feels like dealing with kids...teaching them boundaries etc...Hopefully there will be less personal abuse in future...it is tiresome to read and stifles debate/craic...as in the real world the bullies prevail and the quieter people who often have the most interesting things to say retreat...It was nice to have a little light hearted banter on IC recently...! All the best...!

the0murphia: fair enough, but I disagree. If you look back over the comments these people have made about pieces of mine you'll find they are ad hominem, without exception, abusive and false - I'm accused of being everything from a rack-renting landlord, to someone who profiteers from 'mass immigration' to a supporter of Fianna Fail. These two (WK and GD) have form - look for yourself. As I say, I have a name and a location: I don't hide behind anything. Personally I'd much rather have a civil debate, as we are used to in this country, and I'm prepared to accept your good faith. I'm not a professional journalist and never described myself as an immigration expert - that's how IC captioned the piece. So I'm going to stand against the groupthink here and say that I stand over my views. I find it extraordinary that you could say that 'wk did not make a personal attack on you' - 'slum landlord'? - seems kind of personal to me!

maceineri:WK did not made a personal attack on you he criticised what you had written...you on the other hand have responded with an outburst of vitriole against him...so I think your explanation a little disingenuous... Perhaps on reflection you accept you have responded in the heat of the moment...it certainly seems disproportionate...at least to an objective reader...I find the personally gratuitous comments by contributors on this site wholly inappropriate however since it seems to be acceptable to IC I suppose it's a case of when in Rome etc...!

The riots are nothing more than anarchist gone crazy..there will always be haves and have nots in the world..most of the time if one is willing to work,you can make a decent living..In America, we have entitlemeyoungnts that are strangling the economy,mainly because there are people recieving them that don't qualify..such as young people who are perfectly able to work,and don't,druggie and illegals...the subsidies were intended to help the truly poor,elderly and physical and mentally handicap. Fraud is rampant,but no one wants to cut back on these subsidies...so it grows into "GOVERNMENT SLAVERY". The reasons these rioters give is lame and most likely a lie,it seems they are just wanting riot and pillage. Most ancharist hurt their own people more than anyone else..so they are nothing more than thugs out of control.

Macenri or whatever other moniker he uses on this site thinks we should not challenge him on his bigotry. After all, he tells us, he's an "expert on immigration"!!! Won't work, macenri. If you use hatefilled language (on another thread you used the "wacist" slur, because I expressed solidarity with the majority of people in Ireland, who when polled oppose Mass Immigration into their country) I and others will certainly confront you. This is not a game in which the rules are you can use all the dirty slurs that fall out of your mouth while the rest of us kowtow before you. That may work in Ireland, where people like you have been able to stifle all debate on the settlement of the country by foreigners, but it won't work here. You probably have never heard of the First Amendment--look it up. I'll give you a bit of advice. If you want to stop looking like a bigoted jerk who needs to wash out his mouth start, debating rationally. Begin by telling us how you personally profit by Mass Immigration. Are you a slum landlord in Ireland who rents out homes to immigrants? Does your livelihood depend on importing foreign migrants into Ireland?

WK's criticism is of the jounalsim not a gratuitous ad hominem attack unlike the so called 'professional' journalist...!

@themurphia: with respect I think you're missing the point here. If you look, for instance, at JimCork's points below, you'll see that he and I disagree - in fact we are probably poles apart although I think his criticisms are fair and sharp. But there was nothing personal about his criticism and I'm a big boy. In fairness to IrishCentral I should also say that I'm not one of their writers: I wrote an op/ed piece, without payment, and Niall O'Dowd and his people are not answerable in any way for it: only I am. My problem with the people I criticised is not that they disagree with my views: it's with the extraordinarily abusive, vituperative and personalised nature of their attacks. I think I'm entitled to defend myself against abuse from people I don't even know and who know nothing about me and who insist on misrepresenting my views in a bizarrely inaccurate way. I don't even know who these guys are> One of the privileges of the internet is that anyone can say anything under the cloak of anonymity, but that privilege can be abused. Maybe there is a difference between European and American culture here - I honestly don't know. I think people who have views - of whatever persuasion - should step up to the plate and identify themselves, unless they live in a place where their lives would be endangered. In my case I'm a known individual - anyone who likes can find me at http://www.ucc.ie. Best

Wounded Knee: Seems you 'wounded' him...'...you guys are good for a laugh - cheap shots (no comment!) from the sidelines are always easier than hard work...' Now we know what IC writers think of their readers...If you don't want comments/criticsm then don't write for an onine comments page...! Simples...!

Blimey...!

Hey WoundedKnee - have you and GeorgeDillon ever been seen in the same place at the same time? Your asinine, ignorant and inaccurate views seem remarkably similar. And if you knew anything about journalism, which you obviously don't, you'd know that the headline is the sub-editor's, not mine. Still, you guys are good for a laugh - cheap shots from the sidelines are always easier than hard work, especially from cowards who don't even tell us who they are. My name is out there and I stand over my views: you guys lurk in the shadows like the cowards you are and snipe. Get a life.

Macenri's article is very poorly written, isn't it? Poor level of analysis, and full of cliches (is that kind of mediocrity the norm in Ireland now?). And the headline--"important lessons for Ireland and US"--sure fails to deliver. The writer gives us ZERO lessons worth noting. He obviously doesn't have any profound insights to offer.

The conduct of the feral elements of Society is not that they are disengaged etc it is that they over identify with the culture of greed the legacy of Thatcher's Britain... They aspire to the type of 'Society' they read..using the term in it's loosest possible sense...about in the Murdoch media...obscene immoral unaccountable...a celebrity *bling* life style cannot be funded by ordinary jobs... hence the descent into drug and gangsterism...the 'get what you want by whatever means necessary' culture... Against a backdrop of bad or no parenting...single parent households multiple different fathers kids having kids no authority figures in the home no concept of right and wrong...no boundaries...out of control kids...This is not about a lack of jobs and opportunity these kids/young people are not ideologues...they reject authority education and work opportunities and seem to value nothing other than consumerism...If they were concerned about lack of jobs why burn down other peoples work places...? Growing up as an immigrant I was made to understand the value of education...the opportunities it could afford... However the thing that really grounded me was that I did not want to do anything to hurt or bring shame on my mother and father...They raised a large family on precious little...their children all obtained professional jobs and own their own homes...I hope they thought they'd done a good job...I am not materialistic and have no lust for money or possessions I cannot therefore understand why anyone would think such things worth burning peples homes places of work or taking someone's life.

a few innaccuracies in this report - social services have not been run down - the Labour government was obsessed with being big brother and state interference - the family unit has broken down and social services stick their oars in more than ever enforcing state sanctioned morals (ie there are tens of thousands of kids taken into care and no foster carers for them because of all the red tape - prime example the old black Christian couple in England who have successfully fostered 15 kids over recent decades but have been deemed unfit to be foster carers because their evangelical (Pentecostal) Christian views on homosexuality - hence some kid left in a care home instead of a loving foster home). Second point the Police Service of Northern Ireland have stated that water cannon would be of no use to the police in England for the type of rioting we are seeing which is small fast moving gangs as opposed to large static crowds where water canon and plastic bullets (baton rounds) are operationally useful. What would have been useful is the French police tactic of spraying rioters with dye to help identify them - turning up to work or the dole office with a blue face.....

Ifeel sorry for the businesses that scrimp and saved to keep a business going in this age . It is sad that these young people could not just march down the street every day and try to be heard this way. They might have gotten a little respect for doing it this way. Yes we are all frustrated over what the gov. has done to its people. And it is happening all over the world. WE HAVE HAD ENOUGH!! But will they listen. Sad thing is no one wants to take the responsibility for what’s going on. Yes these are probably dysfunctional children with not a care in the world. Parents can't afford to have them and they then feel deprived. They were never taught that other people have feelings. They are only concerned about theirs. When I heard a 13 year old videoed a situation I asked why was a 13 yr old out at the wee hours in the morning? I feel there has been greed in people with high paying jobs and they take from the ones who have no jobs to go to. Let’s take a cut in pay and build jobs for the youth.