We watched in disbelief as mobs looted and vandalised in America, attacking and beating people, wrecking their businesses and murdering those that tried to stop them. The catch cry is “Justice for George”, but the police officers who were involved in George Floyd’s murder have already been brought to justice and will serve their sentences.
In Britain, statues of Winston Churchill and Cecil Rhodes are under attack, while mealy-mouthed authorities capitulate to the demands of the mob in the hope that it will all go away. In Australia, white teenage girls are beaten up by black youths for crimes no greater than waiting for a train to take them home. Everywhere, we see “Black Lives Matter” — which, of course, they do — but it seems that in this dystopian world, only black lives matter, and anyone else is fair game to be beaten or murdered. Actually, it seems that not even black lives matter, as many of them have died at the hands of the mob too. The world has gone mad, but worse than that: with ridiculous calls everywhere to defund the police, the world has also gone out of control.
It is frightening how quickly the authorities gave in to mob rule everywhere.
Here in New Zealand, thankfully, protests have been mostly peaceful, although the inevitable bandwagon of Maori grievances has been brought out of the stable again. The Maori Party has set about deliberate race-baiting because it thinks, riding on the wave of anti-white sentiment everywhere, it can score more race-based funding. With the current government pandering to the mob because it doesn’t want to lose the Maori seats, it may well be successful. At any rate, clearly they are going to give it a damned good try.
But why is all this happening now? George Floyd did not deserve to die in the way that he did, but he was a criminal with a long record, caught by the police breaking the law one more time. Since when do we give state funerals with horse drawn carriages to criminals while undermining the forces that are actually trying to keep us all safe? Orwell’s world just came to life; the clock definitely struck thirteen on the day George Floyd was buried in front of a kneeling band of sycophants trying to politicise his murder for their own gain.
But nobody seems to have stopped to think about why this is all happening now, when we have a pandemic ravaging the world.
Locking people up, even for their own good, creates tinderboxes which will set themselves alight eventually. All you need is a little bit of touch paper, and George Floyd’s murder by an arrogant police officer was the final straw that stoked the flames of fury.
Lockdown was fairly pleasant for me. Living on a lifestyle block, I had plenty of space, went for walks every day, experimented with cooking, Zoomed friends and family all over the world, caught up on my reading and generally had a good rest. It was like that for many of us who have decent homes, small family settings and a reasonable amount of disposable income. But not everyone lives like that. Imagine if you live in a house with 9 other people, all sharing space constantly, day after day. No one can go to work, catch up with friends, or do any of the things that normally keep people sane. And then, in the midst of all this, you get the news that you and 3 other household members have lost your jobs. Now your reality is that you will never get out of this crowded space; that you will live in this hellhole day after day, week after week, for who knows how long. Light the touch paper and stand back. Now you have nothing to lose.
Lockdown was always a disaster waiting to happen. If you are wondering why all the anger is aimed at statues of people who died 200 years ago, just stop wondering. None of it makes any sense, because there is no sense to it. Frustrated people have to target something. You cannot simply lock people up in overcrowded or substandard conditions for weeks on end and expect there to be no consequences. Governments all around the world were naive and stupid if they thought they would get away with this, but the consequences of this rash and stupid approach to a relatively mild pandemic will be with us for decades.
Peaceful protests were organised and used as a way to get out of the house. Nobody seemed to stop anyone from attending a rally, even though everyone was supposed to stay home. Then the anger, frustration at being locked up, at losing jobs and having no prospects all started to boil over. Things got violent. The anger grew. Looting started. People got killed. Buildings were torched. Anarchy reigned.
It is worth remembering that people who have to get up for work the next day don’t generally go on rampages. But when large swathes of the population have nowhere to go and nothing to lose, this is what happens.
I don’t know what happens next. I don’t know where we go from here. But I do know that you cannot simply lock people up and expect them to behave the way you want. Governments that thought that have been proved to be fools.
Lockdown was hard enough for many people who live in nice houses, particularly as the weeks dragged on and the kids became more and more restless. Now imagine what it was like for that family of 9, in a small, substandard house. It was a nightmare. Lots of people around the western world live in overcrowded and substandard housing. To ask them to share that space with each other, day after day with no end in sight, was a step too far. Don’t be surprised that there were riots and looting. Don’t be surprised that innocent people were killed or lost their livelihoods to the baying mob. This was always a disaster just waiting to happen. The damage to race relations is catastrophic. Nobody should be forced to apologise for the colour of their skin. Nobody should be kneeling to others for no real reason. But when a baying mob is looking for something to blame, race is often a good place to start.
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