The riots are not about rich and poor – they’re about duck ponds and trainers

Following the UK riots it’s very easy to get caught up in the rhetoric, so well received by the public at the moment, demanding that something be done about the violent “feral youth” of our communities. To believe that the problem has to do with only one segment of our society, to make this debate about the “have not’s” taking from the “haves”. I believe we should not view these riots in isolation, but rather through the lens of a very different but linked crisis last year, the MPs expenses scandal.

Are looters stealing from local shop owners and MPs stealing from taxpayers really that different? I don’t believe they are. Both were motivated essentially by greed, both did it because they believed they could get away with it and both believed they were justified in their actions. Both were aspiring to get  more for themselves as they competed with their peers, whether it was the latest pair or trainers and big screen HD TV or the bigger duck pond and more comfortable second home.

The MPs approach may be less violent and more socially acceptable, but at the heart, viewed side by side, these events point to a much bigger problem with the values of our whole society, not just segments of it. Rich and poor, we are all driven by the powerful values of individualism and materialistic consumerism, of which looting and cheating on your expenses is the natural outcome. The simplistic solutions and simplistic reasons being given for why these acts of violence have taken place neglect to take into account the rod we have created for ourselves as a society by promoting consumerism and individualism as the pillars upon which everything else rests. To tackle the heart of the problem we must change the air we breathe, the culture we have created. This cannot be tackled by new policies, whether it is better policing, or more money for youth projects, instead we must take a deeper look at the foundations of what our society is built on, why we exist and what we are hoping to achieve. There’s more to life than a new pair of Nike trainers or a better pond for the garden the problem is we’re failing to communicate what that more is.