The Box

The merits of mass communication through TV and the Internet is, at times like this, debatable. Uncensored scenes shown across the world on both forms of media teach and instruct on would be criminals what the possibilities are for organised riot, vandalism, theft and premeditated lawlessness.
In this year alone across the world we have all have witnessed what mob rule can do whether for good or ill, the fundamentals are the same. That police forces in the western world who don’t use deadly force to contain riots are at risk and become vulnerable to serious injury and harm and even death.
Years ago I read in a USA paper that even poor people have TV sets in their meagre homes and what they see is what the rich have and what they do not. Visions of plenty beamed into squalid rooms every hour of the day and night cause unrest in the soul and fear and resentment in society. The social effect is deep frustration and the collective question becomes "how can I get what they have". The scenes we see on our screens this morning is the same social malaise continuing on our streets of so-called peaceful Britain. Censorship is not the answer. Use of deadly force against rioting citizens is not the answer. The answer to these awful problems must be found. If it is not found then the destructive civil unrest will continue.