London Bridge Is Falling Down

Good-evening ladies and gentlemen.

I would like to begin this post by sending out my condolences to those affected by the riots in London and the UK in general at present. I hope the situation improves speedily.

As for the riots themselves I actually am not surprised that they are occurring. In fact these riots confirm my suspicions about the human condition.

For a number of years now I have been convinced that human beings have no inherent morality. I do not think we know right from wrong. Indeed what we do know is how to look out for ourselves. I also know that we love power. I think that without ethical direction people will descend to mild anarchy.

In the past ideologues and politicians have taken advantage of this weakness in people for their own exploits. They have argued that people should engage in war for their nation or in local acts of violence for race and ethnic reasons. But ultimately for the people participating in these acts the ideology was just an excuse for something that they simply wanted to do. Or at the very least, didn't mind doing. I think that when we view people from this perspective human history makes more sense. All the abhorrent ideologies and genocides and massacres or even daily crime and discrimination that exists in all societies and cultures for all time comes into focus when you accept that human beings are at best inherently amoral and at worst naturally immoral.

You could have thought that my generation in the West would be immune from this. We don't have any real political ideologies pushing us to defend out country against the fascists or the communists anymore. Even the dubious threat of Islamic terrorism is met with skepticism and apathy by my generation. We simply don't buy into ideology anymore. Unless you consider nihilism an ideology.

But our apathy didn't inoculate us against stealing or vandalism or violence. In London we have managed to have totally ideology-free riots. We have managed to break out into anarchy for no definable reason. You can blame it on class divides and the education system and while I do recognize these factors I think they are only relevant in the following context:

1) People don't know what's right and what's wrong.

2) Even if you teach them they will probably ignore it if it's in their interests.

3) Making something illegal isn't the same as teaching somebody that it's wrong.

Therefore the way to prevent violence and discrimination and hatred and rioting is through ethical education. People need to be taught morality. By this I don't mean the 10 commandments or even the legal code. Rather people need to be taught to think about ethics. How do we decide what's right and what's wrong? What makes these things so? How do we define them? If we get people to engage in these questions and perhaps ingrain an appreciation for the good, right, just and moral then perhaps that education will be enough to protect against wanton acts of wrong.

Maybe London is the wake-up call the West needed but doesn't really want.