Scapegoats on London bridge!

There has been a lot of news about the riots in London lately, because I didn’t know too much about it, I googled it.

I found lots of links and videos about the chaos that had been taking place, and many reports about the devastation, especially on unsuspecting victims, shop owners among them. After reading a couple and having a mixture of feelings about it, I came across an article on Reuters. The blurb had “young, lacking opportunity, angry at the system and organising phenomenally fast over social media, London's rioters showed some of the same characteristics as the pro-democracy demonstrators of the "Arab Spring".

I was confused and shocked about this. Amidst all of the terrible acts people of London are doing, to themselves, the media is still able to link the aggressive acts to Arabs. I was amazed that they were even able to make that kind of a link, and still where no Arab peoples were involved (by which I mean those that live in the ‘middle’ and ‘far’ east not Arabs who may reside in London).

It felt almost like they are deflecting part of the badness by being like “Yeah this is bad but oh well the Arabs did it first” as if they are blaming them for the actions of a few people in London. Once again vilifying and reinforcing the stereotype of the “bad Arab”, whilst not saying “bad British people”. Associating the Arab people with the riots, violence, and destruction because that sort of thing just makes sense to pair together, and ‘they do things like this all the time’. Contrasting the reports, that this is a first for London, and it is unusual for this kind of violence to occur and for it to escalate. It is easier for the white community to see the Arabs as at fault, without having to confront any issues in their own communities. And when compared to the Arabs, nothing seems as bad, they have become the scapegoat for all violent and semi destructive acts.

It is easy for me to see the white eye peering into the words of this article. Shame on you Reuters!