RESOLVED: ROWAN WILLIAMS SHOULD NO LONGER BE ALLOWED TO PUBLICLY SAY ANYTHING ABOUT ANYTHING AT ALL
Parents? I’ve never been a parent myself so I’m going to need your help. When your child launches into his or her version of a temper tantrum, do you, (A) inform them that we’ll discuss this once they’ve calmed down and not before or, (B) tell them that they have a perfectly valid point and basically give them whatever they want?
Quite a lot of the images we’re likely to remember from the footage of the riots in the summer will be of young people out of control in the streets, walking off with looted property from shops, noisily confronting police and so on. It all feeds into the national habit of being suspicious and hostile when we see groups of youngsters on street corners or outside shops and bus shelters. We walk a bit more quickly and hope we can pass without some sort of confrontation.
Or it feeds the national habit of believing that stealing and property damage are wrong. But to-may-to, to-mah-to.
The events of the summer were certainly horrific. They showed us a face of our society we don’t like to think about – angry, destructive, lawless. But it’s crucial to remember that what we saw on the streets in August was just one facet of a bigger and much more heartbreaking problem. The youngsters out on the streets may have looked like a big crowd, but they are a minority of their generation – the minority whose way of dealing with their frustrations was by way of random destructiveness and irresponsibility. Most people of their own age strongly shared the general feeling of dismay at this behaviour.
A “but” the size of the Rock of Gibraltar should be through any second now.
We have to ask, what kind of society is it that lets down so many of its young people? That doesn’t provide enough good role models and drives youngsters further into unhappiness and anxiety by only showing them suspicion and negativity. When you see the gifts they can offer, the energy that can be released when they feel safe and loved, you see what a tragedy we so often allow to happen. Look at the work done by groups like the Children’s Society or by the astonishing network of Kids Company here in London, and you see what can be done to wake up that energy and let it flourish for everyone’s good.
And there it is. Want to know the main ways society lets down its young people, Your Grace? By not teaching them right from wrong. By not teaching them that actions have consequences. And by letting them not that not every thought that pops into their heads should be taken seriously.
Fortunately, more and more people are figuring out exactly how empty a chasuble Rowan Williams really is. The
Rev. Dr. Peter Mullen in the Telegraph.
I saw quite a lot of “the energy that can be released” here in London in last summer’s riots. And who could not have been overwhelmed by waves of fellow-feeling at the sight of avid, grinning crowds of “young people” as they smashed the windows of electrical shops and walked off with plasma TVs galore? Who is not moved almost beyond compassion at the delightful vision of posses of misunderstood “youngsters” who, despite having no “role models,” casually and entirely on their own initiative set fire to high street stores?
As the Archbishop so rightly says, we must understand that these looters and arsonists are really the socially-excluded victims of society’s rage. And we must make them feel “safe and loved”. We must give the poor, sad, underprivileged and misunderstood “youngsters” who were left with no alternative but to burn the shops as many “role models” as they want. Not that they seemed to be asking for role models, by the way, being content enough to avail themselves of basketsful of iPods, mobile phones and designer shirts and trainers. We must compel them to have role models.
My only complaint is that the Archbishop did not go further and insist that we extend our understanding to all criminals. So let me take over where the Archbishop left the job only half done. Let me urge you, next time you come across a shoal of arsonists setting fire to some great public building, don’t regard them with “suspicion and negativity”. You could instead help them in so many small ways: give them a box of matches or one of those little lighters which many of us find so useful. Teach them the basic skills without which none of them can properly achieve their goals. I mean, show them how to make an effective Molotov cocktail.
Some West Country MP’s blasted my gracious lord of Canterbury.
Two Westcountry MPs took exception to Dr Williams’ message, saying he needed to be “more careful” and risked undermining his reputation.
South West Devon Conservative MP Gary Streeter, chairman of the all-party Christians in Parliament group, said: “We do need spiritual and moral leadership and Church leaders have a lot of say about that.
“But when they divert themselves into party politics and speak about things they themselves have little expertise in, it all becomes unstuck and I think reputations are diminished.
“I think people in his position should really look at sorting out the Church and provide spiritual and moral guidance for the nation and leave the politics to the politicians who are elected to do it.”
Mr Streeter said it smacked of “good old-fashioned socialism” which didn’t provide “too many answers”.
He added: “When his political views come to the surface I don’t think they strike a chord with mainstream political thinking.”
Fellow Tory Neil Parish, MP for Tiverton and Honiton, said the Archbishop’s comments were “borderline” and that he needed to be “more careful”.
“I believe the Church should put its own house in order before it is critical of the Government,” Mr Parish added. “As a politician, I believe the Church should keep out of politics.”
As did the Cornish Guardian.
So Dr Williams had every right to use his New Year message to suggest the summer riots were an expression of the “frustrations felt by many young people.” The problem is not his decision to speak out on what is plainly a non-spiritual and overtly political subject, it is that his analysis is, in the eyes of the vast majority, so wrong-headed as to be damaging to the Church and make it seem even more of an irrelevance than many already consider it to be. Even worse, it could be seen as providing some sort of justification for the riots when the over-riding emotion felt by those hurling the bricks and petrol bombs was not “frustration” about the Conservative-led Government’s cuts but acquisitiveness prompted by the opportunity to steal and loot from damaged shops.
It is right that such momentous and alarming events as the riots of last summer are discussed and analysed by as many people as possible, Church leaders included. It is clear, however, that Dr Williams does not have any greater insight on this issue than the ordinary hard-working man in the street. In fact, he seems to have rather less understanding of what was going on. Ordinary people, on the other hand, know what these appalling displays of lawlessness were mainly about and it wasn’t, as Dr Williams claims, frustration. It was greed, pure and simple.
I don’t know why Dr. Williams keeps on doing it. I don’t know why he keeps on trotting out the same old tired bromides about this or that social problem. Because he’s an academician and cliches are all he knows? Could be. But it could also be that Rowan Williams really isn’t as intelligent as people seem to think he is.
Quite a lot of the images we’re likely to remember from the footage of the riots in the summer will be of young people out of control in the streets, walking off with looted property from shops, noisily confronting police and so on. It all feeds into the national habit of being suspicious and hostile when we see groups of youngsters on street corners or outside shops and bus shelters. We walk a bit more quickly and hope we can pass without some sort of confrontation.
Or it feeds the national habit of believing that stealing and property damage are wrong. But to-may-to, to-mah-to.
The events of the summer were certainly horrific. They showed us a face of our society we don’t like to think about – angry, destructive, lawless. But it’s crucial to remember that what we saw on the streets in August was just one facet of a bigger and much more heartbreaking problem. The youngsters out on the streets may have looked like a big crowd, but they are a minority of their generation – the minority whose way of dealing with their frustrations was by way of random destructiveness and irresponsibility. Most people of their own age strongly shared the general feeling of dismay at this behaviour.
A “but” the size of the Rock of Gibraltar should be through any second now.
We have to ask, what kind of society is it that lets down so many of its young people? That doesn’t provide enough good role models and drives youngsters further into unhappiness and anxiety by only showing them suspicion and negativity. When you see the gifts they can offer, the energy that can be released when they feel safe and loved, you see what a tragedy we so often allow to happen. Look at the work done by groups like the Children’s Society or by the astonishing network of Kids Company here in London, and you see what can be done to wake up that energy and let it flourish for everyone’s good.
And there it is. Want to know the main ways society lets down its young people, Your Grace? By not teaching them right from wrong. By not teaching them that actions have consequences. And by letting them not that not every thought that pops into their heads should be taken seriously.
Fortunately, more and more people are figuring out exactly how empty a chasuble Rowan Williams really is. The
Rev. Dr. Peter Mullen in the Telegraph.
I saw quite a lot of “the energy that can be released” here in London in last summer’s riots. And who could not have been overwhelmed by waves of fellow-feeling at the sight of avid, grinning crowds of “young people” as they smashed the windows of electrical shops and walked off with plasma TVs galore? Who is not moved almost beyond compassion at the delightful vision of posses of misunderstood “youngsters” who, despite having no “role models,” casually and entirely on their own initiative set fire to high street stores?
As the Archbishop so rightly says, we must understand that these looters and arsonists are really the socially-excluded victims of society’s rage. And we must make them feel “safe and loved”. We must give the poor, sad, underprivileged and misunderstood “youngsters” who were left with no alternative but to burn the shops as many “role models” as they want. Not that they seemed to be asking for role models, by the way, being content enough to avail themselves of basketsful of iPods, mobile phones and designer shirts and trainers. We must compel them to have role models.
My only complaint is that the Archbishop did not go further and insist that we extend our understanding to all criminals. So let me take over where the Archbishop left the job only half done. Let me urge you, next time you come across a shoal of arsonists setting fire to some great public building, don’t regard them with “suspicion and negativity”. You could instead help them in so many small ways: give them a box of matches or one of those little lighters which many of us find so useful. Teach them the basic skills without which none of them can properly achieve their goals. I mean, show them how to make an effective Molotov cocktail.
Some West Country MP’s blasted my gracious lord of Canterbury.
Two Westcountry MPs took exception to Dr Williams’ message, saying he needed to be “more careful” and risked undermining his reputation.
South West Devon Conservative MP Gary Streeter, chairman of the all-party Christians in Parliament group, said: “We do need spiritual and moral leadership and Church leaders have a lot of say about that.
“But when they divert themselves into party politics and speak about things they themselves have little expertise in, it all becomes unstuck and I think reputations are diminished.
“I think people in his position should really look at sorting out the Church and provide spiritual and moral guidance for the nation and leave the politics to the politicians who are elected to do it.”
Mr Streeter said it smacked of “good old-fashioned socialism” which didn’t provide “too many answers”.
He added: “When his political views come to the surface I don’t think they strike a chord with mainstream political thinking.”
Fellow Tory Neil Parish, MP for Tiverton and Honiton, said the Archbishop’s comments were “borderline” and that he needed to be “more careful”.
“I believe the Church should put its own house in order before it is critical of the Government,” Mr Parish added. “As a politician, I believe the Church should keep out of politics.”
As did the Cornish Guardian.
So Dr Williams had every right to use his New Year message to suggest the summer riots were an expression of the “frustrations felt by many young people.” The problem is not his decision to speak out on what is plainly a non-spiritual and overtly political subject, it is that his analysis is, in the eyes of the vast majority, so wrong-headed as to be damaging to the Church and make it seem even more of an irrelevance than many already consider it to be. Even worse, it could be seen as providing some sort of justification for the riots when the over-riding emotion felt by those hurling the bricks and petrol bombs was not “frustration” about the Conservative-led Government’s cuts but acquisitiveness prompted by the opportunity to steal and loot from damaged shops.
It is right that such momentous and alarming events as the riots of last summer are discussed and analysed by as many people as possible, Church leaders included. It is clear, however, that Dr Williams does not have any greater insight on this issue than the ordinary hard-working man in the street. In fact, he seems to have rather less understanding of what was going on. Ordinary people, on the other hand, know what these appalling displays of lawlessness were mainly about and it wasn’t, as Dr Williams claims, frustration. It was greed, pure and simple.
I don’t know why Dr. Williams keeps on doing it. I don’t know why he keeps on trotting out the same old tired bromides about this or that social problem. Because he’s an academician and cliches are all he knows? Could be. But it could also be that Rowan Williams really isn’t as intelligent as people seem to think he is.
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