I am currently watching the reconvened Parliament, and I have to say – I couldn’t hack it in the top seat there. I’m not that nimble-witted, and while I might supposedly be charismatic (hahahahahahahahah, oh jeez, hahahahaha), I’m not sure I could manage to speak so eloquently on a drop of a hat. It would come out all garbled and awkward and exactly the wrong thing… charming amongst friends, not so much amongst that set.

I have to say that I’m cautiously pleased with the discussion in Parliament at current, though. They are, for the most part, behaving. Oh sure, there’s a few whackjobs demanding water cannon and tear gas now, but they’re getting calmly brushed off. I am definitely concerned by the suggestion that social networks could be blocked if situations like this happened again – we’re not Egypt or China, yo. And I think most would agree that the good side of social networking has vastly outstripped the negative side in this argument. In fact:

England riots: Hackers hit Blackberry over police help
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-14476620

And, of course, Facebook has cooperated… unsurprisingly. It doesn’t make up for deciding everyones’ phone numbers should be made randomly public or any of the other crazy crap the site pulls, but why are these kids surprised that social media agencies are cooperating with the government?! I would say it’s a slippery slope as far as legitimate peaceful protest is involved, but coordinating stealing TVs and trainers? There isn’t a lot of room for debate there.

Suffices to say, for now it’s a wait and see game. I suspect that whatever the government does is going to be ‘wrong’; there is no one solution that is going to magically solve everything. And of course, there are definitely distinct camps as to what the right sort of idea falls under. Being from America (and more specifically Texas), I’m kind of down for the full brunt of harshness. I’m more than willing to entertain other opinions because I don’t think this is compassionate of me, and compassion is definitely a trait worthy of cultivation. It’s just… very hard… to find when you see people that seem pretty damned content to have everything handed to them, and how dare you think they’re wrong for taking what they’re told they should have! I’ve even seen it suggested that they’re not at fault ’cause of aggressive media and advertising suggesting that ‘everyone’ has those plasmascreens and trainers. I think that is a ridiculous sentiment, though I will contend that I find advertising to be… dangerous.

So I don’t know… but I’m hoping that we somehow manage to get the best out of this situation. And now – to find a heating pad! xD