Last week on his blog, British subject-turned-Hollywood celebrity Russell Brand took a few moments to opine on the recent London riots. In an Aug. 11 post, Brand blamed former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher for the civil unrest because the rioters have lost their “sense of community.”
“These young people … have no stake in society because Cameron’s mentor Margaret Thatcher told us there’s no such thing,” Brand wrote.
That raised the ire of National Review columnist Mark Steyn, author of the new book “After America: Get Ready for Armageddon.” On Hugh Hewitt’s syndicated radio show, Steyn said, “The guy is a fool.”
“As they [the rioters] started moving into the center and burning down closer to where all these celebrity lefties live, the mood began to turn. But the fact is these are people who — a fifth of British children are raised in homes where no one works. In other words, they are used to having their accommodations, their food, their drink, their drugs, their Xboxes, their iPods and other toys provided by the state.”
Ultimately, Steyn said, the rioters’ dependency on the state is to blame.
“The idea that a guy, that someone gets up in the morning and gets dressed and goes out the door and does not return until late afternoon when the day’s labors have been completed — that is an entirely alien ritual to these people and to anyone they know. It’s the exact opposite of what Russell Brand was saying. They have been taught by the big government welfare state that they’re absolved of the need to work. They’re absolved of the need for community. They’re absolved of the need for anything except for the kind of sensual self-gratification through their crummy, dreary little electronic toys.”