They do it because they can

I've been pondering a lot over the events of the last few days and I can't stop thinking that, as usual, people do bad things because they can. They don't really need a justification or a motivation. All they need is to suddenly realize that they have the power to do bad and they will.

For four years during university, before leaving Romania, I trained to be a teacher. When I came to the UK I tried hard to get my qualification acknowledged so I can do what I liked most: teach. But after two years and repeated unpleasant experiences in comprehensive schools across London, including some of its most depraved areas like Peckham and Woolwich, I gave up. The fact that as a teacher I had almost no power to stop violent pupils when they started disturbing the classes left me disillusioned and frustrated. 

Kids knew that teachers have no way of stopping them and would rather allow them to carry on creating disorder rather than forcing them to sit down and do as told. I am by no means condoning physical punishment or using force as a means of educating children, but when you promise students that consistent inappropriate behaviour will be punished, it's good to be able to follow up your threats with something, otherwise they know you have no power. And the moment they know that THEY have the power, nothing can stop them.

That's exactly what happened over the last few days in London. Many of those rioting in the streets have no idea why the riots started but they know why they are there doing what they're doing: because they can. Because police stood by in Tottenham the first night, looking powerless and not being able to intervene. Because the law is, in its attempt to keep everybody happy, failing to be tough enough as to protect the ones that respect it and punish those who don't. Because the attitude of British authorities who brought the stop-searches to an end at the first signs of disapproval showed that they are too soft and have no real power. Because we are all being asked not to intervene when we see someone being attacked in the streets, giving th perpetrators all the wrong signals.

Because they haven't actually ever been asked to face the consequences or pay for their actions. Because they know they can do it and that we can't stop them.

Flash back to Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. The ape realizes that the bone can be used as a weapon to kill its competitors. Unfortunately we all have it in us. Fortunately some of us learnt to control it.