The London Riots

For those of you who do not know, the London Riots started when the family of an African American who was shot dead by the police after he 'shot' (with a replica gun) at some police officers decided to protest against his death. The African American was shot multiple times until his face was unrecognisable. The protest turned ugly when the people started rioting and looting to 'show their anger towards an uncalled for and illegal police shooting'. Yeah right, nothings says 'I am feeling upset about an unnecessary death caused by racism' like cleaning out electronic and jewellery stores and setting fire to buildings and vehicles. I bet that most of the 'protesters' have no idea of what they are 'protesting' about. The term 'rioters' would be more accurate since they have no valid cause for their 'protest'. It is very likely that most of the people just saw others looting and, like the sheep thay are, follow. I would also like to take this opportunity to point out the link between this and my earlier post on altruism. So much for it, eh?
Although the protest started as a peaceful protest, there are numerous oppurtunists who take the chance to do what they would normally not dare to do when there is law and order. Namely looting, arson, striking out at police officers and rioting. To quote my previous post:
"Moreover, when disaster strikes, most people would adopt the ‘every man for himself’ mentality. As proven when a tourist asked a police officer for assistance and got the response, "Go to hell, it's every man for himself.", when people are confused or scared, they would automatically look out for number one, that is, themselves. This mentality often results in selfishness and thus makes any thought of helping others near impossible, much less altruism."
Though I doubt the rioters are scared or confused, it is now the survival of the fittest in London. There is absolutely (Ok, maybe there are but they are not reported) little evidence of altruism and common sense has clearly taken a long term leave.
To round it off, this post is actually just an example and proof of my post "Blog Prompts 10 - Does crisis bring out the best in man? " with a bit of an extension on mob mentality.