Looting, social media overshadow reasons for riots in London

                The reason behind the start of the riots in northern London was lost in the frenzy of looting and frustration that citizens and police faced at the peak of the riots. In the end, many rioters didn't even know the reason that they were fighting.

                The riots in north London began after a man named Mark Duggan, the center of a shooting investigation, was shot and killed by police. Protests began after Duggan's death and quickly turned violent.

                As of last week, over 1,900 people had been arrested for rioting and looting, according to CNN.

                "The whole country has been shocked by the most appalling scenes of people looting, violence, vandalizing and thieving," Prime Minister David Cameron said in his statement on public disorder on Aug. 11. "It is criminality pure and simple and there is absolutely no excuse for it."

                In his speech, Cameron addressed the loss of a reason for the rioting.

                "It is simply preposterous for anyone to suggest that people looting in Tottenham at the weekend, still less three days later Salford, were in any way doing so because of the death of Mark Duggan," he said. "The young people stealing flat screen televisions and burning shops was not about politics or protest. It was about theft."

                People were caught on camera robbing wounded citizens. Businesses were being looted and set on fire. YouTube video blogger Philip Defranco also argued that the reasons for the riots have been lost.

                "It may have started with a reason but then you look at what's happening and you see that there really is no reason. Not anymore," he said in his video blog titled "London Riots Rage Across UK!" "I'm down for deconstruction and destruction of a corrupt government, but where's the message when you destroy an innocent Panera bread and steal PS3s? I really don't see the message there."

                To restore order, Cameron said that more police forces would be sent out. He stated that the number of police deployed would increase from 6,000 to 16,000 in order to prosecute more criminals.

                The world watched as buildings burned and thieves raided stores. However, it also watched as a group calling themselves Riot Cleanup carried brooms instead of weapons to help clean the streets and repair damage.

                Riot Cleanup started a website and created social media pages to gain followers and help. Although members of the group have stopped clean-up for now, they stated they will start again if need be. For now they are attempting to help shopkeepers gain donations to replace their stock and help police identify suspects.

                While some think that the cleanup is pointless, others say it is a proactive way to build the community back up.

                "I am definitely team Cleanup. I've been working in retail for three years, and I get annoyed when someone leaves an empty cup in my store. I totally feel for all of the shop owners and innocent people being put through hell because of this," Richland psychology major Catherine Boynton said.

                A website was even created that has photos of the rioters hoping to get Londoners to identify the criminals.

                "Everyone watching these horrific actions will be struck by how they were organized via social media," Cameron said. "Free flow of information can be used for good but it can also be used for ill. And when people are suing social media for violence we need to stop them."

                Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have recently received a lot of negative press. Youths have been blamed for using these websites to organize criminal activity.

                Some students disagree and argue instead that social media is a tool and not something to be blamed.

                "That's like blaming a certain car model for helping a criminal escape. If any government sees social media to blame for their problems, then they are simply being narrow minded and trying to create a scapegoat for their inadequacy to predict the mood of the people they govern," mechanical engineering major Omar Jemal said.

                "Social media is neither positive nor negative and is simply what it is, a tool in which information can be divulged and communicated. To say it is a positive or negative is simply a perspective on how it's being used, and not whether it is in its essence a good or bad thing," Jemal added.