Mock CI

Summer Riots – “The Most Pivotal Year of my generation”

Hundreds of mourners gathered for the funeral of Mark Duggan who was shot dead by the police in North London (Tottenham). This all happened on 4^th August when two shots were fired by a firearm officer and killed Mark Duggan who was known as a drug dealer in Tottenham.  Independent police complaints commission said that “A non police handgun was recovered” meaning that the firearm police had no option but to shoot at Duggan since their lives was in danger as well. Following on from this a riot began in Tottenham and spread across England where several London Boroughs, cities and towns suffered a wide spread of rioting and looting between 6^th and 10^th August.

There are several reasons why I believe that the summer riot is ‘the most pivotal year of my generation’. Firstly comparing this to other summer events that happened such as the Arab spring and the phone hacking scandal, the media didn’t portray these events as being as important to my generation (Teenagers) as the summer riots. The media had a huge part to play for making the summer riot ‘the most pivotal year of my generation’ since the summer riots was all over the news and was presented in all three media platforms (Broadcast, Print and E-Media).  For example they discussed the riots on Question Times and then also had a separate show called ‘Young voters Question time’ which was the only programme on British television to actually give young people their chance to speak publically, which proves that the summer riots was actually the most pivotal year for the teenage generation because they gave teenagers the chance to speak since they were the centre of attention of these riots.

Furthermore, Government advisor Sheldon Thomas said that about 2 years ago we’ve had over 20 teenage murderers but yet we didn’t have the same fire and impact on that than we did on the summer riots. Therefore, after hearing a couple of these facts from Sheldon, it brings me back to my point that the summer riot was ‘the most pivotal year of my generation’ because of the way everyone was keen in knowing more about what is going on since this had an effect on literally everyone. For example a furniture store called house of reads got burnt down in Croydon, which therefore had an effect on someone else other than a teenager, that Is why o believe the summer riots was ‘the most pivotal year of my generation’ because it had some sort of an impact on everyone. And the fact that teenagers that are my age were the main group involved and what they done affect everyone which is why it is pivotal for my generation. In addition, I think the riots is ‘the most pivotal year of my generation’ because the only time we hear of teenagers is when they do something negative, and the riots is one of the most negative things teenagers have done, therefore they are the main class that everyone looks out for now because of these riot. Like Labour MP Stella Creasy said in Young voters Question time “We never dwell on the positive side of teenagers and we never embrace there intelligence/talents”. Which is another point why the summer riots is ‘the most pivotal year of my generation’  

Subsequently the summer riots links in with Vladimir Propps theory about the seven sphere’s of action. He stated in his theory that everything we watch or anything that happens to us seems like a fairy tale, and there are seven characters in the fairy tale. The first character is the hero, in which the case of the riots, the hero is the police because they are there to save the day. The second character is the villain which is the rioters because they are meant to struggle against the hero. Then comes the donor which is the government because they are the ones to prepare the hero. Next is the dispatcher who is the public because they trigger the hero to go do their task. Moreover it is the helper and father which in this case the government plays both roles because they government are the ones that give consent for every action. So as you can see this the summer riots links perfectly with Propps theory because that is how much of a big event it was that everyone had a role tp play which is why I believe it is ‘the most pivotal year of my generation’.

On the other hand some people may argue and say that the summer riot was not ‘the most pivotal year of my generation’ for several reasons. The main argument against for this is that they will say it is not the biggest event that has happened during our generations because as time goes past we will eventually forget about these riots that happened. Whereas an event like 9/11 is probably ‘the most pivotal year of my generation’ because even ten years from now we still talk about it and we have realised how much it has changed our lives. For example the war of terror is still going on since 9/11 has happened. Therefore that clearly shows how much 9/11 has affected us, and the summer riots won’t be the same.

In conclusion, the summer riots to me, is defined to be ‘the most pivotal year of my generation’ mainly because teenagers my age were the main ones involved in all of this. Even though there are some good arguments to say likewise, I still believe that the summer riots is ‘the most pivotal year of my generation’ because ever since the riots, people have an even worse stereotypical view upon teenagers and our life’s have changed dramatically.