Well there's obviously a problem. And reading through some of my old rants about class warfare, the fetishisation of gang culture and all-round general chavviness, it's clear that issues of antisocial behaviour endemic in Britain's underclass having been brewing for a long while. I am reminded of a song I wrote way back in 1996 about wanting to leave London: "sirens in my ear, aggravation everywhere...trying to understand why these gangsters ain't been caught...I pray for all my brothers wallowing in pain..."

Oh woopdee-doo, aren't I clever?! No, actually, even a dumb moron in a hurry would have drawn similar conclusions. Because, rather than my observations demonstrating the awesomeness of my intellect, in fact they merely reveal the right-underneath-our-noses nature of the causes of the riots that engulfed some of the dodgier parts of London and other big cities across England.

If you wanna see a really good video that explains exactly what happened last week, then watch on Youtube the clip of singing comedian Kenny Moore whacking a heckler with a guitar, so hard that the guy gets knocked out and the entire back of the guitar falls off. It's hilarious. It's also scary in the way the audience whoop and holler, cheering on Kenny as his taunts become more and more aggressive, less and less comical, until he swings the guitar above his head and yells "C'mon up here, muthafucka" to the heckler. The crowd reach a crescendo of hysteria, then...splat! Wham bam! And tumbleweed-strewn silence replaces the laughter. Then the crowd sheepishly start murmuring "That was uncalled for", and, most amusingly, "I want my money back"!

Do I really need to spell out the analogy? For some reason (possibly connected to Common Purpose or other covert Communist/Marxist elements trying to subvert our culture), many of the most intellectually vulnerable in our population have had their critical thinking faculties systematically removed to the point where they no longer are able to see the consequences of their taste for gratuitous unpleasantness. It's an issue I deal with everytime I write a "controversial" piece: how will my words affect those who read them? Is it worth being horrible about, say, Lily Allen (who's that again?) Maybe a more salient example is Amy Winehouse, about whom I indulged in some very critical thinking. Well, the benefits of critical thinking are that it places value on cause-and-effect (if an alcoholic junkie is hyped way beyond her natural talent level, it will end in tears); it contrasts the bad with the good, (my comparisons between Amy Winehouse and Nina Simone); it allows for all HONEST opinions to be held and expressed, without ego, dogma or self-censorship. The best critical thinking is modest, flexible and open to modification when the facts change, or when more facts reveal themselves.

Critical thinking is a highly useful skill, a healthily sceptical way of looking at the world and finding solutions to complicated problems based on logic and truth. Critical thinking means saying: "Yes, I realise based on the facts available to me that a Burger King meal is fattening, unhealthy, cruel to animals and environmentally destructive, but you know what? I'm starving. And, having honestly faced up to these very real negatives, this time I'm going to override them with my rather more pressing need for food pretty sharpish. And I'll throw the litter away properly in the bin when I'm done."

Critical thinking means being able to look at, say, the nasty pseudoscience gibberish of "The Secret" and pick it apart objectively, without being overly cynical just for the sake of it: ie learning to separate the undoubtedly true "bait" of its (appropriated) dynamic psychology from the "switch" of its narcissistic, neo-Black Magick "Be your own God" subtext; not to mention the syrupy, oleaginous, cash-generating, multi-level marketing and NLP techniques employed to leech off the back of its uncritical, well-intentioned hypnotees.

We used to be good at critical thinking, and I believe most of us still are. But it's the vulnerable, without the education or family ties to guide their critical thinking skills, who have been subverted time and time again into lapping up all kinds of shit, basically, without the savoir faire to see it for what it is. It's this lack of critical thinking that causes Kenny Moore's audience to shriek with delight as he raises his guitar aloft, only to suddenly go quiet when they see the consequences of an angry man swinging a guitar about in a rage. It's this lack of critical thinking that causes Amy Winehouse fans to rush out and buy a song about her not going to rehab, only to start bawling when she then dies suddenly at the age of 27.

Left-wingers and right-wingers alike would agree that the rot really settled in when Anthony Blair came to power and invited the likes of Oasis round for champers at Downing Street. The upsetting death of Princess Diana was the catalyst by which a genuine outpouring of this country's emotions would be transformed into an ongoing political tool, effortlessly utilised by Blair and his "Babes". From 1997 onwards, our decisions were guided less by critical thinking and more by mindless fashion-hopping, or elevating the importance of our instinctive sensory gratification over the rather less sexy, slow, deliberative analytical skills that for centuries helped Western civilisation become the leading force in the world's development.

And so to the riots of 2011. A critical thinker would take as much evidence as he could obtain about the rioters, what they did and why they did it, and would use that evidence to prevent the problem ever happening again. My personal opinion is that the best way of obtaining this evidence is by first of all removing all rioters from everyday society so they can be studied and interacted with in a more controlled, neutral environment, without any disturbances from the outside world. As the rioters have been proven to have committed crimes, it makes sense to evaluate these people inside a prison cell. Now that's not a kneejerk "hang 'em, flog 'em" piece of Daily Mail indignance, it's actually a perfectly rational way of saying the streets are safer right now without criminals wandering them freely. Prison should be firm, but it should also be caring, in a tough-love kind of way.

There is no moral doubt about the fact the actions of the rioters were wrong and should be punished. Even if you believe that the bankers or MPs or police or whoever are also guity of crimes is irrelevant - critical thinking dictates that all crimes get punished, end of. If that also means punishing white-collar fraud then fine, no problem...but don't even think about letting rioters go free, out of some kind of misplaced solidarity with the poor. That sixth-form style defence falls at first base: dur, what about the VICTIMS of rioters? Were they also not predominantly poor? Even the big corporate stores that were looted are the employers and wealth-creators that offer work and opportunities to those in the poorest neighbourhoods. So if you wanna be a nice, touchy-feely, Polly Toynbee-esque "progressive", at least spare a thought for the victims in all this rather than siding with the criminals who blight their neighbourhoods.

Now, we mentioned burgers... Many's the time I've sat at the Drive-Thru Burger King at Tottenham Hale Retail Park, chomping away on my Double Whopper (bacon, no cheese) and staring at the adjacent JJB Sports, PC World and Dixons which were looted last weekend. Quite what I would have done had my meal been disrupted by hordes of hoodies surrounding my little Renault, is anyone's guess. Having finished my burger, I normally tend to bypass the Tottenham High Road and zoom up Watermead Way to the North Circ. But sometimes I drive straight up through Tottenham via Bruce Grove, and it's always been a menacing area. There were riots here back in the 80s.

What can be done for the likes of Tottenham? Well, the first step is to care. To engage. Not to shrug our shoulders and say "not my problem". Not to pacify the underclass with handouts that offer no growth or personal development but instead act like dummies for babies. "Shut up, stop complaining and spend your dole on weed or booze" is not CARING! Caring means speaking out, standing up for what you believe in and using whatever means you have to make your point firmly but with love and a glint in your eye. Tottenham Hotspur Football Club (the Mighty Spurs!) do an incredible job, behind-the-scenes, in nurturing talent amongst the poorest areas, providing discipline and a solid framework for people to make something of their lives. There are also boxing clubs which are another great idea in channeling physical energy and the desire to prove oneself in a constructive way. But these are just the beginnings.

So we should engage, we should show compassion and understanding, we should take an interest in and send love to our poorest communities. But we should also speak up about right and wrong, and we should emphasise the importance of critical thinking. The rioters should be made aware that critical thinking and tough love sometimes involve banging people up in prison, so that we can finally reach them and really get to know their personal issues on a one-to-one level. And the next time we are confronted with low-level aggression, antisocial behaviour or petty criminality, rather than cheering it on like Kenny Moore's audience or Amy Winehouse's fans, our critical thinking should kick in earlier and we should just say "No! What you're doing is wrong, AND HERE'S WHY..."

Adam Gerdes, August 2011