Anarchy in the UK

　　英国的乱局

　　SHAME was the first response of many people in Britain to the riots that started in theTottenham neighbourhood of London on August 6th, skipped across the capital in the followingdays and nights and spread to Manchester, Birmingham and many other cities. Alongside theshame, there was a jolting bafflement. The law-abiding majority suddenly saw that some oftheir compatriots were happy to torch cars and buildings, loot shops, and attack firemen andambulance crews. The confidence trick at the heart of the social order was violently laid bare:it turns out that if sufficient numbers of criminals want to create havoc on the streets, theycan. In the absence of internal, moral restraints, external ones can only do so much.

　　许多英国人对该国骚乱的第一反应是羞耻。这场骚乱8月6日始发于伦敦托特纳姆地区，在随后几天里掠过首都蔓延到曼彻斯特、伯明翰和其他一些城市。人们在羞耻之余，还深感困惑。那些守法的大多数突然看到，一些国人竟乐于焚烧汽车和房屋、劫掠商店以及袭击消防员和救护人员。社会秩序深层的骗局昭然若揭：原来，如果意图在街头制造大破坏的罪犯足够多，那么他们就能达到目的。当缺乏内在道德制约的情况下，外在制约的作用仅此而已。

　　The world watched London in fascinated amazement. Other nations tend to regard Britain asenviably orderly and law-abiding, at least compared with many of its more excitablecontinental neighbours. That peaceable image is only partly justified: contagious rioting hasbroken out before, typically during the summer, including in the 1980s, when Tottenham andsome of the other flashpoint areas this week last erupted. This time, however, the complexionof the trouble is different from those earlier flare-ups. In its sheer mindlessness, it was, in away, even more depressing.

　　全世界都惊异地看着伦敦。其他国家往往对英国的遵纪守法颇为羡慕，认为英国至少强于它的一些更易冲动的大陆邻邦。而它的这种平和形象只是部分才有正解：四处蔓延的骚乱先前已然爆发过，它们通常发生在夏季，其中就包括1980年代的那场骚乱，那是本周托特纳姆和其他一些火药桶地区最近一次骚乱。然而这次困局与早期的那些冲突不同，从其十足的无知一面来看，它在某种程度上更让人忧虑。

　　Moral malaise

　　道德痼疾

　　This weeks multiplying riots had some commonfeatureslooting, arson, attacks on the policebutthey spanned different places, races, ages andsexes. Race was not the defining issue, as it was inmany of the disturbances of the 1980s. One of thefirst to appear in court for looting was a 31-year-oldteaching assistant: hardly an identikit hooligan. Thatleft politicians free to project their own rationales onthe carnage.

　　本周愈演愈烈的骚乱具有一些共性抢劫、纵火、袭警但它跨越了不同地区、种族、年龄和性别。同 1980年代的历次骚乱一样，种族并未在这次骚乱中扮演关键角色。法庭上出现的第一个被控抢劫罪的人是一个31岁的助教：他几乎不是一个通常意义上的街头恶棍。这让政客们对这场残杀的原因莫衷一是。

　　For some on the left, the real villain was the governments public-spending cuts. This view isgiven superficial support by the fact that the 1980s outbreaks happened during the Thatchercuts. But it is still a lazy fantasy. It might be comforting to think of the riots as an extensionof a familiar debateand to argue that the underlying ills can be easily remedied with a littlemore state largessebut there is little reason to do so. Unlike the riots in Britain in the 1980s,Los Angeles in 1992 or France in 2005, these were not overtly political or racial. And since thecuts have barely bitten yet, that explanation doesnt wash.

　　Anarchy in the UK

　　英国的乱局

　　SHAME was the first response of many people in Britain to the riots that started in theTottenham neighbourhood of London on August 6th, skipped across the capital in the followingdays and nights and spread to Manchester, Birmingham and many other cities. Alongside theshame, there was a jolting bafflement. The law-abiding majority suddenly saw that some oftheir compatriots were happy to torch cars and buildings, loot shops, and attack firemen andambulance crews. The confidence trick at the heart of the social order was violently laid bare:it turns out that if sufficient numbers of criminals want to create havoc on the streets, theycan. In the absence of internal, moral restraints, external ones can only do so much.

　　许多英国人对该国骚乱的第一反应是羞耻。这场骚乱8月6日始发于伦敦托特纳姆地区，在随后几天里掠过首都蔓延到曼彻斯特、伯明翰和其他一些城市。人们在羞耻之余，还深感困惑。那些守法的大多数突然看到，一些国人竟乐于焚烧汽车和房屋、劫掠商店以及袭击消防员和救护人员。社会秩序深层的骗局昭然若揭：原来，如果意图在街头制造大破坏的罪犯足够多，那么他们就能达到目的。当缺乏内在道德制约的情况下，外在制约的作用仅此而已。

　　The world watched London in fascinated amazement. Other nations tend to regard Britain asenviably orderly and law-abiding, at least compared with many of its more excitablecontinental neighbours. That peaceable image is only partly justified: contagious rioting hasbroken out before, typically during the summer, including in the 1980s, when Tottenham andsome of the other flashpoint areas this week last erupted. This time, however, the complexionof the trouble is different from those earlier flare-ups. In its sheer mindlessness, it was, in away, even more depressing.

　　全世界都惊异地看着伦敦。其他国家往往对英国的遵纪守法颇为羡慕，认为英国至少强于它的一些更易冲动的大陆邻邦。而它的这种平和形象只是部分才有正解：四处蔓延的骚乱先前已然爆发过，它们通常发生在夏季，其中就包括1980年代的那场骚乱，那是本周托特纳姆和其他一些火药桶地区最近一次骚乱。然而这次困局与早期的那些冲突不同，从其十足的无知一面来看，它在某种程度上更让人忧虑。

　　Moral malaise

　　道德痼疾

　　This weeks multiplying riots had some commonfeatureslooting, arson, attacks on the policebutthey spanned different places, races, ages andsexes. Race was not the defining issue, as it was inmany of the disturbances of the 1980s. One of thefirst to appear in court for looting was a 31-year-oldteaching assistant: hardly an identikit hooligan. Thatleft politicians free to project their own rationales onthe carnage.

　　本周愈演愈烈的骚乱具有一些共性抢劫、纵火、袭警但它跨越了不同地区、种族、年龄和性别。同 1980年代的历次骚乱一样，种族并未在这次骚乱中扮演关键角色。法庭上出现的第一个被控抢劫罪的人是一个31岁的助教：他几乎不是一个通常意义上的街头恶棍。这让政客们对这场残杀的原因莫衷一是。

　　For some on the left, the real villain was the governments public-spending cuts. This view isgiven superficial support by the fact that the 1980s outbreaks happened during the Thatchercuts. But it is still a lazy fantasy. It might be comforting to think of the riots as an extensionof a familiar debateand to argue that the underlying ills can be easily remedied with a littlemore state largessebut there is little reason to do so. Unlike the riots in Britain in the 1980s,Los Angeles in 1992 or France in 2005, these were not overtly political or racial. And since thecuts have barely bitten yet, that explanation doesnt wash.