A great post at Pandagon.
Responding to a brilliant article by Camila Batmanghelidjh in The Independent, she says:
Whenever something like this happens, there’s a widespread tendency to shy away from trying to understand why, for fear that doing so will somehow come across as excusing those who commit violence, especially against their own communities. But refusing to understand the situation leaves us in an even uglier space. After all, the violence in concentrated in some communities and not others; the link between who riots and poverty is undeniable. (Not that some people don’t try, as one woman on Twitter complained to me that she’s totally seen expensive sneakers on the feet of a rioter, which apparently renders the entire problem of poverty in Britain moot. This, despite the fact that a pair of sneakers is not a job, it is not an education, and what it costs probably couldn’t even pay for a week’s worth of meals.)
Definitely go read. Both.
John Dewey had a little insight into this. He said that science was the study that explained why things happened in the past. Ethics was about how you decided what to do in the future.
Once something has happened you need to understand why it happened that way. An explanation is not an excuse. However it might not suit the purposes of those who want to blame others and avoid taking responsibility.