Breaking the Rules

“The first rule of Moint Club is: you do not talk about Moint Club”

“The second rule of Moint Club is: you do not talk about Moint Club”

I look on the news, and I see a lot of scarfed and hooded faces; which means a lot of people have been breaking the first two rules of Moint Club. Then again, they would – they’re moints.

For those who haven’t seen the film Fight Club, rest assured, no spoilers are on offer herewith. No serious ones at least. Unless that’s a spoiler itself. Moint.

Anyway.

Nothing is being given away by stating that in both the book (by Chuck Palahniuk) and the film (directed by David Fincher) the evolution of Fight Club into the more sinister “Project Mayhem” is both enthralling and fascinating. It does not progress without a tinge of desirous feeling to be involved in some way. Especially for the particularly bored reader/watcher. Project Mayhem, however, is thought through. It has a goal; a “noble” purpose. The riots that have been plaguing certain communities in the UK over the past few days have been mindless and quite doltish. It is no more than an excuse for violence, at the expense of – well, in addition to the treasury, public safety, local business, community and something decent to tweet about – it is at the expense of whatever these people have or haven’t thought about; and it would not be a risky bet to suggest they haven’t thought about very much.

Suffice it to say, Moint Club is hardly a very exclusive club – I’m sure many readers of this blog (yes, all 5 of you) and certainly the majority who are unaware of its existence have been fully fledged members at some point. We all miss the point from time to time; “from time to time” meaning “recurrently”. However, moints don’t set fire to things intentionally. They certainly do not have the foresight to wear masks, and would never ever be brandishing a petrol bomb. All such things require forethought – a luxury beyond the capacity of your average moint. Yet, moints these hooligans are still. They pursue these actions regardless of the consequences. Not just because they’re evil, but because they are completely ignorant to the effect of their riot.

The argument could be made that the money spent on dispelling these riots could have been better spent on the communities these “rioters” are making some kind of statement for. Or, it could also be acknowledged that these rioters don’t give a flying fudge at a rolling doughnut about their communities, and this is just a good excuse to destroy something and get a free widescreen television. And who could blame them? Destruction is actually quite delightful. It is the next best thing to creation. And widescreen TVs are great; I have one (please don’t loot… it’s not a good one…). It is a less dignified burning of the ants through a magnifying glass – humans love destruction. Of course, we decide on an individual basis (at least those of us capable of doing such a thing) what constitutes “reasonable” destruction; harmless destruction. When what we really mean is “destruction that does not hurt me personally”.

I make no excuses for these thugs. Their actions, in my mind, are mindless and beyond mointish. However, for a generation brought up in a world that encourages personal comfort and self-improvement:

I am Jack’s… complete lack of surprise.