A few years back a huge oak was blown down in our local park after a storm.

Showing unprecedented disregard for H+S the local council trimmed it back and left it in situ for kids to climb on, and so it has remained for nearly a decade.

Last night someone set it on fire and local media is branding it as mindless vandalism, but is vandalism ever really mindless?

To me, young people committing acts of destruction are displaying symptoms of dissatisfaction. A lack of faith in society, no respect for authority and an aggressive distrust and disdain for what we are handing down to them.

Branding these acts as mindless is lazy and errrr….. mindless

No?

Burning oaks and other vandalism isn’t away to display that you’re not happy with society.

Thoughtful bawbaggery?

rather than mindless, I’d consider the term ‘not thought through’.

I think teens often do things without considering the different outcomes to what they expect.

It’s a way to display you are a mindless bellend. Why anyone would try to justify their behaviour is beyond my understanding.

So you agree with me old talent?

I’m not saying that vandalism is the correct way to express anything.
I’m proposing that it’s a symptom of a deeper malaise brought on by utter disdain

I think teens often do things without considering the different outcomes to what they expect.

You’re right but that is pretty much the definition of mindless.

So it was kids that set it on fire then?
Or is that just an assumption?

So it was kids that set it on fire then?

I reckon it was Yunki, just to lay the groundwork for this thread.

Got to admire the commitment.

Why do people write “No?” at the end of sentences when what they mean is “Yes?”?

Mindless vandalism of the grammatical kind.

When I was as a young teen three friends and I walking home from a tennis club decided to start kicking the wing mirrors of as many of the cars we could on one particular road. It was completely mindless vandalism.
The only time I ever did anything like this.

No idea why, just seemed funny at the time. Not proud of it now.

ISIS have claimed responsibility for it. Fact!

Perhaps it was a not-so-subtle-yet-far-too-subtle commentary/observation/protest from a youth who have been left an unnecessary mess to resolve by a generation of wasters who have failed to make wise and prudent use of their resources? A generation who assume mindlessness because that is all they know themselves.

Maybe it was a kid who just likes to light fires.

Maybe it was a kid who just likes to light fires.

‘Just’, like an arsonist? That kind of thing?

STW’er collects wood and burns it at home he’s a hunter-gatherer, a real man, he probably has a well-groomed beard, drinks Brewdog and tells everyone at dinner parties that he vote’s Green as he once smoked some weed.

Local kid sets fire to a bit of wood and sparks one up* and it’s mindless vandalism.

*probably, more likely laughing gas these days.

‘Just’, like an arsonist? That kind of thing?

I suggest you avoid the UK next Sunday, there’ll be arsonists everywhere enjoying burning a bit of wood outside.

‘Just’, like an arsonist? That kind of thing?

Was not making light of what they had done, merely stating their motive could be no more than they like lighting fires.

Did it not used to be a thing where yoofs would start fires only to then pelt the firefighters and their trucks with rocks and bottles. I have no idea why someone would want to do that.

I suggest you avoid the UK next Sunday, there’ll be arsonists everywhere enjoying burning a bit of wood outside.

I’m not sure if a certain Mr K.H. of Blackpool started off his arson career off on Nov 5th, but he was doing an IPP sentence for it! 😕

Nice enough lad though.

I’m not sure if a certain Mr K.H. of Blackpool started off his arson career off on Nov 5th, but he was doing an IPP sentence for it!

Nice enough lad though.

You’re going to have to be a bit less cryptic.

Kids have always engaged in vandalism. It is very rare for a 50 year old bloke to spray graffiti on walls. Very little to do with ‘society’ A lot to do with an excess of testosterone and an inability to work out how they fit in with the rest of the world.

I think you are likely to have a point Yunki.

is vandalism ever really mindless?

Absolutely not. Just watch a few episodes of Mindhunter and you will spot the warning signs. Today it’s an fallen tree in the park, next year they’ll move up to torturing kittens, and before you know it they’ll be butchering prostitutes behind the toilets at truck stops.

I just wonder if, at the time of striking the Swan Vesta, were they in the Now?

Mindfulness rocks

Yunki – you’re Devon based are you not? Is this the fallen tree in Exmouth?

As far as vandalism goes, it’s always happened. Probably some stoned kid playing with lighter fluid and it got out of hand.
At least it was only a tree, not a car or a house.

young people committing acts of destruction are displaying symptoms of dissatisfaction. A lack of faith in society, no respect for authority and an aggressive distrust and disdain for what we are handing down to them.

You’re overthinkinng it.

I had a happy, stable, pretty much idyllic upbringing.
Didn’t stop me burning stuff, blowing things up, and generally being an irritating wee **** wrecking other peoples property.
I pulled the cats eyes out of the road for about half a mile from my house ffs!
I’d like to go back in time to give myself the sound thrashing I deserved.

Anyway, back to the oak – nothing mindless about it I reckon. Someone was just waiting till it was fully seasoned before lighting it. About ten years sounds right for an oak that hasn’t been logged and split.

Many are too quick to blame the yoof for fire raising. I’ve known all age groups and all social spectrums to be responsible for fire raising.

Had an email spat with Jeremy Vine (R2, daily mail presenter) when he blamed the Cutty Sark fire on “yobs”. I told him not to jump to conclusions before a proper investigation was carried out. But he kept on spouting the same old yobs. Took great glee in sending him the official cause was an electrical item.

[video]https://youtu.be/z834x4Qk_pM[/video]

bruneep – Member 
Many are too quick to blame the yoof for fire raising. I’ve known all age groups and all social spectrums to be responsible for fire raising.
Had an email spat with Jeremy Vine (R2, daily mail presenter) when he blamed the Cutty Sark fire on “yobs”. I told him not to jump to conclusions before a proper investigation was carried out. But he kept on spouting the same old yobs. Took great glee in sending him the official cause was an electrical item.

Probably bl00dy cyclists – bikepackers this time, irresponsibly lighting campfires. Wouldn’t happen if they had number plates.

I am appalled – by the mindless vandalism of our beautiful language by thisisnotaspoon. There is no apostrophe in the word votes. Suggest you think about what you have done.

Maybe it was some **** releasing a Chinese lantern. Mindless middle classism.

Geezerz need excitement
If their lives don’t provide them this they incite violence
Common sense simple common sense
-Michael Geoffrey Skinner

There used to be a thatched bandstand in my local park. It must have been burnt down 5 times before they gave it a metal roof.
Not sure it had anything to do with social protest. Probably just bored and drunk kids…

There used to be a giant oak that had blown over in Bullpit Meadow in Crickhowell for most of my childhood. It didn’t blow over there, it was carried down the river and dumped there one winter when the field flooded. Was great fun to play on, even had a big ramp on one side you could ride up!

That was set on fire a few times before it was removed due to rotting and becoming unsafe. It was always bored youths that tried to destroy it. Now they set fire to he picnic benches instead.

Lots of adolescent vandalism is in fact ownership of place and a way of exercising control away from adults.

It can be completely misplaced, and some really struggle to know when to calm it down or take responsibility as much as control.

It can also be about risk taking – adolescents have a certain amount of risk they have to take. If they don’t have positive ways of risk taking, the they will find anyway they can, usually with big health or social consequences.

There’s also something unique about fire/flood etc that is about control, when in fact the tools are anything but in control.

We adults dont really get all this either. That’s ok, you aren’t meant to…

Is this the fallen tree in Exmouth?

EDIT: Stopped being lazy and checked online, yes the fallen [/b]tree in phear park, doesn’t look too damaged from the pictures. There’s always been an issue with this kinda stuff in Phear Park, I remember when the tunnel in the play park got burnt down and the bins in the skatepark kept getting set on fire.

I’ve spent many years in Phear Park using the skatepark and it always attracts unusual behaviour in the evenings, whether it’s youths gathering or drunk people walking home there’s always something go on!