As far as England goes, I really don't see how "the cops are mean and unfair" equates to "free HDTV's, dawg!!"

All of the brits that post on the various message boards that I read are all saying the same thing. That these rioters got an excuse to show their ass and they jumped on it. They're burning down there own poor neighborhoods for chistsakes. That just doesn't seem like a strong statement. I got pulled over and searched by the cops endlessly in the 90's and never once thought that I needed to go break shit and loot to justify it.