Over the past several days, people have been rioting in the streets of London, looting, injuring others, and creating complete mayhem.  Why?  Apparently this was incited by the shooting and death of Mark Duggan, a 29-year-old resident of Tottenham.  Who is Mark Duggan?  In searching various news stories, blog postings, and the like on the internet, who he is depends upon which site you read.  Those in defense of his shooting portray him as a thug.  Those defending Mark describe him as “a good man.  He was a family man.”  His fiancee has, according to Guardian.co.uk website, admitted he is “known to the police and said he had spent some time on remand, but denied he was ever imprisoned.”  What actually occurred to bring on this shooting?  I doubt we will ever know the true, actual facts.  The police will tell one story, and the witnesses will state another.  Or possibly somewhere in between.  This may have been a justifiable shooting, or it may not have been… I do not know.  I was not there.

Many articles are portraying him as a “gangsta.”  But then, I honestly do not trust a lot of the media.  The images of him online do show a gangster persona, but where are other pictures of him?  Surely he has not had just three or four pictures taken of him in his life.  When possible I prefer to read facts from various viewpoints and usually determine that the truth probably lies somewhere in the middle.  A significant percentage of mainstream news sites and channels only tell you what they want you to know, not what is actual.  Or tell you what they think will bring the views, the hits, the attention, and the money. More…