Apart from the actual victims of the burglary, this situation doesn't make anyone look good.
I try and get news from lots of places and it's noticeable that the black-top tabloids, such as The Express and Mail Online are having a field day whipping up the very worst feelings that can potentially exist within people. It's as though we are being are being encouraged by these types of news outlets to stop thinking about things properly, and instead just thoughtlessly react with our gut emotions instead.
So, the the black and red-top tabloids are behaving badly by stirring up feelings of anger and hatred and treating this situation like a freak show.
It already goes without saying that the traveller community are shunned by much of the wider British society. They are casually lumped together as being little more than a collection of negative stereotypes. There is a long standing mutual suspicion between the traveller community and the police. Many observers have already made up their minds that the behaviour of this individual family is simply to be expected only because they are travellers. This is speculation, but it might be the case that they are doing this with the tributes because it is the only way they feel they can assert some sense of control of what has happened to their family member.
Nevertheless, there is no doubt that it is provocative and their continued presence at this tribute site means that the situation is unlikely to calm down. If in no other way, they are behaving badly by not being sensitive to locals living in the immediate area. Worse still, they are not showing much comprehension as to how this is effecting the pensioner involved in this, his disabled wife and their wider family.
IMO, the police could and should have intervened much sooner and more decisively than they have done. They could easily have cordoned off that particular section of fence in response to this, and community policing could have made their presence felt in that area in a much more obvious way. I understand that this morning there is a higher profile presence in that area, but it is too little too late.
So the police, whilst not necessarily behaving badly, don't appear to have done as much as they could to ease and de-escalate all of this.
Some of the so-called "vigilantes" who have been tearing these tributes down, ripping them up and stamping on them are, to my eyes, little more than brattish and rather sad attention seekers. At least one of the more prominent "vigilantes" does not even come from the local area. They have done absolutely nothing to calm this situation down and, judging by the video clips online, they are actively relishing being a part of the angst and upset.
So the behaviour of the "vigilantes" is pretty appalling too.
All of this combined seems to have green-lighted really unedifying behaviour from the general public on social media, from here at Mumsnet to Facebook and Twitter. It seems to activate a "react" switch in people's minds, allowing them to forgo critical thought and give in to their very worst instincts. It isn't just about some of the frankly disgusting latent racism, it's about wishing people dead, not bothering to think about the fact that there are very few winners and a lot of heartbroken people wrapped in this circumstance. I behaved like this yesterday on here by just "reacting". I had to go away and have a really good talk with myself.
So, much of the general public have ended up looking pretty unpleasant and badly behaved too.
There's no doubt in my mind that we, as a society, are thinking differently since the advent of social media and since it has become embedded into our lives and collective psychology. It risk turning many of us into unthinking reactionary zealots, ready to condemn rather than comprehend. But that's just my humble opinion.