This is what I like; the 'English Disease' proper. I'm not referring to a love of violence, mindless chanting or the destruction of a few kebab vans following the annual challenge of throwing street furniture as far as you can. No, I refer to that other disease; the one that means no sooner do we get served up a 'Night of Shame' then we have to endure months of pious, sanctimonious drivel from the press and media, a group who used to, let's not forget, once reside in an area known as the 'Street of Shame'.

For good or ill, we live in a society where the media that castigates on the one hand, promotes and congratulates on the other. That we see violence reflected on the news and in the press is not unreasonable, after all that is their job; but the glorification of non-news and the elevation of violent, boorish behaviour, family disintegration and non-celebrity dressed up as entertainment is not. We are constantly fed a diet of pseudo-celebrities whose main claim to fame is that they were famous for some reason most of us have long forgotten about, and then asked to cheer or berate them as if they were characters in a Shakespearean tragedy.

Similarly with violence, we have shows dedicated to unearthing the real hard men in our society and holding them up as if this is what we can all aspire too if we have the opportunity or, more likely, the gonads. There may be a good argument for a documentary that attempts to show gang members operating and finding out why and how they do what they do. But when it is introduced by an actor best known for playing a 'hard' man who looks grimly on while masked kids talk about shooting gang rivals before scattering when the Police arrive, leaving the actor to explain he is making a documentary, then we all know what is really being revealed.

Of course, this doesn't promote the notion that violence occurs in a Carling Cup match because of Jeremy Kyle or EastEnders - although both are likely to make me want to knock a Policeman's hat off in blind rage - but the vandalism and anger of the posse of idiots who decided to run onto the pitch at Upton Park does highlight one important aspect; that is the lack of intelligence and sheer absence of common-sense that arises in these situations. Most reasoning people know about those moments; that second when you have the choice either to get out of your car and threaten to deal severely with the driver who has just cut you up, or to realise nobody is hurt, nothing is gained, that these things sometimes happen and that the better option is to drive on in peace. Society in general has forgotten how to do that.

At the same time that glasses were being tossed into the East London night sky, some miles away in the Big Brother house one of the inmates was being asked to place a card where they thought Sweden was on a world map. Sophie - someone who earlier in the series revelled under the epithet Dogface - put the card on the African continent. To be fair to the girl though she did immediately realise she had made a mistake; "Oh no, I've put it in the wrong place - I've put it on the UK!” Later when told that she had placed it on Chad, she refused to believe that such a place existed. Does such stupidity matter? Well, why should it? In a few short weeks, this girl will be treated like royalty and, being a well proportioned young lady, will probably find herself on Page 3 or in some lads-mag telling us how she 'never did Geography at school.' She will see money you and I can probably only dream of and, of course, she will also say that she has never been to Sweden or Chad and, even had she wanted to go, there was a pretty fair bet the pilot would know the way so why should she bother? Many of us would have trouble pointing and naming all the African countries - although I hope we wouldn't put Japan near Spain as she did - but it's the revelling in the lack of knowledge and ignorance that is disturbing. How can you learn empathy and respect for a different culture if you don't even know where that culture resides?

I always think it's productive to reduce something to its component parts before putting it together again, so think on this. At some point during the carnage on Tuesday night, a large number of different people actually thought 'Hey I'll know what I'm gonna do now....' That may be useful if you discover a cure for Cancer or a new prime number but if you find yourself jumping up and down on the centre spot waving your arms with nowhere to go, while a burly copper decides to bend that arm in ways it's not supposed to go then I suggest there is something very wrong with your cognitive processes.

If you're passionate about football, any sport or indeed anything from stamp collecting to sky diving then there will be times when you become embroiled in a particular moment. In football, a last gasp equaliser - for or against - is undoubtedly one of those moments, but the issue then is what you do with the emotion. You should be frustrated, angry, joyous, happy, sad - these are normal human emotions - but should you batter the man over there as a result?

Take a look at the photos taken at the Boleyn Ground, what do you see? Warrior tribes of athletes battling for supremacy of a territory most of them now live outside? I think not. Most of us saw boorish, wheezing, pot bellied morons whose ear-rings and balding pates shone brightly under the harsh floodlighting which otherwise reflected beautifully the extraordinarily deft artwork of the tattoos on their legs and backs. And that was just the women!

Talking of which, during the ESPN coverage of last weekend's game against Spurs, the camera lingered significantly on the hate filled face of a woman spitting venom at Spurs in general and Jermain Defoe in particular. It was a particularly unpleasant site that underlined the fact that violence is not far from the surface of any game and is not consigned to the male gender.

Of course, it's ridiculous that you could have real hate for a footballer just because he plays for another team, but don't pretend our heroes are innocents in this. Defoe, a man so obsessed with his own misguided self-importance that he thought it prudent to ask for a transfer just five minutes after his team were relegated, a man who earns more in 90 minutes than a nurse does in a year, being a case in point. However, Defoe is a man who has suffered violent personal tragedy in his own life and at least was able to escape from the type of social ills that brought down a member of his own family. In any case, if he scores the winner for England in next year's World Cup then he'll be knighted. There are indeed, wheels within wheels, in this particular pantomime.

The English are, historically, a violent race and if your Geography isn't up to much then check your History books and view centuries of racial, religious and political persecution, unspeakable torture and aggression. Sometimes this violence has been channelled to ours and others benefit as in World War II, while in others it has been used to subjugate nations and inflict terror on innocents. Now I'm no Anthropologist - if I was I wouldn't be sitting here pontificating on Soccernet for no fee - but this must tell us something about the mentality of the English. Instead of wringing our hands, looking to the heavens and asking what to do, just accept the fact that violence is never far away, up the police quotient and make sure everyone is prepared for when this happens again because, without a major change in English society, it surely will.

Nobody should be surprised when this type of behaviour occurs, you can see it brewing on any High Street on a warm weekend night. When asked what was the most dangerous situation he'd ever faced, survivalist Ray Mears didn't need to think "I was once in Romford on a Friday night...." Violence, anti-social behaviour, rudeness and stupidity are endemic in 21st Century Britain. We shouldn't be surprised by what we get because this isn't football's problem - it never was - it's just that football highlights it and the press and media revel in the result.

Today's football factory is little different from the '70's version, it's just we all sit down because we've been told too and the toilets work better. The press and media though have always thrown petrol on the flames and warmed their hands on the embers and that is unlikely to change. Stand your ground and defend your territory if that’s what you think you need to do; rant and howl at the moon at the stupidity of it all if it depresses you, but do not, under any circumstances, expect to get solutions or easy answers. There are none.