SubJeff on 19/9/2006 at 07:50
Quote Posted by Strontium Dog
He just got attacked by a gang of kids outside a chip shop (not that he remembers any of it; all this info comes from the witnesses). They did MRI scans and he's okay, just very bruised and swollen and has a perforated eardrum.
Well that's not too bad then. If you go to hospital after a trauma and have lost conciousness they take it very seriously just in case.
I think it's time for the law in this country to change. If you are attacked/approached by a gang like this and retaliate/pre-emptively attack th law should take into account the fact of increased attacks of the type you describe. It's an all to common an occurance.
And no, chavs are not people. Not when they act like animals anyway.
TBE on 19/9/2006 at 08:15
Can't you guys start carrying around cricket bats or something? This chav problem sucks for you guys. I wish there was something feasible to take care of it/them.
PigLick on 19/9/2006 at 13:49
guns would probably do the trick.
Bugs on 19/9/2006 at 14:02
Oh yes, guns would be great. I hear you folks in the US have no crime/gangs.
Please confirm/deny?
Paz on 19/9/2006 at 15:22
US internet posters seem to have a bizarre fascination with this British "problem", or possibly just with the linguistic terminology we apply to it. Questions are often posed in a way which suggests the author lives in a country without any issues of social or youth-based violence. Which must be nice.
Regrettably, "chav" has largely twisted into a hateful word suggesting opinions along the lines of "nothing we can do about this / tougher sentencing needed / OH GOD BRITAIN IS TERRIBLE HELP HELP / fuck the poor" which are arguably as dangerous as any gang of disenfranchised nutters are ever going to be. I've tried to cut back on the word myself, because the contexts I now see it in are quite alarming.
Anyway.
This is how the failings of our society manifest themselves in this country. In your own country, they will take a different form. Precisely WHAT those failings are, WHY they manifest in such a fashion and HOW things could be altered to improve matters are rarely addressed.
'cos it's easier to just go "oh yeah, chav scum" innit.
Which is fine, that's a reasonable viseral reaction to stories like "TEEN NUTBAGS JUMPED ON OLD MAN'S FACE" or whatever. I'm not disputing that.
More thought is perhaps needed to prevent such things, however. Something more in-depth than "welllll, it's a lack of RESPECT isn't it!" (this is essentially meaningless) or "it's the parents!" (fine, but WHY/HOW is poor parenting leading to this?) Are the reasons social, economic, just inevitable by-products of a wealth pyramid? I don't have any concrete theories - I'm not researching this. Though I do have suspicions about a work-driven consumer culture with no sense of fulfilment or self-worth, other than that measured in pound signs and "success". Especially when the prizes are unobtainable for the majority.
It's also probably best to keep a sense of perspective, although that's hard when some of the stories are so brutal. Despite that, it's a smaller issue than it actually appears - it's just perfect tabloid fodder (grim headline + fear of youth + law and order issue = KERCHING!) and gets churned out ad infinitum. And has been, in some form - I would argue - since the UK became a stable capitalist democracy.
Convict on 19/9/2006 at 15:30
Just an idea and no real backup but could the 1) crappy climate mixed with 2) no prospect for affording your own house be a cause of frustration in poorer youth in the UK?
CyberFish on 19/9/2006 at 15:38
I'll agree with you on the climate part. I'm moving somewhere colder at the first opportunity.
Paz on 19/9/2006 at 15:38
(1) seems rather unlikely. I actually think we have a fairly superb climate - it's rarely too warm (except for odd weeks here and there) and rarely too cold either. Arguably there's a bit too much rain, but that's surely not enough to manifest as a desire for a ruck with strangers. Also it seems like an idea Montesquieu might have floated. In the 17th century.
If you extend (2) to something more akin to "shown the ever-sparkling riches of a supposedly dream lifestyle everywhere they turn, but will never be able to attain it EVER EVER EVER" then I may be willing to entertain the idea on some level.
To be honest though, I don't think any individual explanation is satisfactory. It always ends up too reductionist.
Agent Monkeysee on 19/9/2006 at 15:51
Quote Posted by Paz
US internet posters seem to have a bizarre fascination with this British "problem", or possibly just with the linguistic terminology we apply to it. Questions are often posed in a way which suggests the author lives in a country without any issues of social or youth-based violence. Which must be nice.
They're looking for anything to justify gun ownership and whitewash America's epic murder rate. If they can prove Country X is doing worse than America then
clearly guns aren't the problem and
of course they get to keep them because Country X has shown it's so
obvious and natural.
also small penises lol
I'M NOT TOTALLY DISILLUSIONED WITH AMERICAN GUN CULTURE WHY DO YOU ASK
Paz on 19/9/2006 at 16:00
Ahhhh. That's rather interesting and I should have realised.
It would also explain the touch of smug glee which often seems to accompany ostensibly "oh yes I am posting because I am very concerned about my British chums" contributions, then. I didn't want to mention that in case I was imagining it.
