I was clapping and cheering when I heard that Tony Blair was committed to restoring a ‘sense of mutual respect‘ to our society. The African in me felt affirmed because Tony Blair was finally saying what my father had been saying for ages, people in this country have no respect. Oh, but my joy was short lived. What had initially started out as a noble campaign has began to resemble an attack on the working classes. Littered with heteronormative buzz words, this new Labour policy does not do what it says on the tin. Instead it seems to be intent on creating a culture of fear and mistrust which will only serve to isolate the very people who for so long have been disrespected.
One minute we are discussing anti-social behaviour the next minute we are being told to join in the fight against ‘yob culture’. I never had doubts that the term yob was always used to refer to white working class men who engage in unruly behaviour. The televised news however has ensured that for good measure they will accompany every ‘Yob Culture: Special Feature’ with footage of young white men, apparently intoxicated and behaving badly against a backdrop of council houses. This is the same tactic they employ when the place the banner ‘inner city violence’ or ‘urban youth’ at the bottom of an image of young black men. What bothers me is that they are trying to convince us that these young white boys have a monopoly on bad behaviour. There are appears to be no mention of Euan Blair, Tom Parker Bowles, Prince Harry and all those who are non-working class types known for being high and misbehaving in public.
Apparently we shouldn’t blame the yobs though. It is not their fault. It is the breakdown of the family that has caused all this. This line of argument always scares me. Family in this context is always taken to mean an exclusive relationship between one man and one woman for the purpose of procreation. Anyone who attempts to live a lifestyle that differs from this is seen to be responsible for the breakdown of the family. Most of the blame is dumped on those who are raising children in these ‘unconventional families’.
Needless to say, the bulk of the backlash is usually reserved for single parent families, especially single mothers. All these immoral women who are sleeping around and spawning off male children need to be stopped. They are not able to raise real men. Instead they are producing boys who, unsure of their masculinity, take to mugging old ladies so as to feel all macho. What nonsense. Let us not even start on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people who want to birth and raise children.
There is no doubt that this country needs to do something about people’s behaviour. The binge-drinking, the lad/laddette culture, the racism, the hooliganism, the homophobia all these things and more need to be addressed. I just feel that segregating one group of people and naming them as the only trouble makers does not help anyone.
These young people, who already feel as though society ignores them, will continue to find ways to be seen and heard. The bigots will feel that they have been given a platform to spread their views and so they cycle shall continue.
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KymmBr says
Whew! there goes the politicians whistle………
Having tried a couple of times to surpress the sometimes active politician in me…and ofcourse having failed miserably in that aspect, I must say society sometimes paints some of its members in a bad way.
Those kids are not the way they are because they wish to be so….it is just a matter of bad policies being in place. blame the people yu put in power……. start doing smthing about it…..its a long way off before we reach a perfect world(or a near-perfect one)
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lifemoments says
I think this phenomena is repeated everywhere in the world even africa where pple thing democracies are yet to evolve.
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kari says
i so feel u on the issue that we should not segregate one group of pple and label them ‘bad’ as the cause of all our shidaz..i think pple do that mainly coz of ignorance..and true,this thing of blaming families(good,bad or the lack of them)will not solve anything…its about taking responsibility for ur own mess….
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Mich says
This is a tough one to call. The whole ‘lack of respect’ thing is certainly nothing new but I do think that things have now reached a point where something must be done.
As far as assigning blame is concerned, I tend to think that a combination of factors are at work here giving these people nothing to do and no-one to keep an eye on them and what we see is the result. I certainly think however, that lumping the blame on single parent families or anyone else as the govt/media seems to be doing at the minute is very unfair.
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Memoire says
I think that this can be dealt with culturally, although us Africans will complain about the excessive disciplinarian/authoritarian nature of schools/society back home (and it has many downsides) I think that reasonable discipline is crucial. Whereby in Africa such youths would be reprimanded by any adult in the area (in old days, they’d be whooped too) that wouldn’t work in the West. Youths need more facilities (sports, leisure, etc) so that they can occupy themselves, and they also need good role models in society. I totally agree that if they see adults behaving badly or being hooligans, then youths can’t be blamed without adults also being blamed.
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Nyakehu says
MJY another gem of a debate, you do this things so well and had me thinking about where I live, there are people who believe that it is the governments’ fault that things are so bad, or that the world owes them something, I live in a place where society has literary given up on this lot and the residents make one scream in frustration as they treat everyone other than themselves so shoddily and shabbily. The “yob culture” stretches from the personal to the political; witness some govt spin doctors however, respect is so two way.Perhaps, this a way of dealing with the problems as a govt that uses spin so often, you notice their infamous slogan went out of the window “dealing with crime and the causes of crime”. There is also a poverty of material and spiritual that abounds in a place where someone earns a million a year while another lives on a less than £30.00 per week. Anyway good discussion!