Another teenager dies from stabbing... really?
Coverage of young males in the UK is appallingly biased: they're either thugs, chavs, or drug dealers. Even a simple article of clothing - the hoodie - has become synonymous with feral teendom, when it's actually a pretty sensible precaution against Britain's ever-encroaching surveillance state.
The one exception to this rule is when a teenage male DIES. Which is hypocritical of the press, because with rare exceptions teen stabbing/shooting victims are hardly innocents themselves. I mean, the latest incident in Nottingham gives column inches to the mother talking about her 'beautiful boy'.... who was stabbed while BURGLING SOMEONE'S HOUSE.
While I'm no liberal I accept there are shades of grey in stories like this: plenty of people have limited chances in life that make burglary (or stealing cars, or dealing drugs, or shootin' folks) loom larger on the horizon than they would in a middle-income area with decent schools and job ops. But even so, it'd be nice to see the odd positive portrayal of a teenage male when the teen is still... living.
The one exception to this rule is when a teenage male DIES. Which is hypocritical of the press, because with rare exceptions teen stabbing/shooting victims are hardly innocents themselves. I mean, the latest incident in Nottingham gives column inches to the mother talking about her 'beautiful boy'.... who was stabbed while BURGLING SOMEONE'S HOUSE.
While I'm no liberal I accept there are shades of grey in stories like this: plenty of people have limited chances in life that make burglary (or stealing cars, or dealing drugs, or shootin' folks) loom larger on the horizon than they would in a middle-income area with decent schools and job ops. But even so, it'd be nice to see the odd positive portrayal of a teenage male when the teen is still... living.
posted by chrisworth at 9:12 AM
1 Comments:
The other practical aspect of a hoodie is it keeps you warm! Paul, wearing one now, and distinctly no longer teenage... (nor particularly avoiding surveillance)
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