Chavtastic July 15, 2008
Posted by Sharny in : Essay, Rants, Society , trackbackI was just reading this article and it kinda gave me a good talking point for something I’ve wanted to write about for a while because I had heard it elsewhere and really wanted to take issue with it.
Here’s my problem, the authors of this article basically make the point that the word Chav is about class hatred, from the middle (and possibly higher I suppose) to the working class. But the thing is, I’ve grown up as the whole concept of a Chav has been born, I’ve gone to school with them, I have been friends with them. Don’t try to tell me that some middle aged journalist has any kind of clue about what a Chav really is. I’m making a few assumptions here (I don’t know how old the writers are, or that they are necessarily journalists) but actually you can’t get that much closer to the experience than people my age so either way I’m more qualified.
A Chav is not, as this article seems to be saying, a derogatory term for the lower classes. No, it’s a social stereotype.
Now, the thing about a social stereotype is that it involves choice. Chavs choose to wear track suits and strangely angled baseball caps, ultimately they choose to do the things they are often criticized for (vandalism, teenage drinking etc), even though I know most of them have plenty of fucked up behind their actions.
Admittedly, the working class and chavness is far from mutually exclusive but it is not the same thing. So really I’m just sick of people who clearly have no clue what they are talking about putting forth their opinions to the world, trying to convince the politically correct that chav is some kind of no no. Discriminating against someone for something that is neither a fault nor within their control (eg Skin colour, social class) is completely wrong, there are no two ways about it. The examples in the article include Faggot, Pikey and Nigger. These are all words based around insulting someone based on something that is not only unchangeable but also is not wrong in any way. But a chav puts themselves into a stereotype, they weren’t born that way, they don’t have no choice and yes, there are a lot of negative connotations to the chav image, connotations that you have to accept when you take on that image.
As someone who is into metal, I wear darker clothes and band t shirts to indicate an allegiance, I buy into a stereotype in order to tell those around me something about myself. Usually it’s that I don’t like the same shit they listen to (which does include probably the majority of the general public’s view of metal but I deal with that). But I’m perfectly aware of the downsides of stereotyping myself, I choose to do it though, anyone who buys into any stereotype chooses to do it and if that choice results in criticism then you just have to deal with it.
No one should need political correctness to back up their choices, you can either try and explain to others your choice or ignore what you know is their ignorance. In this case, it would seem like the ignorance is coming from those that claim to be politically correct, which, isn’t very surprising to be honest. Personally, if I felt that I were lower class (I’m not rich but come from a reasonably middle class background so I’m not really one or the other) I would be offended by the fact that this article makes the assumption that Working Class = Chav, when in fact that’s just not the way things work.
Tagged as: Essay, Opinion, Political Correctness, Rants, Social Class, Social Stereotypes, Society
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