Party Vibe

the entire world is is a worse state than 10-20 years ago but its not that dangerous if you are careful.

But I don’t think any of the posts of young Londoners here are “media hype”. I know the areas daftfader and jonnyquest lived in fairly well as I used to go there a lot at their age. I also saw the gang / violence culture develop over the years and have had some lucky escapes.

Young men tend not to live in fear though but more in anger that they have to keep modifying their behaviour and be aware of risks. This manifests itself in many different ways.

Many more intelligent men aren’t going to carry illegal weapons or join a gang themselves, although some end up “training for self defence” and in so becoming more agressive (often this is carried through to the people they love,even their families and partners)

They also tend to end up reluctantly accepting an increasing presence of the Police and other authorities to “keep order”.

its no way as bad as the conservative media say it is but the progressive media who are highlighting real issues with regard to crime and breakdowns in society that can’t just be ignored.

I don’t read the daily mail sites, usually only Guardian, BBC and the local news. Also 10 years of listening on scanner and relatives at NHS frontline jobs so I know exactly how the criminal justice system works (and the wider effects of crime on all 3 blue light services). The reality is its only a fraction of incidents what actually get reported.

I think random attacks are rare other than in inner cities (motivated by robbery) but I am hearing about a lot more incidents where people known to one another kick off over minor stuff.

Everyone is capable of hurting someone else or doing something extreme if they are pushed far enough. Often its not inner city types but even “middle class” people especially when the effects of stuff like the coming economic recession kicks in.

there was a core of violence but mostly amongst football hooligans and racist incidents – but both of these things are starting to resurface.

A lot of this is motivated by the insecurity of a coming economic recession. Of course some chap is going to be fucking angry if he’s just learned his job has been outsourced to Asian companies especially if he spent 4 years in Uni to get that job, and he may get pissed and decide to smash the window of the nearest curry house.

He may not decide to physically take on Ramesh but only because he knows his brothers and dad will back Ramesh up in a fight.. but the hate is still there.

I think we are simply going to see a return to social conditions similar to those of my own teenage days in the mid 1980s. I wouldn’t class it as a disaster or anything to get particularly depressed about but there may well be more curbs on personal freedom and less spare cash and resources for “fun” stuff.