Monday 19 October 2009

We're not all like that

Just seen Panorama, where two Asian reporters rented a house in Southmead to see what kind of racial abuse they'd encouter.

For anyone who doesn't know Bristol, Southmead is for the most part (obviously) a fucking shithole full of the most lowlife chav scum. Not all areas are that shitty, although many are: Hartcliffe, Knowle West, Whitchurch, Withywood. There are also areas that they wouldn't suffer abuse, but I still wouldn't want to live there; Lawrence Hill, Easton, Barton Hill.

So pretty much the same as any city then.

But then if they'd moved to Clifton or Redland they wouldn't have much of a TV programme would they?

Just thought I'd let you know we're not all chavvy cunts.

UPDATE: You can watch the programme on iPlayer here.

10 comments:

Fidothedog said...

Agreed, having seen the program I thought of some areas of Newport that would have made those estates look positively upper class.


Those chavs if the asians were not there would find some other poor sod to pick on. Not that I am excusing their behaviour, I am still of the opinion they need a firm kick to the nuts.

Anonymous said...

I've seen it all before, with my town of birth 'Burnley'. After the Burnley riots one of the broadsheets went and found a nice family doctor to portray the pakistani community and some jobless mouth breather to protray the natives.

Anonymous said...

the only time i have ever been to bristol was to go to the airport. the mere fact that you have made an article stating not everyone in brstol is like that is almost counter productive, it should go without saying that bristol has nice parts and lowlife areas, just as most cities do. you're language is also pretty bad, but if that is your writing style then fair enough, but again, it isn't going to help your points to someone reading who thinks bristol is a nasty place. the one thing that can be concluded from the program, is that bristol accents are horrible. no one where i live even has a tattoo. the most distressing part of the program from my point of view is that it reminded me that are probably hundreds of thousands of these little rats up and down the country. that little boy on his bike really was a nasty little shit. thanks for the read.

Anonymous said...

Bristol accents are bad, exactly the inspiration for Matt Lucas' Vicky Pollard.

But who can deny the allure the sexy tones of Bristol's very own Cathy Barry!

Al Shaw said...

For a minute, when I read the title, I thought this piece might be written by a resident of Southmead who was explaining that not everyone on the estate was like the racists portrayed on the programme.

Instead, I am faced with a post that expresses similar stereotypes and attitudes to those displayed by the racists.

By describing Southmead, Hartcliffe, Knowle West, Whitchurch and Withywood as "full of lowlife chav scum", you are actually telling us more about yourself than about the residents of these neigbourhoods.

banned said...

Didn't see the programme ( tele-poverty-victim ) but heard part of it on BBC Radio 4. They had the Mother of one of the ratboys on telling us what a little Angel he was really and how he " wanted " to apologise in person.
While the nature of the unpleasantness was racist I would hazard a guess that it was simply anti-other, expressed in racist terms since that was the most obvious 'otherness'
Someone from Liverpool might have been mocked as a Scouser or a Londoner as a Cockerny Wanka while a new neighbour that appeared to be educated would probably be branded a paedo on sight.

Bristol Dave said...

By describing Southmead, Hartcliffe, Knowle West, Whitchurch and Withywood as "full of lowlife chav scum", you are actually telling us more about yourself than about the residents of these neigbourhoods.

Yes, I'm prejudiced against pikey chavs and I think not only that that behaviour was completely fucking unnacceptable but also that in my fairly extensive experience it was typical of the areas I mentioned - why, do you think you'd struggle to find many other poeple in Bristol who shared my views? If you don't think the behaviour of the kids shown by the programme isn't typically representative of these areas then you're just naiive. People would argue the programme "editorially" selected clips of these kids and may have been unbalanced, but I would counter that I'm betting it wasn't at all hard to gather that kind of footage.

I recently helped a mate do up a house in Knowle West and dare I say it, it was possibly worse than Southmead was portrayed. Loads of feral little shits running around the streets causing havoc. The fact the other residents allow it to happen makes them just as guilty as far as I'm concerned.

I heard someone recently describe Southmead as a "deprived" area which is something that really pisses me off. What exactly is the area deprived of? Employed people? Intact bus shelter windows? Satelite-dish-free houses? None of these things are anything but the fault of the residents. Southmead has nothing less than Redland or Cotham in terms of facilities - in fact, it's more likely to have more facilities such as Youth Centres, Sports Clubs etc.

From this it's only fair to deduce is that an area is what it's residents make of it. So if Southmead and Knowle West are shitholes, and I think it's pretty hard to argue that they're not, what does that say about the residents? Just asking.

Anonymous said...

This is great: "you're language is also pretty bad".

Anonymous said...

Grew up on the mead (only till 11 thankfully).

These people are doing this because they believe if 1 muslin family comes, more will follow. Then the tables will be turned like up north, and they will no longer have an area to call their own. Then, as they have seen up north, the new community will show no mercy in intimidating the established one.

They know it's happened in Bradford etc, and don't want it in Southmead.

....but they are pikey chav scum for judging 2 people on skin colour alone.

Frank TALKER™ said...

Caucasians are strange.

They often claim they are not lower-class, yet their claims are filled with the lower-class invective of people who have not yet fully mastered one of the five official UK languages.