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5. What is anthropography? You have also recently referred to a citizen sociology, and so in what respect does that apply?
CONTENTS KEY
UPDATE 2010
Introduction
Anthropography is the designation I gave to my project in radical philosophy as formulated in my early work Meaning in Anthropos, written in 1984 but published seven years later. The sub-title was Anthropography as an interdisciplinary science of culture. I fully accept the provisional and preliminary nature of that thesis. The word anthropography is generally used in reference to the geographical distribution of mankind, but I applied extended meanings and reference points. Anthropography conventionally amounts to ethnography, linking to anthropology. My citizen usage of the term anthropography should not be confused with anthropology, which is one branch of social science. Citizen anthropography made inclusive gestures towards all the three main branches of social science, meaning psychology, anthropology, and sociology. It represented (and still does) an endeavour to see things in the round, along with other disciplines such as the history of religion. I have also described this commitment in terms of philosophical anthropography, meaning a philosophy of culture.
In 1984, I established at Cambridge the project known as IRCA (Intercultural Research Centre of Anthropography). This continued for several years as a focus for liaisons and publications. That project did evoke some liberal academic attention, and was even approached by persons wishing for publication of their doctoral theses. I did not have any official funding, and so I was unable to branch out as some people suggested. My basic purpose was study and formulation, not the more promotional aspects associated with organisational trappings. Furthermore, I left Cambridge for Scotland, where I became a resident during most of the 1990s, one reason being that I disliked city life, which was becoming increasingly oppressive in Britain. Crime was on the increase even then. Cambridge became an overspill for London, and was rapidly changing character in certain respects. A basic decision of mine was to reorient in philosophy outside a library milieu, which though helpful to me, had also become static in certain ways.
The IRCA project belonged to my early Cambridge days of unbounded confidence in science and scholarship. I no longer press any commitment to social science, with the exception of “citizen sociology.” That is because of the ramparts created in some academic departments against non-professionals (and even eminent academics from other departments). However, please note that I am not complaining. The imposed deletions actually make my unpaid role a great deal easier. I am quite happy to be outside the official sector, though my link with Cambridge will probably always persist. I spent many happy days at CUL (Cambridge University Library), and made a point of combing through many of the learned journals stocked there in such abundance, a project which included the “dead” journals also. However, the antiquarian dimensions of such an activity have to be complemented by more immediate “fieldwork” and real life experiences.
5.1 The New Breed of British Yob
It was often fascinating to ascertain what, for instance, contemporary scholarship and social science made of ancient religion or remote tribal communities. Yet everyday realities outside the library were very stark by comparison. In 1980s Cambridge the new breed of yob was becoming evident. The word yob generally denoted a bad-mannered or aggressive male teenager. This category frequently became thieves. Areas of the city which had formerly been safe and tranquil were now subject to burglaries and violence. It was said that in some streets, nearly every house had been burgled. The yobs watched sick American videos and frequently took drugs. The older generation regarded them as a mindless blight. Violent gangs and marked antisocial behaviour now made their appearance in a more intensive way than ever before.
At one Cambridge street where I lived during the early 1980s, a group of punks moved in and created havoc amongst neighbours with their antisocial attitudes. The police had to be summoned to monitor the situation. The leader of the refractory pack was a middle class 18 year old. He was in no financial want, having a well paid job and living in the comfortable house of his absent father. He had acquired the sense of aggression fashionable in the pop music world, where Sid Vicious had become an unmerited hero. Decadent pop stars and video nasties were too often the role model for yob shortcomings.
5.2 Citizen Sociology as Sociography
Reflection upon such matters led me to conclude that the educational system in many schools was breaking down, though from another angle, that system was harassed by perverse trends against which too little action was taken. I was dissatisfied with sociology, which though a science of the structure and functioning of society, was nevertheless too remote from everyday concerns. The politicians were permanently on holiday, while the academics were insulated from the social dysfunction that was mushrooming. The obscured ecological factor was almost peripheral at this stage; the most obvious problem was a major inventory of social maladies whose causes were too often ignored.
Eventually I described such reflection and analysis as “citizen sociology,” a phrase I first used in Some Philosophical Critiques and Appraisals (2004), p. ix. “Citizen sociology is of amateur status and does not claim to be expertly scientific, but merely to address in a critical spirit pressing matters requiring attention.” I now also use the associated word sociography in this respect, and again no ultimate definition is claimed. Much of the contents of the Citizen Initiative website can be related to sociography. Many of the chapters in my Pointed Observations (2005) also have a bearing upon this approach. Social criticism is an alternative designation. See also my web entry Aspects of Citizen Philosophy (2009).
A few more comments can here follow in relation to social fashions and casualties, and also to criminology.
5.3 The Skinhead Trends
The predecessors of punks were the skinheads, who became visible in the late 1960s and early 1970s. They are sometimes perceived as an offshoot of the mod contingent, noted for a more fastidious attention to fashion clothing. Early photographs of the 1960s skinheads assist to differentiate them from the later waves. A well known photo of a skinhead group in Piccadilly reveals young men who resemble typical working class Londoners. They are wearing sleeve and collar shirts, braces, jeans, and working boots. Their hair is short, but not close-cropped; they also exhibit sideburns. They could easily seem a more attractive option than the contemporary hippies, whom they rivalled. So what went wrong? Later the boots got higher, the hair became closely shaven, and the profile became more aggressive. Some say that early skinheads were asserting the working class lifestyle of their fathers. That factor seems relevant, though the ideal broke down, because the fathers never did what some of the offspring deviated into.
Early skinheads in Piccadilly
The famed skinhead boots became a symbol of the pack. Laced boots of the Doctor Marten type gained ascendancy as standard regalia , the steel-capped variety being frowned upon by policemen and noted for causing damage at football matches. The steel-toed boots were called bovver boots in the 1960s, the word bovver deriving from the Cockney pronunciation of bother (meaning aggravation or violent behaviour). Such footwear was dangerous in fights. Football hooliganism became an extension of the skinhead presence, and in London some pugnacious skinheads commenced the infamous practice of “Paki bashing.” Pakistanis and other South Asian immigrants dreaded the sight of skinheads. Political manipulation of skinheads by far right lobbying gained momentum during the 1970s. Racism was a very ugly feature of London life at this period, and the National Front were pulling strings.
Skinheads liked reggae music and beer, and in theory they were averse to drugs, which were associated with the long haired hippy lifestyle. Skinheads detested hippies. Yet some of the former resorted to amphetamines and cannabis. Statistics are not available to ascertain the numbers involved. Many early skinheads were young manual workers. During the early 70s I was told that in some areas of London, skinheads had a habit of walking in a big pack across the width of a street, blocking anybody coming in the opposite direction. This was apparently the proof of “hard case” maturity. In Cambridge there were much smaller packs who kept to the pavement and who were wary of the police. Coppers (police constables) were still feared in those days.
The provincial skinheads did not like university undergraduates, who were mocked as being uselessly intellectual. Skinheads could be very pugilistic (especially after drinking beer or lager), and undergrads were in danger on the streets at night. Cambridge skinheads were caricatured by the university population as mindless menaces. Intellectuals would say caustically that instead of the three R’s (Reading, wRiting, and aRithmetic), the skinheads had opted for the three B’s, meaning Beer, Birds (girls), and Bovver.
Later skinheads
There was a skinhead revival in the late 70s, and the permutations of this continued into the 80s and later. A new wave of teenagers gave fresh life to “skin” packs, who became notorious for football hooliganism and racist attitudes. The violent phenomenon of “Paki bashing” continued as a skinhead pursuit. The movement gained an extension in “neo-nazi skinheads,” who were widely criticised. Swastika symbols and tattoos became popular. The skinhead vogue developed into an international phenomenon, and achieved a presence in America that puzzled and alarmed many onlookers. Some skinheads affirmed their resistance to the negative manifestations of this conglomerate movement. The category of anti-racist skinheads are sometimes known as SHARPs (Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice).
5.4 The Punk Vogue and Sid Vicious
Meanwhile, the punks had appeared in the mid-1970s. The punk trend was strong in America, and appeared in London, from there moving out to the provinces as with other phenomena. In Britain, the punk dress code and general outlook is said to have been strongly influenced by the Sex Pistols, a rock band led by Johnny Rotten. In terms of stimulants and drugs, punks seemed to ingest (and smoke) whatever came along. They innovated short spiky hair, and often dyed this in streaks to look more outlandish. They identified with themes of alienation and anarchy. Some punks tended to think of themselves as victims of the social system in all circumstances. Affluent pop stars encouraged the lack of due analysis. Critics said that punks had a low IQ, similar to the mods and rockers who had constituted other minorities and who occasionally caused trouble at venues like seaside resorts.
Punk trends diversified in the late 70s. Punks became noted for numerous bizarre hairstyles, including the Mohawk variety. The nazi swastika was sometimes provocatively displayed on clothing, as if this made the owner more important or daring. Sid Vicious was an instance of this bravado, which did him no good to judge from his case record.
Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols
Sid Vicious (1957-1979) was a guitarist in the Sex Pistols, a British punk rock band who lasted for three years from 1975. His real name was John Simon Ritchie. The Vicious tag was part of the commercial hype aimed at the undiscerning audience who lionised him as a punk hero. He is said to have gained the extremist name due to an incident reported by the New Musical Express (NME) journalist Nick Kent. That incident occurred during a Sex Pistols gig at the 100 Club, where Sid hit Kent on the scalp with a rusty bike chain and drew blood. A friend of the victim also got hit by the chain-chipper. Kent suggests that this attack was due to an amphetamine intake on the part of the aggressor. On that occasion also, an accomplice of Sid pulled a knife. The NME report of Kent is dated Dec. 1977 and has appeared online at http://members.tripod.com/nihilismontheprowl/interviews/id41.htm
In 1977 Sid met up with the American groupie Nancy Spungen, and from her he caught the heroin habit. He became subject to suicidal tendencies, and when Nancy saved him from jumping out of a third storey window, he repaid that mercy by bashing her head against the wall until the blood from her scalp was a tangible wall decoration. He then broke into hysterical tears. This incident was reported by Nick Kent in Dec. 1977 and now features on the internet link above.
During a tour of America by the Sex Pistols in 1978, the psychological problems of Sid Vicious continued, both on stage and off. He cut on his chest with a razor the words “Gimme a Fix.” Similarly dramatic was the eventual fate of Nancy, who died in October 1978 from a stab wound. Sid was arrested and charged with her murder, though he denied any memory of the event, having taken heroin at this time. His mother bailed him out of trouble. There have been attempts to show that Sid was not guilty.
The unstable Sid subsequently attempted suicide once more, and was also charged with assault for smashing a beer mug in the face of a man who understandably objected. Sid was arrested and again bailed out of trouble. In February 1979 he overdosed on strong heroin, and then fell asleep for the last time. He was dead the next morning, aged only 21. He had become a punk icon, though nobody in their right mind would wish to emulate him. Sid was not even a competent guitarist, a fact well known in the music world. See further http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sid_Vicious.
The punk gang I was obliged to observe at Cambridge in 1980-1 had some fairly pronounced traits. They were identified as punks because of their aggregate hairstyle. I will here call their 18-year old leader Sturm, which may be taken as a pun on the German word for storm or assault. Sturm and his circle would revel in the nocturnal habit of constantly pulling a toilet chain in order to annoy the elderly couple next door. The victims complained that they could not sleep properly. To punk aggro, this meant that the social oppressors should invent a law against going to bed early. Punk rebels went to bed very late, and that was not to be questioned. Social workers attempted to reason with the Sturm gang, but could make very little headway with the obdurate attitudes of the self-proclaimed victims of the social system.
Sturm was host to an outrageous party one Saturday night. The noise level was high in that terraced street. Some guests were weirdo types who looked like drug freaks. The guests congregated in the street, and a few of them were observed to enter the gardens of neighbours in the early hours of the morning. Next day I found a hammerhead deposited in my garden, possibly a semi-psychedelic symbol of threat in case of complaint.
When outnumbered, get reinforcements. The police were called in, and investigations were made. Sturm’s father was contacted, and he expressed horror at what was happening in his (second) house. Sturm was forbidden by pater to hold any more parties which could invite police attention. The paternal jurisdiction ended there. Pater could not fathom the punk attitude, and tended to avoid confrontation; all he had known in his younger days were 1950s teddy boys getting drunk on a Saturday night inside pub hours (and in those days all British public houses closed at 10.30 p.m.).
I had the opportunity to observe Sturm from an upstairs window when he was confronted by a neighbour. Michael was about thirty, and complained that the noise in Sturm’s house was keeping his young daughter awake at the wrong hour. Michael had a mild temperament and was slow to anger. Sturm came out into the street with an air of defiance. He said something like: “Don’t you crowd me, mate; I got my rights.” The worst punk mood amounted to “if you don’t like what we do, that’s your damn fault; we hate the social system, so you just buzz off.” Like Sid Vicious the chain-chipper and headbasher, Sturm was tall, though with a more substantial physique. Michael was even bigger, with more muscle, and he would not back down. Sturm must have realised suddenly that he was alone at the time; his friends were out elsewhere. He blustered, and then went back inside scowling. He turned the noise down. Michael had won that round, but the gang would be back.
5.5 Paradise of the Far North Becomes New Age Problem Zone
By the end of the 1980s, many people in England felt that nowhere was safe from yobs. Some said that the Scottish Highlands represented the last outpost for peace of mind. When I first moved to the north of Scotland, local inhabitants testified to a social situation in which there was very little crime. The police felt quite confident and in control. I met people who insisted that nobody needed to lock their doors. This utopia was in contrast to the grim situation evident in the big cities of Edinburgh and Glasgow.
The northerly region from Inverness to Aberdeen was a paradise by comparison with the south. Yet during the 1990s, crime infiltrated the Scottish towns and villages where formerly nobody had needed to lock doors or fit burglar alarms. The basic problem was the younger generation who resorted to drugs. A fatal support to this nationwide development occurred in 2004, when the British government relaxed the cannabis law. Such events invite grave suspicion that bureaucracy too often creates more problems than it solves (and see no. 11 below).
In addition to the new social predicament was another local hazard, namely the Findhorn Foundation (located in Moray), who sponsored Grof alternative therapy (see no. 12 below) in their precincts until 1993, when an official recommendation inspired by Edinburgh University successfully curtailed the problems evident (though without eliminating these). The very commercial enterprise called Grof Transpersonal Training Inc. was strongly associated with LSD “psychotherapy,” an illegal recourse which is still promoted by some Grof partisans. That doubtful activity acquired a controversial non-drug extension in Holotropic Breathwork; this temptation was legal and became promoted in lucrative “workshops” by the Findhorn Foundation. The doctrines of Stanislav Grof were not duly analysed by the commercial promoters, who were seeking income. The new age impresarios resented criticism of this and other activities, and stifled objections to their policies to a degree some found alarming (see no. 10 below).
5.6 Manifestations of the Yob Psychology
In Great Britain the descriptive national identity has effectively devolved to Lax Britain in realistic terms. The absence of sufficient governmental regulations against major forms of crime has endangered public safety. The deficit here includes the drug problem that was aggravated by the official leniency towards cannabis during 2004-2008. The escalating crisis has caused havoc in some schools where young cannabis users have demonstrated the backward moods that can occur in this form of “recreation.” The rescheduling of cannabis to Class B status will require tenacity to deal with consequences of the Class C indulgence that has set in so extensively since January 2004. See no. 11 below.
The yob society in Britain has recently developed a street drinking indulgence contributing to violence and harassment. The police have reported a substantial increase in alcohol-related attacks by yobs. This phenomenon is also known as “under-age drinking.” Boys as young as seven are reported to have been included in the vogue for cheap alcohol. The lack of parental care is glaringly obvious, though this does not absolve the government from responsibility. The overstretched resources of the police force in many areas of Britain are a consequence of bureaucratic lunacy. The permissive society has been a failure in too many respects.
The ineffective nature of the criminal justice system in Britain was emphasised by such parties as the Victims of Crime Trust, founded by a police officer (Shepherd, Pointed Observations, p. 114). Some magistrates have since taken a firm line with criminal behaviour, though it is still obvious that burglary and other “minor” crimes generally go unpunished.
Yob defiance has been described as a contagious epidemic, and one which can too easily become prone to criminal behaviour. In the north of Scotland during the 90s, I was able to observe teenage “hard cases” who swaggered about looking like the skinheads I had seen over twenty years before in Cambridge. Some Scottish fifteen year olds had very solid physiques. A very muscular manual labourer told me how he found one of these youths trespassing in his garden, and then had to forcibly eject the intruder. I watched a yob trio in Forres try to light fires in bushes with matches. They would hoot at any passer-by with obvious defiance. I informed the police, who said they could do nothing without more concrete evidence of damage. At that period, three schoolboy yobs (aged 14-15) in the far north tied their female schoolteacher to a ceiling rafter. This was a gesture of contempt. They left her hanging precariously in a state of shock and terror.
Some commentators say that female schoolteachers cannot control thugs, and that the appropriate recourse is an ex-army supervisor with a birch rod who will exact appropriate punishments for every insolence. Learning is disdained by thugs; they repudiate the prospect with rejoinders like “shut yer face.” That is when they are being polite. Watch out for knives and other weapons.
Over the years I often visited Bournemouth, a holiday resort on the south coast of Britain. During the 70s the police were noted for their control in that city, and it was said that incoming troublemakers like “rockers” would be sent on their way before they could commit a crime or disturbance. All this changed during the 80s, and by the 90s it was not advisable to leave a spare bike in an unlocked shed. Theft was rife, or so I was told by local inhabitants. In 2004, three yobs in the older age group entered the house of an elderly man and beat him brutally with baseball bats. This was clearly a premeditated act of the most violent and horrific type. The tragic victim was hospitalised with severe injuries, and a public outcry ensued. Thugs like to victimise people much weaker than themselves.
The Clockwork Orange syndrome of violence has become pervasive. Nearly forty years ago a very controversial movie was contributed by American capitalism, and in Britain soon gained strong complaints underlined by the factor of “copycat” violence occurring in real life. This refers to the phenomenon of aggressors acting out an incentive derived from explicit visuals. Clockwork Orange (1971) contained a scene showing extreme violence and rape, a needless visual indulgence far removed from the priorities of any civilised taste. An incident was reported of criminals who wore in imitation the same costumes as the film characters. The offending movie was removed from circulation in Britain, and remained unavailable for nearly thirty years until the re-issue in 2000. That was the year after producer Stanley Kubrick died. Clockwork Orange made many millions of dollars for Warner Brothers. There have been numerous video nasties since the early 70s, and some say that Hollywood places profits too far above international wellbeing.
Another place I visited regularly at one period was the town of Langport in Somerset. Here in 2005 I was dismayed to find that a gang of yobs were in the habit of using a fine nineteenth century house on a main road passing through the town. That house was empty, and the absent owner (who had several properties) was strangely indifferent to events. The yobs regarded the property as a recreation ground. They had damaged the interior, and had even tried to burn the place down (arson being a tendency of yobs). They had been known to hurl things from the windows at passing cars on the street below, and motorists were in considerable danger on such occasions. The nearest policeman was in another town some distance away, and he could never arrive on time owing to his many pressing engagements. Nobody stopped the yobs; nobody knew exactly what to do, although local feelings ran high against them.
I am glad to say that the police can be very effective in Somerset. At another town in that county, a local publican was recently alarmed to find that a gun threat was in evidence during a quarrel that arose on his premises. A gun was actually visible, and apparently one round was fired to emphasise the dire nature of the threat. The police were informed of the problem, and a helicopter quickly arrived complete with several armed policemen who lost no time in restoring control. I heard about this episode at the local post office the next day, the worried publican himself being a testifier on that occasion. The problem parties were in the adult age group, but some younger people were apparently also involved. The extent of violence in such situations is now very unpredictable.
Yet there are many locales where police assistance arrives too late. One graphic instance of this recently emerged in a media report concerning a village near Grimsby. A gang of six yobs entered the garden of Gary Hall, a champion bodybuilder aged 42, and weighing 15 stone. One teenage yob made for the front door of the house and turned the handle. Gary Hall then wrestled him with ease and pinned him to the floor. Hall’s wife telephoned the police and was assured of a quick intervention to arrest the burglar. But no policeman arrived, and instead the other five yobs threw stones at the house and yelled abuse. The alarmed wife prevailed upon her husband to let the trapped burglar go free, and the six yobs then ran away. Three hours later, the police telephoned to say that officers had been diverted. A police constable did not call at the Hall abode until the next morning. The police officers had meanwhile been obliged to deal with “ten high priority incidents” that included an arson and a burglary. (Paul Sims,“I caught a burglar but police were too busy to pick him up,” Daily Mail, March 26th 2008, p. 25).
On an earlier occasion at Worthing (on the south coast) in 2003, the police did arrive on the scene of complaint with due alacrity. They found that the criminal was a three year old boy who had smashed a car windscreen, causing shock to the driver. The police duly contacted the mother of the miscreant, but she excused her offspring on the basis that he was too young to know what he was doing. (Shepherd, Pointed Observations, 2005, pp. 116-117). This was clearly a situation of parental laxity; no other explanation can realistically suffice.
5.7 The Internet Spurs Rave Party Drawback
Worthing is now associated with another social problem, namely the illicit partying craze fanned by the internet. Social networking sites like Bebo, Facebook, and MySpace have come in for strong criticism recently, and are now viewed as a major threat to decent living. Teenage girls have been advertising themselves on the web with fashionable license, but this can backfire upon them and their relatives. Seductive poses and semi-literate verbalisms testify to a further drawback in contemporary lifestyle. Web ads for birthday and other parties can attract gatecrashers of manic tendencies who include people in a different age group to the teenies. Such events have resulted in wrecked homes like the one on Tyneside that was ravaged by “seven hours of drink and drug-fuelled mayhem” to employ one media description. That home was invaded by a mob of over 200 ravers from as far afield as London and Liverpool. The 17-year old host hid in the bathroom, experiencing a panic attack as the indulgent strangers filled her house.
The birthday party of a 16 year old boy in Chippenham (Wiltshire) was gatecrashed by more than 250 young ravers who hospitalised two objectors, namely the brother and father of the host. The mob desecrated the house, and the host’s mother said: “I honestly thought they were going to kill us; there was blood all over the front of the house, the garden, and the street” (Daily Mail, March 18th 2008, p. 18 col. 4). Blood was dripping from the head of her worsted husband.
Another damaged venue was a Georgian mansion near Bovey Tracey in Devon. More than 2,000 people arrived here for a teenage birthday celebration similarly advertised on the web. Carpets were ripped up, windows smashed, doors torn off hinges, family heirlooms vandalised. The police arrived after an emergency telephone call, and the jeering ravers pelted them with glass.
Further havoc occurred in Worthing, where a fifteen year old girl using Bebo attracted over fifty extremists who were the cause of damage to parental property. The family dog was dosed with ecstasy (MDMA) tablets, a fact which conveys an idea of the mentality involved in the romp that trashed the house and left four inches of beer on the dining room floor. Sexual intercourse is a major attraction at such venues of abuse, as has become evident from available reports. There are other objectionable factors also. “Some of the gatecrashers had brought drugs including cocaine, ecstasy, and cannabis” (Paul Bracchi, “Party Animals,” Daily Mail, March 8th 2008, p. 39 col. 2).
Such disconcerting events have become known as “Skins parties,” a description deriving from the Channel 4 television programme Skins. This controversial tv (and web) feature celebrates badly behaved teenagers, and is strongly implicated as an influence upon extremist conduct and mindset, both on and off the web. Critics say that the executives who promote such tv complication (and web junk) may justify a separate branch of legal complaints from those who suffer bodily harm and property damage.
Another problem of “rave” occurred in March 2008 at a damaged village hall in Wray (Lancashire), where some two hundred teenagers are reported to have indulged in an orgy of binge-drinking, drug-taking, and underage sex. The 14-16 year old age group were here the exemplars of mayhem. There was no adult supervision, though forged signatures are said to have been circulated in a successful attempt to give the impression that such supervision was present. Most of the girls who had unprotected sex were reported by a local schoolmistress to have been “too drunk to be in control of themselves.” The same source warned parents of the risk of pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease incurred by this event. (James Tozer, “Lesson in debauchery,” Daily Mail, March 22nd 2008).
5.8 The Continuing Spread of AIDS
Meanwhile, the AIDS virus is gradually spreading in Britain, with a total of 73,000 HIV victims reported by the Health Protection Agency, though other reports give a figure in the region of 90,000. The infection of partners with HIV is now a controversial issue, and jail sentences can apply to the convicted. Defendants in Britain can be charged with causing grievous bodily harm under the long-established Offences Against the Person Act.
America has invested multi-millions in annual research to find a vaccine against HIV. Recent expensive drug trials have been halted in 2008 after the discovery that two supposed “miracle” vaccines are not workable and could instead increase the risk of infection. There were over two million global deaths from AIDS in 2007. The scenario is increasingly a very grim one, to say the least. (This is an update to Pointed Observations, chapter 15).
5.9 The Rape Factor and Anonymity Problems
There have been some hideous rape crimes profiled on the British media in recent years. Yet some think that one of the most unsettling incidents occurred in the toilets of a busy supermarket where an unidentified attacker assaulted a very young girl. The victim was traumatised, and also terrified of any repetition. Rapists are often masked, though the worst ones will murder the victim to ensure no possible revelations as to identity. Variations of murder include dismemberment of the corpse, and a severed female head was recently found in a plastic bag with no clue as to the ultimate nature of the crime.
There is no doubt that a malignant sector of the human population require stern justice, not the petty ordinances which have been the subject of complaint. Anonymity in crime is now a big issue, and as with varied internet transgressions, identity is a pressing matter. Anonymous (or pseudonymous) entities on the web are suspect in relation to varying offences, though scam operators will supply false identities.
5.10 Causes of Yob Crime and Retribution Issues
Some urban teenage gangs have recently demonstrated a resort to gun crime. At Peckham (South London) in 2007, four young men between the ages of 15 and 21 were murdered in less than two weeks. Three were shot and one was stabbed. These murders are closely associated with the traffic in skunk cannabis. A similar link to skunk has been discussed for the situation in Liverpool localities where a murderous feud between rival teenage gangs also led to gun casualty. The ready availability of skunk cannabis has been accompanied by the phenomenon of violent young drug dealers who have flourished in the face of lax governmental regulations (see no. 11 below).
Knife crime is a far more pervasive problem than firearms. At the end of 2007, Prime Minister Gordon Brown promised a crackdown on knife crime in a dozen “hotspots” around Britain. That precaution is now seen to require a radical extension. Knife crime is not confined to inner city areas, but has spread much more widely. Voices of public complaint are urging (May 2008) that the police should be equipped with thousands of knife detectors, and that prosecution should result for anyone caught in possession of a knife. Mere cautions are seen to be useless. Further, more prison places must be provided by the Justice Secretary.
In May 2008, the increasing toll of lethal knife crimes ended the life of 18-year old actor Robert Knox. He was stabbed to death while trying to protect his brother from a man wielding two knives. This event occurred outside a bar in Sidcup, South London. The incident became well known on the media due to the complaint of his distressed grandmother who accused parents of irresponsibility in rearing children. The Sidcup incident was additionally serious in that five other young men were also stabbed, though not fatally. They were in the 17-21 age group. The 21-year old culprit was arrested and charged with murder and grievous bodily harm. The murderer lived in a quiet road, and had the reputation of offending neighbours by holding all-night parties. The neighbours described him as a “total yob,” and so perhaps the pejorative term should also apply to a slightly older age group than the teens. The offender was also associated with an earlier incident involving two samurai swords (Tom Wells, “Broken Britain,” The Sun, May 27th 2008, p.4). Some think that violent videos are one cause of aggressive behaviour.
That same month, Scotland Yard mounted an anti-knife operation, setting up metal detector arches at transport hubs and searching suspect youths. Nearly 200 knives were confiscated in a short span of time, but there will be too many more of those weapons in circulation unless a rigorous campaign becomes permanent.
Analysis of the basic causes behind the current British social malaise has varied (I am here referring to the yob situation). Some say that deficient media is primarily responsible. Others say that the educational system has deteriorated, and that schoolteachers are not sufficiently effective. Some say that inadequate policing and the lenient legal system is the basic problem. Others single out the frequently lax attitude of parents to their yob offspring as the major drawback. Yet a more comprehensive form of analysis blames a combination of these factors, and mentions additional angles also. Matters are made worse by drugs and alcohol, with the recent spread of skunk cannabis being the most serious problem detectable. Governmental laxity is impossible to overlook.
A related factor eligible for the list of adverse influences is the “bad manners” syndrome afflicting British society. ITV television has recently (April 2008) established that this syndrome is extensive, especially in relation to swearing, playing loud music, and not saying please or thank you. The age limit here spreads from the teens to the forties. This detail is not really surprising, given the fact that in the late 1960s, the new “progressive” teenagers commenced a habit of not saying thank you. They considered themselves too avant garde and superior to copy more traditional rules. Their offspring caught the disease. The 1960s were idyllic by comparison with the current British social situation.
However, the ITV programme Bad Manners Britain did not focus upon the extension in time, but instead made a survey which discovered the general public view that parents are largely to blame for the declining standards of conduct. More than half of those questioned opined that bad manners were the biggest problem in society, and just over two thirds of them believed that bad manners were the cause of antisocial behaviour. Ninety per cent blamed the problem on parental standards of conduct that were copied by the offspring. Adults can be more rude than schoolchildren according to this report, which liased with the British Transport Police in London. Significantly also, many of those questioned believed that good manners should be taught as part of school curriculum. Lapses in education are all too obvious.
Of course, for every tv programme that says something useful, there are too many which give the wrong impression, including the desultory variety which incorporate swear words. Over eighty per cent of the people questioned in Bad Manners Britain felt that the national tendency to rude behaviour had intensified over the last ten years. That period has seen an obsessive scope for bad language in visual media.
Yet swearing has been eclipsed by certain other issues. The BBC programme which attracted the most complaints during the past 12 months (until July 2008) was EastEnders. This gained over 5,000 complaints, more than double the quota of any other BBC programme. In particular, the drugging and live burial of a husband by his wife evoked an appropriate revulsion from viewers still possessing sensitivity. It has been ruled that the two episodes which showed this disturbing theme were in breach of broadcasting standards. The watchdog regulator Ofcom also ruled in 2008 that EastEnders breached regulations in an episode showing a gang attack on the Queen Vic pub. Such themes provoke serious questions about the irresponsible mentality of some scriptwriters and programme officials, who belong to the new dark age of barbarian Britain.
A sense of desperation is widely felt at the worst forms of behaviour. At least one popular opinion poll has revealed that many of the British public are in favour of capital punishment for the worst criminals. The public know that an effective deterrent against crime must be established. Yobs are not convicted criminals, though they can so very easily join that category. The juvenile problem requires firm regulatory supervision, not encouragement via “soap operas” and other deficient media.
Charity workers in inner city zones have reported that violent gang leaders are frequently the product of broken homes. However, another component of the problem are more advantaged youngsters who are well cared for in their domestic background. These teenagers live in localities adjacent to violent adolescents, and become susceptible to the imitation of violence. Thus to all intents and purposes, the outcome in violent behaviour hits the same antisocial denominator irrespective of social background or deprivation factors. Violence has been described as a virus in the inner city situations. The virus also spreads well outside such zones into more rural areas where quite different conditions prevail.
In July 2008, the “soft justice” system in Britain became even more extreme with new proposals by advisers to the Lord Chief Justice. These reckless plans of the Sentencing Advisory Panel involve abolishing prison sentences for burglars. Community penalties have instead been recommended, though these are considered a laugh by criminals (and by some policemen). Perhaps the truth is that the British public need to be protected from bureaucracy even more than from criminals and yobs.
The same week that the irresponsible advisers made their suggestions for further public affliction, a pensioner in Swindon was charged with possessing an offensive weapon while chasing off yobs who were pelting his home with stones. Sydney Davis, aged 65, took hold of a piece of wood in desperation while protecting his wife and two young children from a gang of yobs who attacked his house for over two hours. He was galvanised into chasing the yobs down the street after they threw a brick through his kitchen window. The police had (as too often happens nowadays) failed to appear after being telephoned at the outset of trouble. Police officers did eventually arrive on the scene over two hours later, but arrested the pensioner while allowing the yobs to run off laughing. Sydney Davis was stunned by this development; he was handcuffed and led away to the cells, where he was charged. If convicted, he stood to face six months in jail. (Mark Reynolds, “Man faces jail for chasing off yobs,” Daily Express, July 9th 2008, p. 7).
The lunacy of British law is getting beyond citizen tolerance. The afflicted pensioner in this episode had five times suffered smashed windows in eight months. He was supported by neighbours who were also sick of yob behaviour. A local councillor reported that home owners on that estate in Swindon (Wiltshire) were living in fear. One of the pensioner’s neighbours found a brick thrown through their kitchen window that showered glass across the face of a seven-month old baby. In response to questioning, Wiltshire Police said patrols had been increased after two houses had been attacked by arsonists. Welcome to the new dark age inspired by irresponsible bureaucracy and deteriorating educational standards.
In July 2008, the British Crime Survey revealed that knife attacks occur once every four minutes in a country that was once strongly law-abiding. One phrase now in usage is “blade yobs.” This delinquent category committed 130,000 blade crimes during the past year, which means an average of 356 offences per day. The government Crime Survey is considered to give a more accurate picture of the national situation than police figures, as the former is based upon questioning victims, many of whom do not report crimes. Yet tragically, the actual scale of the blade yob epidemic is thought to be far worse, in that the Crime Survey does not take account of the under-16 age bracket, and also does not cover Scotland and Northern Ireland. Official police figures for the 2007/08 year are just over 22,000 knife offences, a total comprising only one-sixth of the Crime Survey statistic.
This shocking situation is highlighted by an official complaint about policemen being so hindered by red tape that they can only spend 14 per cent of their time in patrolling streets. The government keeps telling the public that the crime rate is falling, but many of the public are justified in not believing this deceptive front. The Crime Survey tends very much to confirm suspicions on points such as knife crime and drug crime, though robberies and sex offences are said to have fallen at 16% and 7% respectively. The fall-off percentages are not sufficient compensation for public grievances. Drug crime is up 18% and gun crime 2%.
In addition, police reports say that juvenile gang thuggery is on the increase, and that a third of violent crime now involves three or more yobs. Schoolchildren are behind one in eight attacks. The police figures declare that most crimes occur in London, though provincial figures are alarming enough. Hampshire suffered 388 knife offences in 12 months. This compares with 140 blade crimes reported by the police in Wiltshire, and 288 in Devon and Cornwall. Avon and Somerset suffered 360 knife incidents. Sussex is here listed with 274 knife crimes, and Kent with 327. Moving northwards, Nottinghamshire suffered 548 of those crimes, while West Yorkshire was afflicted with 915. Merseyside was subject to 757 blade crimes, while Greater Manchester is a high danger area with a total of 2,294 offences in this category. The West Midlands saw 2,303 of the same drawbacks to declining civilisation. South Wales did not escape the debacle with 585 knife crimes. However, the major instance of deficit was the Metropolitan Police total for the London area, listed at 7409 knife offences. One must continually bear in mind that these police figures represent the diluted version of the Crime Survey in the 1:6 ratio.
A sane plea now urges automatic jail sentences for knife possession. The legal system is currently too lenient. Other yob tendencies also require counteracting. I have met people in Somerset villages (or small towns) who say that the stocks should be brought back into use in town squares as a deterrent to general yob behaviour. Some objectors also say that bureaucrats who entertain a soft policy on criminals should be dismissed from office and deprived of their inflated salaries. Countless elderly people live in terror of yobs, and too many middle-aged people are also feeling the blight created by this category. Many young people are understandably apprehensive of the growing knife crime menace. Survival of antisocial hazards is a matter currently necessitating stronger citizen initiatives to assist law and order, to oppose junk web, and to resist political excuses for evasionism.
August 2008
UPDATE 2010
The inability of the Conservative Party to deal effectively with crime became evident in October 2010. Their programme declared a cut in police spending and a reduction in prison places. The new Justice Secretary has not won universal plaudits for the unconvincing theme that prison sentences do not reduce crime. Short prison sentences, of six months or less, have been given to about 50,000 offenders annually. These sentences are evidently too short, as the prisoners too frequently repeat offences within six months of being released. Some analysts say that a number of prisons will close because of too few inmates, a situation created by the advocacy of community sentences. Reliance upon community penalties is not a remedy, but a proof of failure, according to the counter argument. A substantial number of criminals are drug addicts, and prison standards are often viewed as lax.
The option for community sentences is not convincing. In 2010 the media disclosed that almost 2,700 criminals were awarded a community sentence after being guilty of over fifty offences. Moreover, 315 criminals received a community sentence after 100 or more convictions. Indeed, more than 13,000 criminals gained a community penalty after thirty or more offences. Such figures reveal a disastrous situation for public victims.
Critical commentaries include those of a retired JP who served for 26 years as a Huddersfield magistrate. Eddie Jefferson urges that the Magistrates Court is the backbone of the British judicial system, but has been weakened "by over-liberal reforms, misguided do-gooders and now the pressing need to save money." An accompanying comment was that "only this week, we heard that judges and magistrates are being told to send fewer violent thugs to prison; now those found guilty of actual, or even grievous, bodily harm will not be going to prison at all" (E. Jefferson, "Who will we let off next... rapists and murderers?" Daily Mail, October 15th, 2010, p. 6).
Criminologist David Green, director of Civitas, reflected: "I would have thought a long custodial sentence would be appropriate for these people, who will have been committing crimes more or less every day for all their adult life. If they [politicians] do allow career criminals to roam the streets, we can safely say there will be a rise in crime" (D. Martin and J. Slack, "What does get you locked up?", Daily Mail, 15/10/2010, p. 1).
The phenomenon of repeat offences has been getting worse, the figures soaring between 2002 and 2008. The scarcity of custodial sentences is now viewed as a threat to public wellbeing. Criminals have been spared jail after 100 convictions. Some public observers feel that the inflated salaries of reckless politicians should be reallocated to build more jails and put more police on the streets.
War veteran Geoffrey Bacon
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Once upon a time, Britain was a place of law and order. Problems arose circa 1970, though marginal by comparison with the falling standards and political excuses of today. The tragic fate of ninety year old Geoffrey Bacon was one of the recent instances illustrating the decline. During the Second World War, Bacon served as a chauffeur in France. At the age of 90, he was still independent, living alone in a second floor flat in Camberwell, a suburb of south London. He had a reputation for social benevolence, but in April 2010 he was attacked on his own doorstep by a mugger who threw him to the floor and punched him in the face. The victim was also kicked. The savage intruder ransacked the flat, stealing the old man's wallet containing £40 and a bus pass. The victim was left in agony with a shattered hip. He never recovered, dying a few months later; the molestation was classified by police as murder.
Detectives expressed their belief that the killer of Geoffrey Bacon was also responsible for another mugging "half an hour later in a neighbouring block of flats, where he hit a disabled woman of 66 about the head with her handbag before running off with it" (N. Sears and P. Bentley, "Killed for £40 and a bus pass," Daily Mail, August 19th, 2010, pp. 1, 4). See Eisenhower's driver and Murder hunt after war veteran dies.
A decadent society too often laughs at complaints about television violence and bad language. Many people aged 40 and upwards justifiably reason that such lax standards are an incitement to social delinquency. The popular BBC programme EastEnders has been observed to depict a boy of 13 being knifed by a gang. A Channel 4 distraction in 2009 exhibited 312 swear words in 103 minutes. The newspaper employing this information artlessly included an irrelevant cartoon showing an old lady indignant at nudity on the tv screen, while the main feature on the same page displayed a component of the "fashion bible" Vogue, the admired young yuppy subject being pictured in his £5 million home (Daily Mail, August 19th, 2010, p. 3). These features were found on the preceding page to the details about the murdered Geoffrey Bacon. A carelessly affluent society is not the best guide to living priorities.
Many British citizens have to survive the undeclared hazards and nonsense provided by the media and politicians, plus the increasing menace from criminals who are given easy treatment in high places. The farcical phrase Great Britain decodes to the Afflicted Little Island, reduced to a severely crippled plight by dubious commercial interests, myopic political policies, and failed education.
November 2010
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