There is a lot of hysteria surrounding hoodies terrorising our streets in the news at the moment. I am of course refering to the adolecents with nothing better to do than buy (steel) fake designer clothing and sit on benches in town centres with a litre bottle of White Lightning in hand. They are quite a repugnant section of the community, seemingly with little regard for manners of basic social protocal. Who else would scream at an old lady in the street?!
But what motivates this purculiar crowd? What culture are they reflecting/representing? Why are they apparently without basic social graces? And why do they ostntatiously wear their designer gear as a symbol of status?
The answer: Thatcher's Britain.
Generally speaking hoodies are a product of certain sections of the working classes - that is without doubt. But why is it that the working classes do not have a long history of creating such a set of underclass urchins? Why are hoodies such a relatively new phenomenon?
In my mind what Thatcher did with the working class is responsible for this modern day maliase in society. Her basic premise when in government was to reduce government and encourage private ownership and improve individual wealth - not necessaily a bad thing on the face of it. However, while selling off council houses on the cheap and establishing a generation of yuppies and
nuveau riche she failed to put an emphasis on education. Material gain was first and spiritual development was nowhere.
As a result Thatcher created a monster. People were able to make money but were not being educated properly - their sense of morality had been irreversibly chatised. People's value system revolved around how much money they could make. Thatcher told us that "There was no such thing as society". In essence what she was saying was that your neighbour isn't important - the self is important and material betterment at the expense of your neighbour is important. The new breed of moneid yuppies would wear their wealth on their sleeves in the clothers they wore and the car they drove. People's vlues were in the gutter.
So how do you link this with modern day hoody cluture? Well the chldren of many who profitted from the Eighties spiritual vacuum are largely the ones you will see sat on street beches with Burberry caps on and sovereign rings on their fingers - their material status is there for all to see - because that's what matter isn't it? As long as you look good then the person next to you can fuck off, they're not important. So you can treat that person like shit, pay them no respect.
Thanks for the legacy Thatch!!!
Just a thought...
