Editorial: Plan B Is Only Half Right. Everybody Is Alienated
So Plan B (Ben Drew) has returned to his roots in rap and underground electronic music with his new release 'ill Manors,' and was interviewed recently by MistaJam on BBC Radio 1Xtra about some of the topics surrounding rioters' motives across Britain last year, and the stereotypical nature of the press when it comes to the working class. Alongside this he also released a statement on his website.
Oi look there's a chav, that means council housed and violent.
It's true what he says, there is a public prejudice towards the underclass, grouped under the aforementioned term 'chav,' and generated by consistent use in the media, most recent example being an advertisement by bookmaker Paddy Power, that doesn't necessarily help the situation.
Attacking a type of person for the way they talk and dress, the music they listen to, their level of education and their view on the public system will alienate and distance them from any remote sort of care about society, and the group of people which has attacked in the first place. It's the fundamental basis of stereotyping, and it exists everywhere, both when we are aware of it and subconciously.
People define others through their interpretations of other groups within the first few moments of acquaintance, as to define to themselves who this person is. This isn't limited to, as Plan B expands, the 'Council Housed And Violent.' Every class of person is stereotyped by the press and others' experiences surrounding that class. There is a prejudice towards the underclass, middle England and the upperclass. Even the press itself is now stereotyped, based upon the acts of one particular journal for hacking telecommunications.
Quite rightly stated, Plan B has opened the floor to an open discussion surrounding something which has been metaphorically swept under the carpet by the news institutes. We wouldn't say it's on the level of stereotyping people based on their physicalities like skin colour or sex, as it is a social status. But while this idea of alienation maybe true, one thing's for sure: chav's not the only derogatory term used in this way.
It's why people fit your initial impressions of them rather well. We all play into the hands of what people think of us, be it rebellious or conformed.
Ever thought the idea of identifying groups of people in the first place is where the issue of 'classist' behaviour begins? This ignorance needs to stop, not just for who is defined as a 'chav.'
On a side note, the song is pretty mint.
