The end of civilization

[Doh!]

If the Palestinian troubles have taught us nothing else, it's taught us to trust no-one. Every demographic has been used by the Palestinians to carry bombs into Israel.

I have also seen old women pulled aside at security and searched. You can look at it two ways: Either the security folks are being entirely objective (good) or they're desparately trying to assure us that they're not racist in their choices of who to search (bad).

My point is, though, because at that time they weren't searching everybody like they are now, they basically had 2 options: the little old lady or me.

I'm just saying that they chose... poorly.

 

[Alan Eardley]

How threads get away from the point... I started it so I'd like to finish it, if I may. And it IS about hats, I promise, so back to the original case...

Maybe you have to live in the UK to understand what this incident portrays. A small minority of young male delinquents and trouble makers ('hoodies') have taken to wearing hoods or 'beanie' type hats pulled down over their faces (often with scarves around their chins) to conceal their identity. Sometimes they go into pubs and other public places to undertake small-time illegal activities and generally make a nuisance of themselves. OK, it's problem, I admit, but the press exaggerates the scale of it because it makes news and scares people in a titillating way (when they aren't being scared by bird flu or something else). So, many people don't like go to places where gangs of concealed youngsters hang out.

So...the companies who run pubs are afraid the scared people won't use their premises unless they provide security, and CCTV ID is the cheapest way to do this...but it won't work on someone who has a hat pulled down to hide his face. So....no hats on the premises! Remember, in this instance it's a chain operation, so the same rule has to apply to a sleepy country pub like The Hereward in Ely as for one in an inner city 'flashpoint'.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/c...re/4788912.stm

And...you can't apply it sensibly to young thugs or thug look-alikes by telling them to show their faces or leave or they will complain that they are discrimated against. Political correctness (PC) rules! So...stop everyone of any age and sex from wearing a hat of any description in all of our pubs, wherever they are and whether the hat hides the face or not. Sorted!

Except...the lawless minority has in effect acheived some of its objectives. It HAS managed to make a nuisance of itself. Mrs Wilbraham, who has until now almost certainly gone around believing that a lady of a certain age should keep her hat on in a public place (perhaps this is UK custom), is humiliated by being asked to leave one of their pubs or remove her hat. Telling her the reason is that she is being placed in the same category as young male trouble makers is not likely to improve her mood. So, she does what the youngsters would probably have done, she complains to the press. And she has the Womens' Institute behind her. Good for her.

To most of my American friends that's a, 'So what?' issue, but it makes many Britishers very angry (as you may have noticed in earlier posts). For us it's an issue a bit like banning firearms is in the US. It's not that Mrs Wilbraham has to take off her hat but that, as a lone old lady, she is being lumped in with groups of young trouble makers and law breakers for the sake of 'political correctness'. The sheer lack of discernment, sensitivity and respect it shows on the part of 'big business' seems to many of us Britishers to be the 'thin and of the wedge' that is beginning to undermine a set of values of civility, politeness and respect that has been built up over hundreds of years. Worst of all, for me, however, is the sheer lack of common sense!

I will explain. I was once a gang member and trouble maker myself - a greaser or rocker (outlaw biker in the US). We were feared and disliked by the general population, as are hoodies today. Actual trouble in the UK from young people was much worse in the early 60s than it is today.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/18/newsid_2511000/2511245.stm

Some pubs banned us outright, but some would allow us in if we agreed to take off our studded leather jackets and chain belts, which was what made people nervous. If we were sufficiently thirsty or cold, we usually agreed. In those days before PC no-one (least of all us) would have suggested that an old lady sitting in a corner of the same pub should have to remove her jacket because we had to (unless, presumably, it had a skull with pistons protruding from the eye sockets and 'Goat F**ker' in Gothic script). She and we were completely different, so we were usually treated differently by a sensible landlord. That's common sense, not discrimination. Why can't they just ask young hoodies to show their faces and leave old ladies in peace?

Thanks for listening. Now end the thread.

 

[Nathan Flowers]

over

and done.