The Great Big Chav Megathread... ALL discussion of Chavs here.

[Glitter Star]

It seems that many people who would condemn racism, homophobia, sexism, ageism are more than glad to engage in class prejudice. Why is this tolerable?

[seriessix]

It seems that many people who would condemn racism, homophobia, sexism, ageism are more than glad to engage in class prejudice. Why is this tolerable?

 

Some would say it's human nature....http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=241450

[Guest Mod_Man]

It seems that many people who would condemn racism, homophobia, sexism, ageism are more than glad to engage in class prejudice. Why is this tolerable?

 

You're not going to get an answer to that. They do it blindly, its almost an instinct to some of them, hoop hearings means chav, single parents are chavs, tracksuit wearers are chavs, anything that threatens them in the slightest is a chav. Yet what I think is great is how they all condone violence towards chavs. I have always maintained that the reason why chav is used so much is because we can't get away with using derogatory terms for blacks, asians, gays, mental people and essentially any other of society's minorities, hence the chav was born, something socially acceptable to pick on. Yet the chav has been around for years, weve always had criminals, single parents, tracksuits (how many of you have worn a tracksuit), hoods (hoods go back centuries).

 

Maybe it does have something to do with the class divide being alive and well. Perhaps the working classes got fed up of being considered the lowest and jumped on the chav bandwagon, the irony in all of this is that most of these people are only one pay packet away from what they define as chavdom themselves.

[Guest Mod_Man]

What the hell has chav got to do with race. You are going off the mark here by comparing race pc's. Did you not know there are plenty of black and asian chav's also!!!!!!

Fair play the mods censored the words because if you think you are able to use them in the streets and get away with it, you would be asking for trouble. They were poor examples as the argument is about chavs not race.

 

I never saw this so the reply is somewhat late. I never said chav was linked to race, I said the word chav is a derogatory term. The word chav is used to put someone down because of a situation they find themselves in which even yourself agrees isn't the person's fault. If by your logic it is the parent's fault then what right do we have to call a person a chav?

 

As for there being asian and black chavs, there are asian and black criminals, single parents, tracksuit and hoody wearers but I doubt people will call them chavs, they would likely call them black ******** or the P word, behind closed doors of course.

[Ms Macbeth]

It seems that many people who would condemn racism, homophobia, sexism, ageism are more than glad to engage in class prejudice. Why is this tolerable?

 

I don't think the word Chav is necessarily class or income related. For instance I've heard Jordan referred to as a Chav, and she's not exactly hard up. Jade Goody - a millionairess, also considered a Chav.

 

So many people nowadays confuse money with class - Jordan and Jade would be considered middle class by those people purely on the basis of their wealth, surely. Isn't being a Chav more about behaviour and taste than class? Taste which is pretty vulgar; lack of concern about anyone else's quality of life (Michael Carroll springs to mind - lottery winner). There are loads of people who are much more hard up, who are way removed from 'Chavdom'. Not all people with the lowest incomes Chavs, and not all rich people have class.

 

The difference has already been pointed out, being black, gay, young, old, male, female etc aren't lifestyle choices. Wearing a ring on every finger, deafening everyone as you drive by and saying 'innit' are.

[Glitter Star]

.

Isn't being a Chav more about behaviour and taste than class? Taste which is pretty vulgar; lack of concern about anyone else's quality of life ...The difference has already been pointed out, being black, gay, young, old, male, female etc aren't lifestyle choices. Wearing a ring on every finger, deafening everyone as you drive by and saying 'innit' are.

 

"Taste" is a subjective word and I find labelling people as "chavs" pretty tasteless.

 

As for saying wearing a ring on every finger counts as a lifestyle choice, I'm quite honestly stunned at how superficial people are.

 

When I mentioned this being an issue of class, I didn't necessarily mean class was dictated by income. Class is more often determined by education. In writing off people as chavs, it is a way for others to feel superior about their education and look down on others. In my opinion anyone needing to use the word "chav" to describe another person needs to consider whether they have any regard for anyone else's quality of life and whether being misanthropic is particularly tasteful.

[Ms Macbeth]

>snipped<

When I mentioned this being an issue of class, I didn't necessarily mean class was dictated by income. Class is more often determined by education. In writing off people as chavs, it is a way for others to feel superior about their education and look down on others. In my opinion anyone needing to use the word "chav" to describe another person needs to consider whether they have any regard for anyone else's quality of life and whether being misanthropic is particularly tasteful.

 

I was trying to make the point that although class used to be defined by education, upbringing, career, income etc., nowadays many people see it purely in terms of material possessions/income. Others who have had a good education and are now in a professional career find it hard to dissociate themselves from their working class roots. Surely what was considered the 'class system' even as recently as the 1960s is gone.

 

Its fairly normal to feel most comfortable with people we can relate to. That doesn't mean we should discriminate against anyone who is different. Personally the only thing that makes me feel negative towards someone is their behaviour. I don't care if they have no money, if they are a different ethnicity, if they are a different generation etc. I do care if they can't speak to their child without yelling and swearing, if they don't give a toss what their teenager is up to, and impose their noise on anyone and everyone. Life on some social housing estates is hell for some of the residents and many of the problems can be attributed to the 'chav' lifestyle.

[Fingers]

Here's part of a story posted on The Times's website today:

 

A public school was at the centre of a fierce row last night after pupils appeared in a spoof video beating and shooting tracksuit-clad teenagers and engaging in a pursuit they called “chav hunting”.

 

Glenalmond College in Perthshire, whose old boys include Robbie Coltrane and the Duke of Argyll, was accused of arrogance after students were shown posing as young aristocrats chasing their social inferiors across the countryside before shooting them using a replica shotgun.

 

In the video, entitled Class Wars, young gentlemen in perfect riding attire are seen on horseback swigging champagne before setting out on their hunt. They come across a group of chavs, dressed in the telltale Burberry caps, tracksuits and designer trainers of Britain’s white underclass, chasing them along a country lane before rounding on one of them. As the chav lies on the ground, one of the riders dismounts and prods him with a cane while a hound sniffs at him.

 

As the video reaches its conclusion, the chavs are seen running for their lives across a lawn while a double-barrelled shotgun picks them off one by one and they tumble to the ground in slow motion. To rousing classical music, a pair of young aristocrats prod a chav with their guns, looking pleasantly satisfied as they assure themselves that he is dead. All those involved in the video, both chavs and aristocrats, are believed to be current or former pupils at the school.

 

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article2246365.ece

 

The report on The Times's website includes a link to the video which has been posted on YouTube.

[jameskeady]

ok CHAV so calling a boy who wears nike and white sox a chav isnt that racest like its sort of hard to exsplane if i wear a terbin will i be called a pakie?

[dj4321gsr]

Still a lot of forumers do not understand the difference between racism and class victimisation. tut tut. Some of you have no idea what it will ever be like being a different race and live such isolated lives.