Is this an attack on the Working Class?

Guinness Boy · Mar 13, 2014

Read this earlier. Now a big twitter fight between the writer of it and a music journalist has kicked off because the latter thinks it was an attack on the working class. Is it? Really? I can't say I think so....

http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/anatomy-of-a-new-modern-douchebag

Titanic · Mar 13, 2014

Douchebag? Really??

Buzzer · Mar 13, 2014

Yes, completely. It's a nasty, spiteful piece of writing. Other professional writers have also pointed out that it hints at being homophobic too. He's an awful writer, an awful broadcaster and a snidey piece of shit.

This will tell you all you need to know about him, his grasp of English and his take on the English nation, from an interview in totallydublin.ie:

"Well there are some subjects that would be considered too lowbrow to cover by some people. Me and my editor, for example, are really interested in A Question of Sport. We think it gives a real insight into the British psyche."

....And quelle surprise, he's also a regular columnist in the Guardian.

Kumquat · Mar 13, 2014

The writer does appear to feel threatened by the sort of people he writes about. Says more about the writer than his subject. Can understand why it could be seen as an attack on the working classes but I wouldn't take the writer's pontificating too seriously myself.

Mellotron · Mar 13, 2014

Vice is a dreadful "magazi/publica/whatever it is".

Guinness Boy · Mar 13, 2014

Kumquat said:
The writer does appear to feel threatened by the sort of people he writes about. Says more about the writer than his subject. Can understand why it could be seen as an attack on the working classes but I wouldn't take the writer's pontificating too seriously myself.

It's not a fantastic piece and would have passed me by but for the hysterical reaction to it. I always thought my dislike of Joey Essex and fun boy hair just made me a bit old and out of touch rather than classist.

Simster · Mar 13, 2014

Christ what a dreary, tedious article. I couldn't tell you if it was an attack on the working class, I got bored half way through. It's just a boring essay featuring as many insults towards a certain type of modern lad as he could think of. And he's not very good at it.

Buzzer · Mar 13, 2014

Kumquat said:
The writer does appear to feel threatened by the sort of people he writes about.

That's it in a nutshell. He's spent quite a bit of time amongst white working class males but clearly doesn't get the English working class culture and he certainly feels threatened by it. It's noticeable that none of this bile ever surfaced when he was making his "Big Day Out.." series. Too chicken to open his gob then but back amongst his hipster chums he can sneer to his heart's content.

Tell you what, whilst he's trying hard looking too cool for school in the Hoxton Bar and Grill with his chums with their overgrown beards, tweed and naff prison tats (now there's a stereotype that deserves derision) the lads that he professes to hate are having a great time with their mates.

BBassic · Mar 13, 2014

"BORING" is what literally went through my mind after the third paragraph.

dazzer6666 · Mar 13, 2014

I's agree. Not seen the twitter spat but I didn't read it as an attack on the working class, just a critique of current trends (which will come and go as always). Sure a similar article would have been written about Mods in the 70s for example or any other group at any given period

father_and_son · Mar 13, 2014

Kumquat said:
The writer does appear to feel threatened by the sort of people he writes about. Says more about the writer than his subject. Can understand why it could be seen as an attack on the working classes but I wouldn't take the writer's pontificating too seriously myself.

This... At no point does the writer single out "class" as the reason for his hatred... this is merely down to a dislike of a group following a specific "fashion" that he sees as wrong. I'm sure similar arguments have been levelled at Mods, Rockers, Teddy boys, Emos, Goths, Punks, Skins, and untold other cultural and social "tribes" who chose to dress a certain way, look a certain way, behave a certain way, etc etc.

As much as I agree that there are some sad, shallow, vacuous pr*cks out there with their fake tans, fake muscles and fake personalities, but there always have been these sort of people and I dislike them. I'm not going to suggest this is about them being "working class" though, its because I'm an 11 stone, pale, geek with glasses who hasn't been inside a gym in 20 years.

surlyseagull · Mar 13, 2014

A bit insecure no doubt .

Baldseagull · Mar 13, 2014

If only he had included Made In Chelsea in his rant against reality TV male tarts, he could have avoided the accusation of attacking the working class.
They do look ridiculous to me, but it is the bombardment of marketing and lack of alternatives that has turned them into this, I would probably look like that if I were 19 today.

Buzzer · Mar 13, 2014

There's enough references in there: TOWIE, Joey Essex, lad's culture, the comment about the decline of 'traditional industries' and employment in the Army, the Police at the lowest levels which is what he's referring to....... it's all working class. A direct quote form that shitty piece of journalism: "there seems to be a narrative of an cultured metropolitan class wondering what to do with its young men." That is certainly not a reference to the middle-class male.

pishhead · Mar 13, 2014

Buzzer said:
That's it in a nutshell. He's spent quite a bit of time amongst white working class males but clearly doesn't get the English working class culture and he certainly feels threatened by it. It's noticeable that none of this bile ever surfaced when he was making his "Big Day Out.." series. Too chicken to open his gob then but back amongst his hipster chums he can sneer to his heart's content.

Tell you what, whilst he's trying hard looking too cool for school in the Hoxton Bar and Grill with his chums with their overgrown beards, tweed and naff prison tats (now there's a stereotype that deserves derision) the lads that he professes to hate are having a great time with their mates.

Absolutely this. Whilst these guys are out having fun every weekend him and his cohorts are out spending their inheritance on vintage clothes, beard combs and buying a pair of hemp shoes. Without ever having heard of the writer I guarantee he is a textbook hipster.
Hipsters love to sneer at anyone who isn't a hipster.

Hotchilidog · Mar 13, 2014

Well the genius that wrote the piece has been well and truly 'owned' in the twitter spat, which was far more revealing and interesting than the article.

London Irish · Mar 13, 2014

Guinness Boy said:
It's not a fantastic piece and would have passed me by but for the hysterical reaction to it. I always thought my dislike of Joey Essex and fun boy hair just made me a bit old and out of touch rather than classist.

"Classist" - when did this awful made-up world creep into the vocab, noticed it a lot recently. We've proudly had many centuries of class war in this country without need of that american verbiage

severnside gull · Mar 13, 2014

Sadly Thatcher killed the working class in the eighties

Nowt left to attack.

Seasidesage · Mar 13, 2014

The article is illiterate nonsense, however, he does have a point about the muscle bound airheads that seem to be everywhere. Nothing wrong with working out, but waxing your chest and spending all your time looking in mirrors and windows at your arms is just sad...

Pavilionaire · Mar 13, 2014

Total drivel - there has always been outlandish clothing, wild hair, posturing and preening in young British male fashion and sub-culture. There's nothing fundamentally different about what we see today compared to what has gone before.

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Is this an attack on the Working Class?

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