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Discrimination Against Sub-Cultures

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IceHog69
Bulletproof Heart
IceHog69
Age: 31
Gender: -
Posts: 25232
April 20th, 2008 at 12:03pm
Discrimination. Hate. We hear them all the time. Racial Discrimination. Racial Hatred. Sexual Discrimination. Sexual Hatred. Gender Discrimination. But we never hear the term 'Discrimination Against Sub-Cultures' do we? Inciting racial hatred was mad an offense in 1976, with publishing material of this nature becoming illegal in 1994. If you discriminate on the grounds of race, you can be taken to court. But not if you discriminate because of the way a person dresses.

Recently Sophie Lancaster, a 20 year-old woman was kicked in the head repeatedly after she tried to stop her boyfriend being killed. She died in hospital. Her boyfriend and her were attacked because they looked different. They weren't black. They weren't Jewish. it wasn't racial, and it wasn't based on their sex. The scum that killed her, and seriously injured him decided to attack them because they were Goths. That's it. Sophie Lancaster lost her life because she chose to have black dreads, and piercing.

If an Asian couple, dressed in a burka, and salwa kameez respectively, and they were kicked to death for wearing that, the attackers would be done for murder, and racial hate crime. But Sophie Lancaster's attackers only got charged with murder. Surely the concept is the same. You are being attacked because you look different.

Many young people who choose to follow subcultures such as 'goth', and 'emo', and 'punk' are treated as second class citizens. When you walk into a shop, dressed head to toe in black, black hair, piercing, people assume you are up to no good. You often get followed by the security guard. The shop assistant avoids you eye as she scans you purchases, and you generally get the feeling that they don't want you in there. I have never seen a goth, and emo, or even a punk shoplift. I'm not saying that they don't do it, but I've never it. I've seen plenty of other people shop lift. Just because a person dresses differently, doesn't mean they are worse than,you, or indeed better than you.

I'm sure that if you follow one of the afore mentioned subcultures, you have had people react in a way that they would not have had you been dressed differently. If you walk down the street in a shirt, and tie, or a pair of blue jeans, and a jumper, people don't spit at you. People don't look down their noses at you. People don't trow things at you. If you sit in a lesson in 'ordinary' clothes, people don't flick ink at you. People don't pour tip-ex all over your stuff. If you sit there in clothing that expresses your opinion, they do. It's as Farris Rotter from the Horrors said 'It's like caveman days; if you don't like something, you throw a rock at it'.


(also my current blog, both here, and at
http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=193373585&blogID=376876728
I thought it was relevant, and serious enough to warrant a topic in the Discussion Board
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=13860127306
I know I keep posting really long stuff, but here it was the beginning, and it needed it)
Jesse Lacey;
Awake and Unafraid
Jesse Lacey;
Age: 28
Gender: Female
Posts: 12077
April 20th, 2008 at 03:49pm
that is very wrong. it should be treated just as a racial hate crime, or a sexual hate crime, or an ageist hate crime, or any type of hate crime. it's not like no one notices the way someone dresses.
Thug Life.
Bleeding on the Floor
Thug Life.
Age: 33
Gender: Male
Posts: 1315
April 28th, 2008 at 10:18am

Well the problem is subcultres come and go. it would be hard for the law to pass an anti - emo bashing bill. and i dont think it should be treated as severe as a racist hate crime. because the fact of the matter is race is a definate thing. i am of asian herritage i was born this way and surely i will die this way. if i am beaten because im asian, im beaten because of something i cannot control therefore the law sees that as an unjust action against me because i am being singled out and attacked for something i cannot possibly control

however if i were to be beaten because i am wearing all black it is because of something that i could have controlled. something that does not bear the same severety of an ethnic attack .

i mean what happend was sad it truely was vile
but you really gotta step back and realis that ethnic intollerance has been around for centuries and its still going on, ive suffered it and so have many other people. and in my oppinion is levels above just a subculture

IceHog69
Bulletproof Heart
IceHog69
Age: 31
Gender: -
Posts: 25232
April 30th, 2008 at 11:03am
Migatron.:

Well the problem is subcultres come and go. it would be hard for the law to pass an anti - emo bashing bill. and i dont think it should be treated as severe as a racist hate crime. because the fact of the matter is race is a definate thing. i am of asian herritage i was born this way and surely i will die this way. if i am beaten because im asian, im beaten because of something i cannot control therefore the law sees that as an unjust action against me because i am being singled out and attacked for something i cannot possibly control

however if i were to be beaten because i am wearing all black it is because of something that i could have controlled. something that does not bear the same severety of an ethnic attack .

i mean what happend was sad it truely was vile
but you really gotta step back and realis that ethnic intollerance has been around for centuries and its still going on, ive suffered it and so have many other people. and in my oppinion is levels above just a subculture



but surely we shouldn't force people to change the way they look because someone dictates that it is wrong? Okay maybe asking for the same punishment as race crimes is a bit severe, but I personally think that they should be punished more severely than if they just killed someone who was ordinary.

Its not calling for an 'anti - emo bashing bill', it's calling for a law to be passed that means that if you kill or attack someone because they look different IN ANY WAY you should receive a harsher punishment. It would work the same if a business man beat up a chav, or a chav killed a goth, or a goth attacked a punk, whatever. People are being attacked because they look different, and I don't think people should have to change themselves, just so they can walk own the street without being threatened.
happy1
Banned
happy1
Age: 31
Gender: Female
Posts: 52
April 30th, 2008 at 12:21pm
i have been to stores an i would just be standing there an people just look at me in a wierd. one parent accually told her daughter don't go near me. i was hurt. an want to know the worst thing? that woman was my aunt.
happy1
Banned
happy1
Age: 31
Gender: Female
Posts: 52
April 30th, 2008 at 12:22pm
she has kept all 5 of my cusins away from me just because i'm emo.
Sad
Jeffree Star
Motor Baby
Jeffree Star
Age: -
Gender: Female
Posts: 950
April 30th, 2008 at 12:40pm
all alone:
she has kept all 5 of my cusins away from me just because i'm emo.
Sad

Hunny we need to discuss not stories okay
Thug Life.
Bleeding on the Floor
Thug Life.
Age: 33
Gender: Male
Posts: 1315
May 1st, 2008 at 01:59am
ChipmunkOnKetamine:

but surely we shouldn't force people to change the way they look because someone dictates that it is wrong? Okay maybe asking for the same punishment as race crimes is a bit severe, but I personally think that they should be punished more severely than if they just killed someone who was ordinary.

Its not calling for an 'anti - emo bashing bill', it's calling for a law to be passed that means that if you kill or attack someone because they look different IN ANY WAY you should receive a harsher punishment. It would work the same if a business man beat up a chav, or a chav killed a goth, or a goth attacked a punk, whatever. People are being attacked because they look different, and I don't think people should have to change themselves, just so they can walk own the street without being threatened.




well no because everyone looks different from the norm ? if you were to pass a bill like that then you would have to create a standard in which to dictate whats normal and whats not.

like the law would look super redundant and silly considering the people who have to regulate and enforce these laws have a minimum at best understanding of subcultures. on top of that if you do pass a law that makes it so that if you attack anyone who looks different in anyway that would make all people who attack other people answerable to this law cos not everyone looks the same. so effectively the current laws on assault and murder are fine they work perfectly and they get results even if you don't see it .

putting another law on top of another is just redundant seeing as people grow out of subcultures eventually.