digitaltoast

You are really, really not going to believe this – here are a few brown pearls of wisdom from Tom Hampson of the Fabian Society (the people that brought you political correctness).

UPDATE: Jon Holmes covered this on The Now Show on BBC Radio 4 on 1st Aug 2008 – here’s the mp3

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‘Chav’ is way above the threshold of acceptability. It is deeply offensive

In whose opinion?

to a largely voiceless group

HA! Voiceless?! If only! You really haven’t left your Islington flat in a while, have you?

and – especially when used in normal middle-class conversation or on national TV – it betrays a deep and revealing level of class hatred.

I’ll come back to this. Keep going before the coke hits….

The phenomenon of the word has grown over the last five years. Initially it was purely a term of abuse. (You only have to visit the website chavscum.com to see this – have a look at it and be appalled.)

Er, knock knock? Not noticed that it became chavtowns.co.uk a while back? Never mind, doesn’t seem you’re on the same planet anyway

You cannot consider yourself of the left and use the word.

Although I don’t consider myself on the left anyway, how patronising can you get? So, left = mental and unable to have an opinion?! I know several “people of the left” – their opinion is wrong, of course, but I haven’t even for one moment considered such nonsense as that last sentence.

It is sneering and patronising

A little like your article, Tom?

and – perhaps most dangerous – it is distancing, turning the ‘chav’ into the kind of feral beast that exists only in tabloid headlines.

There is nothing I would like more than distance from chavs, and nothing would please me more if they really DID exist only in tabloid headlines, but if I can just get you to pop your copy of Socialist Worker down and look in the real world for a moment, you’ll find they are very much feral, and very much out there.

But who does the white working class have?

WORKING class? If ignorance is bliss, you must be a very happy man, Tom. Chavs are not “working class”. You seem to think they are somehow forced into their position. You don’t have Burberry, prison-white trainers and a Renault Clio Turbo forced on you. You aspire to it. Chavs relish, embrace and cultivate the way they are.

You might think they would at least have the progressive left, but it would seem not.

Since when did “progressive” equate to “ignorant”?

The BBC should specify the word in its guidelines for programme makers and take class discrimination seriously. The new Commission for Equality and Human Rights should show that they understand class discrimination is an issue that can have effects as detrimental as racial or gender bias.

I’m really beginning to wonder if my clock is set wrong and it’s actually April Fool’s Day.

But more importantly, we must stop using it ourselves. From now on – embarrassingly PC though it may seem – I shall audibly ‘tut tut’ and wince whenever I hear it used. You should too.

Should I? Well, thanks for giving us the benefit of Comrade Hampson’s wisdom.

If you need an antidote by now, I suggest The Campaign Against Political Correctness.

If Tom is reading this, here’s something to keep him happy:

David Thompson has also blogged about this. Guardian Article. BBC article.