Chav-tastic

[dreamer_easy]

Oh, now I get what the hell a "chav" is. They're the young people in Britain you're supposed to be afraid of and allowed to sneer at. It was a reference to "the national sport of chav-baiting" in a news item that tipped me off. The Australian equivalent at the mo would be young Lebanese-Australian men.

Comments

[jblum.livejournal.com]

It's more an urban variant on the "white trash" stereotype, even though it crosses racial lines.

[kateorman.livejournal.com]

Have there been moral panics in the US about poor Whites? I'll bet there have. Although it's possible Americans are supposed to be afraid of poor young Black men and laugh at poor young White women, spreading the snobbery around.

[jblum.livejournal.com]

Have there been moral panics in the US about poor Whites? I'll bet there have.

Not moral indignation so much as moral contempt, a portrayal of them as degenerates. A la Deliverance.