This almost crosses over with the "I witnessed a crime" qotw...
...insofar as we were also asked "are you a have-a-go hero?"

Well, I've found it slightly worrying to sit on a London bus of late. At certain times of day, from the rear of the top deck, inevitably comes the high pitched chav-squeak of a collective of revolting little arsewipes, who are talking in their meaningless sub-language, bloating themselves on e-number-rich junk food, playing some shitty "r 'n' b"* tune on their mobiles and general being a nuisance as the afternoon sun glints off their myriad piercings and bits of tacky jewellery*.

And my first thought is always:
"For god's sake. I would never have behaved like that when I was their age."
I first had that thought when I was 20. Surely I'm not supposed to think this way until I'm 40 and reading the Daily Mail? Yet I still want, sometimes, to turn round and tell them this. Very loudly. Possibly followed by a Full Metal Jacket-style tirade of abuse. (Of course I know full well that, if I do, I'll cock it up and just be laughed at.)

Build me a concentration camp. It is time to correct society.

*_{Or whatever they're into these days. I could have sworn "R 'n' B" stood for "Rhythm & Blues." But I'm sure that's been a thread on here already, before I start ranting for the second time in the same post...}
**_{Why, at this age, do they need mobile phones and jewellery? It looks disgusting, and if I managed to live without a mobile phone until I was 19, they fucking can as well. God knows it might shut the filthy little bleeders up for five minutes...}
(LongJohnBaldry, Thu 17 Apr 2008, 15:57, 15 replies)

Your not alone
I was 21 when i first thought that. 23 now so no real gap in age, but your right. This generation of chav have grown up knowing their "human" (used in the loosest terms in relation to them) rights and they think that they own everything.
(Jack the sparrow dodger, Thu 17 Apr 2008, 16:03, closed)

Yes, that's always their first response isn't it?
"You can't do this to me, I've got rights bruv/innit/like/whatever (delete as appropriate)"

Yes, yes you have. But this must be balanced against my right not to be driven to the point of murderous rage by the sheer inanity of your existence...

I mean...um...with those rights come responsibilities, which...um...all the rest of that spiel which their teachers should be drilling into them on a daily basis...
(LongJohnBaldry, Thu 17 Apr 2008, 16:08, closed)

re: rights
someone was going on at me the other day about another person's "right" to be a mother. AFAIK, and Enzyme probably knows the laws and the arguments, no one has a "right" to be a parent, do they?
( crackhouseceilidhband Fuck off back to Mumsnet, Thu 17 Apr 2008, 16:13, closed)

Hows about
Defining them as sub-humans?

Alternatively, and abandoning the Naziish ideas temporarily, why not harp on at the manufacturer to make the speakers better so you at least don't have to put up with the distortion? Or stop it putting out music through the speakers; only through headphones?

Or, even better, attack them with some sort of EMP grenade...

Also, we should ban crap jewellery.
( uberdeity Wondered why Owen Lars knew of the term "hell" on, Thu 17 Apr 2008, 16:15, closed)

R'n'B
You're spot on.

I can't remember exactly when the transition was between Rhythm and Blues and whatever the fuck it stands for now. But it did surprise me when I went to a Jukebox in a pub and pressed R'n'B and got this complete load of talentless rubbish.
( Legless Mister Stabby - shanks for the memory, Thu 17 Apr 2008, 16:26, closed)

^^ "You can't do this to me, I've got rights"
I've not encountered this phrase personally, but I'd be awfully tempted to ask them what their rights are. Probably the only ones they've been told they have are the right to remain silent and the right to a solicitor.
( le brian, Thu 17 Apr 2008, 16:27, closed)

@CHCB
I agree, the "right" to be a parent is an interesting one, cf that story about the American transsexual who recently conceived. (I'd post the link but I'm not sure I dare type 'transsexual' into the search engine while I'm at work...)

I get very tetchy when people start confusing legal rights with biological capabilities in that fashion. (e.g., in the story above, "No, there is nothing legal to prevent you trying to conceive, but you relinquished your biological 'right' to do so when you had the operation to become a man") As for the rest of them, "Yes, it may be within your biological limits to have eight kids by different fathers. It's just fucking selfish of you to inflict them on the rest of us."

EDIT: Nice sig, by the way. (That is a great song.)
(LongJohnBaldry, Thu 17 Apr 2008, 16:38, closed)

If only it were illegal
or legal to beat the little shite bags!

I blame the parents!
( Far Out Slave last ate at, Thu 17 Apr 2008, 16:40, closed)

@ Supreme Crow - It may be the case in the States
but surely it is not the case in the UK? Didn't the European Court of Human Rights rule against (can't remember her name) the woman who wanted to use the frozen embryos? And wasn't part of the argument that a woman does not have the right to be a mother just because she is biologically a woman?

(Tis a good song, isn't it? It's been stuck in my head for a week now.)
( crackhouseceilidhband Fuck off back to Mumsnet, Thu 17 Apr 2008, 16:43, closed)

@CHCB
Good point - I know this subject always kicks up a lot of fuss on both sides of the argument, much like the woman who wanted to use her dead husband's sperm. I didn't realise they'd ruled against her, but I'd be very reassured if they did. I find there's something very selfish about the argument "I have a uterus and therefore the right to a child," given that the women who tend to use it are often in their 50s or older and/or going through a menopause, and therefore not in a good position to raise a child properly even if they could conceive.

Fresh can of worms, anyone? I blame the culture of instant gratification.

/awaits simultaneous flaming from feminists and capitalists
(LongJohnBaldry, Thu 17 Apr 2008, 16:54, closed)

Oi, I'm a feminist
but I won't flame.

The idea of these kind of 'rights' doesn't sit easy with me. Too difficult to practicably apply across the board, for starters.
( crackhouseceilidhband Fuck off back to Mumsnet, Thu 17 Apr 2008, 16:56, closed)

*Sigh*
All teenagers are really not so bad. Just because the irritating as fuck ability to play music at the back of the bus has come about now doesn't mean it wouldn't have been done back in the day, if possible.

However, re: 'women should be able to have kids just because they are women', I totally agree.
(The Disillusioned Starburst, Fri 18 Apr 2008, 22:58, closed)

Grr
I'm 16. I think the same way.

*fumes at my generation*
(Holy Gabrielle is Holy, Sat 19 Apr 2008, 10:59, closed)

Yes
This is why I tend to just nod when people talk about how badly Los Angeles needs more public transportation.

Thanks, but I'll take my cheap little minimally polluting econocar where I can choose the music and the temperature and, most importantly, the passengers, and deal with the traffic.

If I want to find out more about the decline of civil behavior in my fair city, I'll read the paper. I don't need to be confronted with it directly, as I'm close enough to saving up for a desert compound as it is. (Guns, dune buggies, young women with poor impulse control, no neighbors for miles, much less crowds of aimless youth playing R&B. Property prices are coming down in CA, so this isn't entirely out of the question.)

And honestly, WTF is it with R&B?

I mean, I get almost every other form of music. Opera gives fat people a chance to be admired, rap music gives white kids a chance to pretend they're black without having to know or interact with any actual black people, techno makes working out and long car trips more fun, classic rock allows everyone to indulge their inner mullethead, country music is fun (and a super way to annoy the PC crowd), and even goth music gives pale-skinned depressed girls an chance to wear bosom revealing outfits and get out of the house (thereby making it the greatest form of music of all time, regardless of how it actually sounds).

But WTF is it with R&B? It's the most boring and worthless shit of ALL TIME? I swear to god, I can't blame the artists, as I'd pump out those musical turds by the bucket for that kind of $, but people who listen to it really worry me. It's music for people who don't like music, kind of like Dane Cook is a comedian for people who lack a sense of humor. My only hope is that Dane Cook shows and R&B concerts are being tracked by the government and a gas that renders attendees sterile is being pumped into the ventilation, so that these horrors don't continue for future generations.
(not here, Sat 19 Apr 2008, 16:00, closed)

Saw the supreme cow's post
and thought "wow, I was thinking of posting that"

I am 20 as well and have the same kind of outlook.
( Extinct Jesus Dossier "...I think it counteracts Hitler's magic...", Tue 22 Apr 2008, 23:39, closed)