Misbehaving mum to be Charlie Wilcox says 3,500 fags were good for her unborn baby Read more: http:

[oldironside]

"SHAMELESS Charlie Wilcox put her unborn tot at risk of serious damage as she proudly puffed her way through 3,500 fags during her pregnancy.

Amazingly, chain-smoking Charlie, 20, insists all the ciggies did daughter Lilly, now 14 weeks old, GOOD.

The misguided mum, who was featured on BBC3 series Misbehaving Mums To Be, reckons cutting off her unborn baby’s oxygen supply in the womb forced Lilly’s heart to work harder and made it stronger.

She bragged: “On average when I was pregnant I smoked a fag every 45 minutes – a minimum of 20 a day. Though I cut down to five a day at six months.

“I love just having something to do, roll a fag, smoke the fag, watch TV.”"


http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2011/06/01/misbehaving-mum-to-be-charlie-wilcox-says-3-500-fags-were-good-for-her-unborn-baby-115875-23170310/

Dear oh dear. Just like I used to convince myself my lungs were self cleaning when I had a good cough with the first fag of the day. Of course, I was only poisoning myself. While I can't condone the un-PC tone of the following comment from a Mirror reader, it did make me guffaw. Should I feel guilty?

"Why do we let retards like this even breed? Harming her unborn kid and hoovering up our hard earned taxes in the form of benefits. As for the dad saying he'd heard 'gossip' about smoking being harmful for unborn babies, it makes you wonder what sort of world these two fools live in.

To be honest they make Wayne and Waynetta Slob look like good parents."

[non sociopath skin]

1. Of course one is also entitled to ask why bad parenting is rewarded ...

... financially, one fears ... with TV appearances and photos in the red tops while good parenting has no news value.

The Skin

[Hopeless Romantic]

2. It's what a certain type of person wants to read though isn't it

How the "underclass" live.

Balanced of course by "lifestyles of the rich and famous" (aka, Bryan Briggs & Dwayne Loony and their latest tarts)

[Nihil]

3. That is a reaction that seems to occur more & more with "the mass media" these days ...

> "Why do we let retards like this even breed?"

Sadly, the alternative is riskier in the short term
(even though it is arguably better in the long term).

:shrug:

My usual solution is to avoid the free newspapers
(I don't bother with the red-tops anyway) and watch
even less TV ... (though that last option is getting
asymptotic to zero these days) ...

[non sociopath skin]

4. Looking forward to reading this ...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Chavs-Demonization-Working-Owen-Jones/dp/184467696X/ref=wl_it_dp_o?ie=UTF8&coliid=I38W3JXON4QTIN&colid=2SB7PLL8967HA

... which has had some good reviews and seems to have a fair stab at redressing the balance.

The Skin

[Nihil]

5. See what the book is actually like when it's released ...

... but I'm not optimistic given that its own description starts
"In modern Britain, the working class has become an object of fear and ridicule."

The problem highlighted in this thread isn't with "the working class", it is with
specific behaviours and the people who choose to adopt them.

[non sociopath skin]

6. I disagree.

Or don't you think that the average Mirror reader's verdict would be "typical bloody Chavs" ...?

The Skin

[Nihil]

7. I'd say the problem was with "your" identification ...

... of "typical bloody Chavs" with "the working class".

i.e., I don't believe that "Chavs" = "typical working class"
(or vice versa) but the idea that some people are trying to
promote is that A=B, regardless of the range of behaviours in "B".

I grew up as "typical working class" and (depending on your definitions
of course) I may still be classified as such. None of the people with
whom I grew up (i.e., social, educational, geographical, whatever)
would fit into the current class of "chav" (or any such similar
behaviour-oriented group) nor did they revel in the "delight" of
doing blatantly stupid and destructive (self- or otherwise) actions.

I disagree with your interpretation (but possibly not your underlying
views on the situation).

:shrug:

[non sociopath skin]

8. If that's "my" issue, then I probably need to sue Owen Jones for plagiarism ...

... together with all of the reviewers I've read so far.

BTW, congratulations on growing up in a community where no-one delighted in doing blatantly stupid and self-destructive things. It must have been quite a ball.

O8)

The Skin

[non sociopath skin]

9. "My" views seem to be catching on ...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-13626046

The Skin

[Nihil]

12. I only quoted the word "your" as I thought that it was your paraphrase of a paper ...

... "typical bloody Chavs" (seemingly in agreement) (ETA: in reply .6)
rather than what you stated personally so I was trying to avoid putting
words into your mouth. Sorry if it has caused any offence.

With regard to your link, I found it interesting that three of the
first four comments on the page agreed with my view of the word:

The derogatory nature of the word has come about as a result of
actions, not appearances.

The label "Chav" applies to how people behave, ...
There have always been, and there always will be elements of society
who behave in a selfish and inconsiderate manner. This category of
antisocial people will still exist even if they are not permitted
to be labelled.

Recently I have taken the term 'chav' to be more a reference to
someone's behaviour more than their class. Granted in most cases
it does apply to people of a certain class group, but if someone
has no respect for anyone else and generally engages in antisocial
behaviour, then in my eyes, that makes them a chav more than the
clothes they wear or the music they listen to.

From your comments (and those of the book reviewers/supporters)
it's obvious that there are multiple uses of the word "chav",
some of them deliberately being classist and some of them equally
deliberately being class-transparent, but now the talking-heads
have got their teeth into the "issue" (i.e., the use of the word
rather than the underlying behaviour or reasons for it) the signal
to noise ratio is going to plummet.

:shrug:

[non sociopath skin]

13. Fair enough, Nihil. Thanks for the discussion ...

Perhaps we can continue it when I've read Owen Jones's book.

The Skin

[tjwmason]

10. Thanks for the reference

It certainly looks like an interesting book.

The rise of the concept of the chav and its demonisation happening at the same time as the after effects of the deindustrialisation of the 1980s start to play out is surely too great of a coincidence to be without some degree of causality.

[non sociopath skin]

11. I agree, tjw.

From "Salt of the Earth" to "Chav" in 30 years is quite an achievement by the Political PR industry and its Wapping camp followers.

The Skin