Teens wearing hoodies = criminals?
 

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article...612362,00.html

What a bigot. I cannot believe the ignorance of that article. I wear hoodies all the time and know so many people that do the same - none of them are criminals, and I've only ever seen them wear the hoods up when it's stupidly cold or raining like a mother. I can't believe that anyone in the media, especially the times, would make such vague and impressionistic generalisations, and be so prejudiced, offering stereotypes as proof of a preconcieved belief. The sheer lack of professionalism is just astounding.

But to hear that they aren't letting anyone into bluewaters simply because they are even WEARING a hooded sweatshirt, I think is rediculous. Even if you've not got the hood up, you can't go in - They SELL hoodies in the store, yet they believe that anyone who wears hoodies is a criminal of some sort.

I want to hear what you guys think of this.

That's just stupid. I wear hoodies all the time. I can understand it in a tiny shop, but a full super-market is stupid.

Well, in rural America, there's a racial division between blacks and whites. Blacks, to the lower minds, are asscoiated with free spirited gangsters and pimps. While whites are asscoiated with corny christian weirdos. But a lot of my friends, all of my friends, are white, and they all wear hoods, BUT they have commited minor crimes in the past. But that still doesn't mean all hoodie wearers are criminals.

This is just as ridiculous as "If a guy wears pink, he is a faggot!", or "If someone wears a bandana, they are a gang member!".

That is complete and utter bullshit. I have lots of friends at school who wear hoodies and tend to be model citizens. It is astounding at how prejudiced some people can be.

They think what you wear dictates your behavior and vice-versa? Bastards.

That couldn't have been a respectable mainstream paper. You could tell the guy was mainly speaking to black men, when refering to the intimidating outfit. Of course he tried to hide his bias by throwing in a white example, and then basically saying everybody looks scary in them. Okay... why the hell would he single out black men in the first place then? He's only helping fuel the sterotype that African Americans are out to get white people. I'm really sick of this blaming of violence on almost anything that could possibly persuade the act. Why do they not see that some things are more complicated then that? You can't just point to something and say, "That's why he did it!". In my school, hoodies are banned, but of course you can buy and wear the school hoodie for 50 bucks, bullshit or what?

That's terrible and an example of clear ignorance. Here in suburbia it's common place to wear hoodies and almost all of the people who do aren't in gangs nor does it matter if they were. Every type of person at my high school seems to have worn a hoodie for one reason or another etc it doesn't matter.

I also agree with mojo I noticed his biggotry even more towards black people later on. Not to mention he started getting into a debate about diet drugs later wtf?

It's anti-young people propaganda! My friend was telling me about how he went into a shop to buy a loaf of bread and as he walked out of the shop he overheard a couple of old ladies whispering, "Look at him, stealing that loaf of bread, fucking kids today".

My local shopping centre said that they wouldn't be banning hoody wearing or burberry clad kids from entering. That's all well and good, I can go inside. But so can the chavs who want to kill me.
While I understand that hoodies are not the uniform of criminals, banning them does filter the chavs so I support the idea in some ways and oppose it.

No believe it or not, that is a respectable paper. It's one of the UK's top mainstream newsrags.

The article is a review of the articles in the Sunday Times, which is why it features comments at the bottom about the anti-fat drugs. But it angers me that the reviewer has remained anonymous. I hope they recieved complaints over it.

It's fearmongering... nothing more... if you inject the masses with the idea that hoodies are scary, then they will come round to that idea.

What fucking bullshit. How can... wow. How the fuck do people come these conclusions? Jesus. I hate this shit. Fucking world today, man.

I would never wear 'hoodies'. Too unstylish ;).

Hoodies= criminals? Bullsh*t. I wear hoodies all the time, so do my friends. None of us have ever done a crime. Next thing they're going to be banning just about anything else that has any style.

The whole world just seems to be against young people. I went into the shop the other day to buy a drink, decided they didn't have anything I liked and left. As I did the shopkeeper gave me a realy dirty look and watched me as I left as if he expected me to pull half his stock out from under my shirt once I was out the door.
Really it does them no good cause I won't be goin in there ever again if I can help it.

I went into a restaurant with my mum a while ago wearing a hat and the manager came out and told me to take it off so their security cameras could see my face. CAN THEY POSSIBLY MAKE IT ANY CLEARER THAT THEY DON'T WANT ME IN THERE? People are saying "children are so impolite" but really they weren't angels themselves.

So what's he trying to say, all teenagers break the law at one time or another? It's just so prejudice! You might have broken the law as a kid mate but not everyone does. Maybe he's forgotten what it's like to be young as well. The guy (or girl) needs to get over him/herself before making judgements about everyone else.

Totally. It's like "oh, there's something that the young people enjoy, it seems to make them happy, quick! Take their happyness away from them!". If anything is rude, yobbish, thuglike and impolite, it's the way these people are treating teenagers. Tarring them all with the same brush like that, making them take their hoodies and baseball caps off before they go into shops... these people should be banned from life.

I suppose you wear a smoking jacket when you attend dinner parties in your Mayfair mansion. Guvnor'! ;)

It's bullshit that they clain it covers our heads. They wouldn't ask as Sihk (or what have you, excuse my racial ignorence) to remove a turban in a shop now would they now?

Same goes for denim jackets here. People act like they're being harassed for seeing me in a denim jacket.
I mean, WTF? I never wear denim jackets. Only for "special bussinesses".

And um,
Hoodies aren't unstylish, bud. You just need to find the right ones.

ignorance and generalization. nothing more.

It stands to reason that if the majority of people seen wearing hoodies do then break the law or steal from shops, then people will assossiate hoodies with such lawbreaking.

It's not like they pull this stuff out of their arse.

This reminds me of the time I had to take off a jersey and baseball cap because it was game related. How the **** are the Vikings related to gangs? You know, most people who commit crimes are wearing underwear. Lets ban underwear. The money we save can be donated to help the poor and needy and the world will be a more peaceful place without wedgies and constriction.
Edit: Do any of you guys remember hooded sweatshirts with drawstrings? My state banned them but when I was little I had a hand-me-down Suns sweatshirt with the drawstrings. That shirt was amazing for the fall. Also very good to pier fish in.

I wear a hoodie on many occasions. Especially around the house, I find them and trackie pants to be great. Especially in Winter. Outside, I also wear a hoodie, but not as much. Depends who I'm with.

Alcar...

LONG LIVE DRAWSTRINGS!!!!!!

I disagree, I think it's exactly like they pull this stuff out of their arse. In fact, I believe that it's the minority, not majority, that commit the crimes that they're talking about, and these generalising bigots are the ones who make the majority suffer for it.

Teenagers who commit crimes pull the hood over their head because it's a convenient way to avoid being nicked by cctv, not because it's a symbol of gang, thug, and yob culture. And that's why it's a rediculous statement to make.

"Oh, it's so against young people! They want to destroy our happiness!! The world is against us! The woe! The woe!"

Shut. The. F*ck. Up.

The majority of people i know who wear Hoodies are decent people, also. In fact, all of the Alternatives i know are really nice people, but that doesn't mean you're not going to get your typical d*cksh*ts who're going to wear your hoodies for the conveiniance of commiting a crime.

In fact, i couldn't care less about the baseball cap ban, 'cos at least that filters out the Lower Orders who not only intimidate with their pack-like behaviour but also colour the air blue with their vile and foul language.

The hoodie thing i am more sympathetic over, as it does seem to be a mass generalisation when it clearly isn't every hoodie-wearing youth who's being a little shenanigan. If they had taken the time to look at the CCTV they would clearly see a distinction between the different social groups. Then again, Bluewater has been subject to crime in the past by vile little thugs, so is it really their fault that they're so wound up about it?

From the "All Blacks wear hoodies" standpoint, from what i've seen in Hull, every TEENAGE Black guy i've seen has been a clone of Dizzy-Rascal himself, what with the baseball caps, the "bling-bling" (i loathe that term) and the hoods and the Basketball shirts with the baggy jeans and the "Whut up, w3rd to big burd, dawwwg!" And yes, when they're in a big group, they are intimidating, and they must know they're intimidating even if they don't want to be.

At the end of the day the ones who are genuine and merely want to buy something only have to take their items of clothing off so they can enter, it's not as if they're saying "No young people can enter...especially not Blacks" 'cos they're not, so get over it.

Jesus Christ, if we weren't seperated by thousands of miles I'd throttle your racist ass.
Also, there is nothing wrong with baseball caps. Click caps pwn.

1. You can't throttle an ass.
2. He's being reasonable and most of all NOT racist. So quit yelling and get over yo'selves, dude.

Before it's too late, I'm leaving this topic.
*leaves*

Stop throwing the word "Racist" around you idiotic piece of shissen!! Most of all, stop trying to use it to control people!

Christ.

Secondly - Baseball caps, in England, are a sign you are a specimen worthy of vivisection...

Same here. I don't what the **** is wrong with those idiots.

They should all try to be more like Derek.

Derek roxorz my boxorz!
But I doubt these morons appreciate him like we do, they're probably liking Science more than Derek. :p

How the hell is categorizing the entire teenage black population as hoodie wearing, intimidating "Dizzy Rascals" not RACIST and not OFFENSIVE? People who wear baseball caps are a "lower order?" What if he called them thuggish watermelon eating jungle bunnies? Would that have been racist enough to raise your hackles? You can throttle an ass, and I'd be gald to do it. I'd love to kick a mudhole in that sheet-wearing bastard and stomp it dry.

Hooray for Statikk!

Racism = Bad, definetly. Jacob does not seem to grasp that.

Failure.
note the 'i've seen'.

Indeed they are, in Britain right now at least. It wasn't always like that but it is now. I can totally see what Jacob is saying. I don't agree with his racism views though.

Jacob isn't being racist (I keep spelling rasist... annoying word)
To clear it up: Note the "I"'ve seen.

Edit: I forgot I left this thread.
*leaves again*

ARGH.

Jacob fucking go away if you're going to be a hypocrite. You say that prejudice against people who wear hoodies is wrong but then you display an equally awful prejudice against people who wear baseball caps and teenage black kids who wear urban clothing. They're just a subculture - granted the subculture has a lot of gangs in it who glorify their crime by saying that it's part of their popular culture but the fact is that it's not. But for the most part it's just young black kids who look up to their idols and peers, and associate with them and their culture by wearing the same clothes. When was the last goddamn time you heard a news report about a black kid who was dressed like freaken 50 cent who killed anyone? Or vandalised anything? Or robbed an old lady? You barely EVER hear about it. If it all. In fact I've never seen a single black kid on Street Crime UK, and the number of times I've seen that stupid show because there's been nothing else on probably outnumbers the times you've got laid.

Now compare that to spending 30 minutes watching one of Sky Digital's programmes about british crime... how many of them are white chavs? ALL OF THEM? OH THERE'S A SUPRISE.

Yes, chavs wear baseball caps, but you know what? Statistically, the majority of UK teenagers dress like that. Now when you get a majority group of teenagers, then of course that group are going to be the largest group of teenagers responsible for crime. Baseball hats are just the style, they're not directly linked to causing crime, so do you think banning them will just stop the crime? NO. You'd have to be deluded to think that. All that will happen is they will just take their hat off and THEN go steal things. You can outlaw clothing but you'll never bring a stop to human nature, because human nature is dictated by the people not the clothes.

Chavs aren't the only people who wear baseball caps. Skaters, surfers, extreme sports junkies, even golfers, sunbathers, and several famous people. You can't just label them "the lower order" because they're wearing a fashionable article of clothing designed to shade the face from the sun. It's clearly rediculous.

You know Jacob, for a gay, you are pretty damn intolerant sometimes

I don't have time to read the whole thread at the moment, but generally the people that come in to the store I work at with their hoodies up do steal things. I'm not just assuming either, because we often catch them.
Skaties.
Scum of the earth.

Okay, where exactly did i say that clothing was linked to crime? Upon re-reading my post, i do believe the points i stated where -

* Blacks (or anyone, for that matter) in Dizzy-Rascal gear and hoodies can be considered intimidating.
* I couldn't care less about the baseball cap ban because it filters out the Lower Orders. Meaning that the people who genuinely want to purchase something will merely take their hats off and the thieves will be put off.

'When was the last goddamn time you heard a news report about a black kid who was dressed like freaken 50 cent who killed anyone? Or vandalised anything? Or robbed an old lady? You barely EVER hear about it.'

I don't see where this response to my post comes from, but to respond to it anyway, the news barely publishes the racial tension between the Iraqi's and the Iranians or any of the other Eastern immigrants, it doesn't mean that it's not there.

'In fact I've never seen a single black kid on Street Crime UK'

I don't know what that is, but on one episode of Crime Watch that i saw a few months back, there were quite a few Blacks. But that's not to say all of them are thugs, it's merely to counter your point.

'Yes, chavs wear baseball caps but you know what? Statistically, the majority of UK teenagers dress like that'

Okay, fine -
Baseball cap wearing, Gold ridden (this includes their tacky "knuckleduster rings", large Gold earrings that look like they could be used in a circus and their Gold clown necklaces), sports-ridden, burberry molesting peeps. There we go. Satisfied.

'Chavs aren't the only people who wear baseball caps. Skaters, surfers, extreme sports junkies, even golfers, sunbathers, and several famous people. You can't just label them "the lower order" because they're wearing a fashionable article of clothing designed to shade the face from the sun. It's clearly rediculous.'

There, see above then. Besides, i'm sure from previous posts i've made you knew exactly what i meant.

Oh, and for the people who are calling me racist, feel free to quote my racist comments.

I've only had time to scan over the thread, so...

All I'd say is that it makes sense to me that somewhere like Bluewater would want to ban hoodies - I know it's a massive generalisation, to say "all teens wearing hoodies are thugs" (my brother wears them and he's not), but a lot of them ARE, and even if they're NOT a lot of the older generation will feel threatened by small clusters of teens simply by what they may have seen on the news or read about in the papers. It's a knee-jerk reaction, sure - oh my goodness, there's a gang of those terrible hooded-pullover-wearing youths over there, I hope I don't get mugged for my pension! - but if a person is on their own I can imagine they DO feel threatened, especially if they have to walk past a group of teenagers stood talking quietly, hands in pockets, watching them walk past.

Bluewater want to keep their older clientele coming in, since they usually have more money than the teens, and because they want to make it a "welcoming environment" for them they keep the unwanted ones - the hoodies and baseball caps - out. Perhaps it just feeds society's growing paranoia about hoodies, but it does make sense in a way to me. *shrugs*

Mind you, I've not heard anyone say it's bigotry to ask a motorcycle-rider to remove his/her helmet before entering a bank. Does this mean all motorcyclists are potential bank robbers?

Asking a motorcyclist to remove his helmet when he comes into a bank is a moot point - banks haven't banned the wearing of hoods or baseball caps. Bluewaters won't even let you in if you're wearing a hooded sweater, yet as an ultimate example of hypocrisy they sell hooded sweaters in their shopping center.

Bluewaters don't need to ban hoodies and baseball caps. They aren't intimidating - the only reason that anyone is scared of teenagers who wear their hoods up is because the news media has been fearmongering to make teenagers lives more difficult than they already are.

Muslim terrorists wear turbans, and now there are many people who are ignorant enough to get intimidated by people who wear turbans - but do you think we should ban those too? Just because a small group of teens use hoods to conceal themselves when they commit crime doesn't instantly mean that it's how all teenagers behave and hoods should be banned. It's ridiculous, irrational and unreasonable.

Surely they could just take off their hoodies or caps before they enter Bluewater? That's if they were entering for kosher reasons.

'Muslim terrorists wear turbans'

There's a generalisation that can go straight to the 'Generalising...' topic.

Out of intrigue, Dino. Are you Codek?