i dont know what it was like 35-40 years ago, but i do remember the early 80's when you could hardly go on a train for fear of teenage skinheads going on the rampage.
give me a choice between having a snowball fight with a kid in a hoodie or a fight with a load of skinheads i know which i would prefer.
seems a lot of people on here have forgotten those 'good old days'
anyway, god only knows what this thread has to do with photography anymore, it seems to have turned into a flaming match about M.E.
Let me recount some of my experiences growing up in Gorton , Manchester in the 70’s
1, Someone trying to stab me in the school dining hall
2, Graffiti written in four foot high letters on the side of the school naming teachers and using language that would make a Marine blush
3, Use of Amphetamines and Diazepam ( Know then as Purple Hearts and Valium, the latter which you nicked off your mum)
4, Skinhead and Greaser fights using lots of make shift weapons
5, The police did search people at football matches as one of the favourites was to throw darts into the opposing crowd.
6, Theft of motorcycles, repairing and driving mopeds without Tax , Insurance or helmet and being chased by the police in Mini Panda cars
The list could go on and on, but isn’t the real difficulty here the reaction of some posters who see young people as the enemy ?
Let me tell you about an incident which happened to me a few years ago, I was in a country park taking photographs of squirrels when a group of youths, male and female walked towards me.
They started clapping and swearing and scared away the squirrels, they thought it was funny, so I asked the ring leader if he would like a go at taking a picture of a squirrel .
Within five minutes I had a silent engaged group of young people staring at the LCD of my camera at the pictures they had taken which to be fair were out of focus and full of camera shake, the point was an adult had involved them.
The added bonus was for the next ten minutes some of them started asking passers by to be quiet and sssh as you might scare the squirrels!!
Did I take a risk engaging with young people I did not know in this way? Yes I did, I am sure that some wet behind the ears social worker could accuse me of all sorts.
But I ask the question, Is it a bigger risk to alienate our young people who can be pains in the behind, calling them chavs and scum ?
And what responsibility to we have when modelling so called adult behaviour?
Oh yes , as to the poster who wanted to get rid of people with disabilities, or skin colour, someone has beaten you to it !!
I think he was called Hitler :shrug: