Monday 11 May 2015

Benefits Street

Woo hoo! The Tories are back, and so is poverty porn...

On Benefits Street it’s freak show time,
Observe and salivate
As indolence, drugs and petty crime
Leech off the Welfare State!

We don’t cover those who scrimp and save
And play it by the rules;
It’s glittering BAFTAs that we crave,
D’you think we’re bloody fools?

No mention for working poor who earn
A pittance answering phones;
You only make headlines if you learn
To piss off Owen Jones.

Our cameras shun disabled folk
At whom assessors scowl,
We’d rather see Twitter up in smoke,
And hear the lynch mobs howl.

So caricatures we’ve put on screen,
Condemned by their own lips
As feckless, corrupt, weak-willed, unclean,
With great shoplifting tips.

“Community spirit” we profess
As central to our tale;
Our cast even boasts a shared address
When they’re hauled off to jail.

Though poverty comes in many forms,
It’s sexier on TV
To indicate that the welfare norm’s
Dysfunctionality.

When residents whine to Channel Four,
Our answer’s short and sweet:
Collateral damage we abhor,
But our CVs look neat!

On Benefits Street they’re well pissed off,
But we’re cool with the flak,
Protected by rules that let you scoff
At those who can’t hit back.

3 comments:

  1. Smashing, why can't all see this for what it is
    Thanks

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  2. Years ago a certain collective type would sally off to places like Bedlam ,prisons, and poor houses for a day's amusement of cheap frights and thrills,or go "sluming" around the environs of "the dark satanic mills" to sate their voyeuristic gratification, facile condemnation, and pompous piety.

    Here and now this attitude is being reinforced and expanded upon with the production of mainstream "welfare-vidporn" entertainment for an ever wider audience.

    Thankfully there were/are others of a certain type willing to challenge controlled,manufactured impoverishment and it's fallout, and the propaganda fueling it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Social voyeurism, class coonery, that's all it is IMO.

    ReplyDelete