Thursday 27 September 2012

'Pleb' Phenomena in Rochdale Sex Grooming?

'Looking back, it is astonishing how intimately, intelligently snobbish we all were, how knowledgeable about names addresses, how swift to detect small differences in accents and manners and the cut of clothes.'  
         George Orwell in his essay: 'Such, Such Were the Joys'.
FOLLOWING a report published today by Rochdale Borough Safeguarding Children Board (RBSCB) into the child sex exploitation of young girls in the town, some as young as 10, it is worth asking to what extent this sex grooming case in Rochdale has been facilitated by a culture of inverted institutional racism by social workers?  Or might it simply be that the lower middle-class profession of social workers and civil servants identify more readily, as a class, with Asian taxi drivers and businessmen, than they do with white working-class girls.  Are these Lancashire lasses just a new 'pleb' category in the eyes of the civil servants?

It seems that the social workers in Rochdale considered that the girl victims were their own worst enemies, and that they had made a life-style choice to become 'prostitutes', even though they were below the age of consent to have sexual relations.  The Rochdale social workers appear to have closed their eyes to what was statutory rape. 

This morning, Rochdale MP Simon Danczuk said on Radio 4's Today Program, that the Rochdale social workers had been 'Blaming the victims' and that, he believed, the 'perpetrators (rapists) were emboldened' because they 'knew the perspective that social services had on this, and knew that they would get away with it''We must find these people; who've set this culture, ' insisted Mr. Danczuk. 

Will heads roll in Rochdale over this issue?  This morning, the new Chief Executive of Rochdale Borough Council, Jim Taylor, was reluctant to admit if any of those responsible for what happened to these young girls were still in their posts.

It may well be, of course, that we are all broadly responsible for what happened, particularly sections of the politically correct left.  It could be that by allowing some sections of our communities to portray themselves as 'automatic victims' by virtue of their ethnic identity or other characteristics, either biological or cultural, that we all have become what Ludwig Wittgenstein described as 'aspect blind', and thereby tend to ignore or demean certain categories of humanity that do not fit into the more fashionable 'victim' categories:  such as 'ethnic'; 'female'; 'gay'; transexual'; 'transvestite; 'animal' etc.  Could it be that we have become so blind in our prejudices about exotic 'otherness' and 'Votes for Oysters', that we are now ignoring what's going on under our noses:  among the ordinary white working-class Lancashire lasses in our midst?

The place and positioning of class hierarchies and social bias is so subtle in England:  thus the taxi driver; the Asian businessman; the English civil servant and the Rochdale social worker now have more in common with each other than any of them will ever have with our young white working-class Lancashire lasses.  The corruption of social class is so deeply entrenched in English society that it almost defies definition, and for this reason it is so easily exploited by elements within the class system.  The reference to 'plebs' by a Tory Minister last week was much more than a Freudian slip -  in England, we are all aware of our place..
______________________________________________________
The printed version of NORTHERN VOICES No.13, now on sale with all sorts of stuff others won't touch. NORTHERN VOICES No.12 with the Cyril Smith 'Instead of an Obituary' is also still available and may be obtained as follows:
Postal subscription: £5 for the next two issues (post included). Cheques payable to 'Northern Voices' at c/o 52, Todmorden Road, Burnley, Lancashire BB10 4AH.
Tel.: 0161 793 5122.
email: northernvoices@hotmail.com

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

My mother died in August this year from Cancer. During her illness we received the "benefit" of visits from local council "care" workers who were patronising to say the least. Or rather they were patronising untill they saw my university graduation photos (BA Hons and MA). I was clearly not then a 'pleb'.

And don't forget that the local powers-that-be only took the complaints about Harold Shipman seriously when a solicitor complained about the death of her mother, a former mayoress.