More police action over "non crimes"

I am keen for the police to trace individuals whose violent crimes have a demonstrable impact on the local community.

This is pretty much my perspective too. Could this person potentially upset someone? Maybe, I guess, but robbers and rapists and domestic abusers definitely upset people, so perhaps the police could refocus on them for a bit, if they can bear to take time out of their busy chatting to people about things they've said on the internet and inspecting people's shopping bags schedules.

Wearing a costume in public?
Dinosaurs ok but plague doctor masks are not?
Not even quarantine can stop harassers from harassing.

You're welcome hoodathunkit It's on my very long list.... And look at this beautiful plague doctor outfit
I'm fascinated by how people are coping with our new circumstances.

There's a lovely pattern for a patchwork plague mask here: mctreeleth.tumblr.com/post/615290993946820608/here-it-is-the-instructions-to-make-a-pieced-and

Thanks for sharing that

It's very beautiful

I really like masks :)

I loathe Irvine Welsh. He is an unpleasant, hypocritical, one- trick pony.

So far as drugs, Welsh likes the squalid glamour of junkies but I doubt that apart from smoking a joint when he lived in Amsterdam (whilst droning on about how Scotland should be independent) that he's done any serious drugs.

I do not know the man personally

However years ago, during the time when I went to a lot of festivals and raves, I knew people who knew him and bumped into him a few times.

All I can say is that he seemed very much the worse for wear, in a huggy, sweaty, gurning kind of way ;)

Hmm ... drugs, maybe. I think it might actually have been too much success, too soon! He got a bit 'Hollywood' and full of himself, I think

I loathe Irvine Welsh. He is an unpleasant, hypocritical, one- trick pony.

So far as drugs, Welsh likes the squalid glamour of junkies but I doubt that apart from smoking a joint when he lived in Amsterdam (whilst droning on about how Scotland should be independent) that he's done any serious drugs.

Police are keen to trace the individual in order to provide words of advice about the implications of his actions on the local community.

I am keen for the police to trace individuals whose violent crimes have a demonstrable impact on the local community.

RuffleCrow
And as this person is almost certainly a young white man on a power trip, it's even more important it's addressed.

I would put ready money on it being one of the vast horde of East Anglian historical re-enactors. I know several who have this very outfit in their wardrobes, and who would wear it as a joke. Perhaps not a very well thought out joke, but a joke nonetheless.

Whoever it is is doing nothing criminal, and most kids see scarier things on Horrible Histories.

There's a lovely pattern for a patchwork plague mask here: mctreeleth.tumblr.com/post/615290993946820608/here-it-is-the-instructions-to-make-a-pieced-and

The great thing about living in this country is that in daily life we can wear whatever we want. If this person isn't breaking the law, let them be.

Hmm ... drugs, maybe. I think it might actually have been too much success, too soon! He got a bit 'Hollywood' and full of himself, I think.

Welsh is from Edinburgh. It's a (rough) Edinburgh accent (in both senses).

Thanks for the clarification :)

I knew he was from Edinburgh, just wasn't sure of the accent in the story.

Sometimes Welsh has some pretty good ideas, and he can be really funny, but often the insistence of trying to shock incessantly as a plot device gets tiresome pretty quickly.

Agreed. I loved most of the stories in the Acid House. I also loved Trainspotting. I was less impressed by Maribou Stork Nightmares and I didn't get far with Filth for exactly the reasons you describe.

I think he lost his way at some point (drugs?)

I was also put off by an uncritical, celebratory quote by him on a later edition of Pimp - The Story of my Life by Iceberg Slim

Even Iceberg Slim (real name Robert Beck) repented of his earlier life when he became older.

I would actually recommend reading Pimp - The Story of my Life to feminists with strong stomachs who possess a genuine curiosity about the childhood experiences that can turn a little boy into a woman-hating violent pimp. The book is also educational about the kind of pseudo-academic organisations operated by pimps that train newbies in the craft and the nuanced and various forms of coercive control that pimps use to exploit their victims.

These issues are not really talked about outside pimp circles but exist in various forms to this day.

The book also describes the impact of appalling racism on the development of Beck as a child and adult and how it influences his hatred for white people generally and white women in particular.

Beck's other works also provide an educative expereince to anyone interested in crime, especially short and long cons.

The books are extremely disturbing and I doubt most readers here could get far with them, I mention them purely for the readers who, like me, are highly resilient and whose passion for learning about the dynamics of abuse are greater than their capacity to be disturbed.

I got dd to read it in her very RP accent

She changed cunt to christmas...which got very confusing

Welsh is from Edinburgh. It's a (rough) Edinburgh accent (in both senses). Sometimes Welsh has some pretty good ideas, and he can be really funny, but often the insistence of trying to shock incessantly as a plot device gets tiresome pretty quickly.

That, I would say, is the reason behind the (over)use of the word cunt in this story. Welsh does tend to over-egg it considerably, often because he's trying to bolster his work with some extra 'hardness' and grit.

Well that will be a very nice change from everything being womens fault

Aah, being a white man.
The new ‘original sin’

And ive just enjoyed hoodas explanation

Me too.

I enjoyed it

It reminded me of a video that was on the news a while back where someone (may have been Known to the man in question) jumped out of a dustbin when someone walked past and got lamped...purely reflex

And ive just enjoyed hoodas explanation

Eh what, depictions of gratuitous male violence and overuse of the word "cunt"? I'm alarmed, I'm distressed, somebody help me...

The short story is a beautifully observed character depiction, written in the first person, by a man who is coarse, uneducated and impulsively violent. We all know that such men exist yes?

In the same way that a well executed painting conveys immense complexity with just a few brush strokes, this short story conveys a multi-layered exploration of the more brutal elements of this man’s character, whilst also conveying his protective fatherly instincts towards his child, his compassion for an unfortunate man in a bear costume (a man he had previously violently assaulted), and his own perception of his compassionate nature, a perception that is somewhat inflated.

The word “cunt” is liberally used throughout as the piece is written in a (Glaswegian?) vernacular, in a sub-culture where the word is used frequently to convey a range of emotions from contempt to deep affection for a friend. The use of the word anchors the narrator in a specific class, time and place.

This thread reminded me of the story because the story shares a number of central themes with the thread, namely;

1. that young children are not infrequently frightened by people in fancy dress costumes

1. parents are, naturally, protective towards their children regardless of the intent of the person in the costume

1. the person in the costume can suffer punitive consequences due to reactions from those concerned to protect children from people in fancy dress costumes

The story explored the extent to which we should hold an individual person accountable for the distress caused to children and easily frightened people by people wearing fancy dress costumes in public

It also explores the extent to which the people concerned to protect children and easily frightened people from being scared can themselves become oppressive by taking action (or in this case demanding that the police take action)

A person taking action to stop a child being scared in such a situation can subsequently feel remorse when they perceive the person in fancy dress being oppressed, as happens in the short story and may happen here if the person in the plague doctor costume is found to be a woman, a person with Aspergers, or just a well meaning, harmless eccentric who ends up extremely distressed when the police call to “check their thinking”.

It is this last point that is the most interesting to me. A person in a fancy dress costume is the focus for all kinds of projected anxieties and can appear comical or fascinating to one person, monstrous and terrifying to another.

When the mask is removed we see the human being inside, someone who is vulnerable, scared and who needs to pay the rent, just like us. It is when the mask comes off that we can identify the person as a real flesh and blood human being.

Eh what, depictions of gratuitous male violence and overuse of the word "cunt"? I'm alarmed, I'm distressed, somebody help me...

I am most obviously reminded of this short story

thebaffler.com/stories/disnae-matter

So if the police wanted to claim that alarm or distress was likely (and some people do seem to have been alarmed and/or distressed, so it's not a crazy suggestion) then they could go after bird-mask-person. Maybe they should.

Surely you could use the same argument about a "woman = adult human female" sign or T shirt? Some people claimed that the wording was abusive and the police acted on it in a surreal, Orwellian manner.

I might be offended or distressed by a zillion things, including people with signs / T shirts saying TWAW but I just suck it up and accept that some people believe things I find bizarre and just leave them to get on with it and express my dissent with words rather than by calling the police.

People have a right to tell the plague doctor person that they find his/her costume scary but calling the police over a costume?

A few years back there were some people in Star Wars fancy dress at a local event and a small child got scared and started screaming and crying.

Should the parents call the police?

I ran out of Disney's Snow White when I was scared of the wicked queen as a kid. Should the cops have turned up and shut the cinema down?

Kids get scared of irrational thngs all the time. It's part of being a child. Nobody would wish it on a child but you can't protect children from irrational anxieties by removing the source of their anxiety surely?

Just that its not against the law

Well--there is Section 5 of the Public Order Act:
"(1) A person is guilty of an offence if he/she:
(a) uses threatening [or abusive] words or behaviour, or disorderly behaviour, or
(b) displays any writing, sign or other visible representation which is threatening [or abusive],
within the hearing or sight of a person likely to be caused harassment, alarm or distress thereby."

So if the police wanted to claim that alarm or distress was likely (and some people do seem to have been alarmed and/or distressed, so it's not a crazy suggestion) then they could go after bird-mask-person. Maybe they should.

I did wonder about breach of the peace ginger

Regardless of the demographic of this person, I’d think it were a curious/eccentric individual who would opt for doing this (rather historically niche and less likely just a bit of fun to cheer up the kids and the housebound oldies).

The one thing I find really scary is gas masks - like Chernobyl or WW1 (anyone comes near me with one of those on and I’m letting the dog on them... she’s very friendly but reassuringly barky in a terrier way)

I'm surprised this would not fall under breach of the peace since the man wearing the suit would be aware that it would be likely to cause fear, alarm and distress to a significant number of people.

I think that the police going and talking to him is a good idea, it looks like they are doing it informally.

Should they then act if he continues to do it? I'm not sure.