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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

...in really hating the term 'scum'?

113 replies

woollyideas · 10/08/2011 08:12

It seems like such an awful and judgmental word and, to me, says more about the person using it than it does about the people it's directed at.

OP posts:
CaptainNancy · 10/08/2011 10:24

Thing is, 'scum' is what floats to the top, so it is a bit of a misnomer really.

I don't label groups of people if I can help it, but I have been referring to certain individuals the past week in my head as 'scrotes' and 'toerags' Blush

DesperatelySeekingSedatives · 10/08/2011 10:24

Yes they have CheerfulYank. So far 1 man has been shot dead in Croyden, 3 men have been run over and killed in I think Birmingham as they tried to defend their neighbourhood and god knows how many more will be confirmed dead later on, given how many people must have baricaded themselves in buildings that were then set on fire.

Still wrong to call the scum what they are is it OP? Hmm Some might be children but even 11 year olds know better than to commit arson, rob people and thieve from shops.

DesperatelySeekingSedatives · 10/08/2011 10:25

I like the word scrotes. Is it ok to call them that instead of scum do you think? Wink

CheerfulYank · 10/08/2011 10:27

There'll be raping soon, too, most likely. If not already. Scum yet?

HoneyPablo · 10/08/2011 10:44

Raping? More like rapping on youtube.

OTheHugeManatee · 10/08/2011 10:47

Sorry OP, but I don't think 'judgemental' is a reason to stop doing something. FWIW I think part of the reason such a large chunk of urban yoot is as lawless as apparently it is comes from the liberal 'we mustn't judge' that enables them to get away with doing whatever they like.

We need more judginess, not less.

milkmilklemonade · 10/08/2011 10:47

Have you or your family felt threatened by the riots? Have you lost your business? Maybe, God forbid, one of the looters tried to steal your Guardian. Scum is just a word to describe a subclass of humans who are a result of years of bleeding heart lefties and champagne socialism.

NasalCoffeeEnema · 10/08/2011 10:48

I find it an interesting choice of word because scum is actually something that rises to the top not sinks to the bottom

SoupDragon · 10/08/2011 10:53

yes, but you then scoop it off and bin it once it has come to your attention.

SoupDragon · 10/08/2011 10:57

"It seems like such an awful and judgmental word and, to me, says more about the person using it than it does about the people it's directed at."

Too bloody right : I am judging the scum who have ripped apart my town centre and destroyed a 140 year old business. The scum who want something for nothing and have trashed stores purely to gain "aspirational" goods such as mobile phones, electronic gadgets and their favourite sports wear. The scum who apparently shot and killed someone in the midst of it all. what word would you use to describe them?

I think your OP says a lot about you, rather more than it does about the people it is directed at.

Flowerface · 10/08/2011 11:01

To me, the right and left wing thing signifies the distinction between judging individuals (irrespective of their circumstances) and judging circumstances. But I give up with this. God help us all. I say again - to me, the real threat comes from attitudes like this.

It's mindboggling that people think that the rioters are too overprivileged!! The fact that they come from the most deprived areas is neither here nor there I suppose...

OTheHugeManatee · 10/08/2011 11:06

The point about 'most deprived' is that it's still relative poverty.

Lots of my university peers are now earning six-figure salaries. I'm not. One guy in the year below me retired a couple of years ago having made his fortune. Just because the same hasn't happened for me, do I have a right to moan about relative poverty?

I don't think so.

SoupDragon · 10/08/2011 11:16

Do they all come from the most deprived areas? There are many areas of Croydon where houses fetch well over £1million. There are also areas where they fetch far far less then this and people who live in dire properties. The point is, you have no idea where the people came from who were running through the towns. I bet a large chunk of them came from slap bang in the middle of the two extremes.

ZZZenAgain · 10/08/2011 11:17

no, I have no doubt they are not all driven by deprivation, they are temptedby the opportunity to loot

PerryCombover · 10/08/2011 11:22

yanbu

CamperFan · 10/08/2011 11:23

"behaving like dicks", flowerface? no, they are behaving like criminals - there is a difference. Since when did setting fire to a building while families were in flats above only justify being called a "dick" ffs? Sorry, but that is wrong and yes, irrefutable in my opinion, regardless of what political manifesto you support.

BustySinclair · 10/08/2011 11:24

some people are scum

Pan · 10/08/2011 11:27

scum is a stupid word t odescribe people.

but then isn't scrotes just next door to calling people cunts?

ChumleeIsMyHomeboy · 10/08/2011 11:56

I think I'm beginning to understand. Some of you actually think nobody should be called anything right? Un-fucking-believable and so easily spouted if your only exposure to the events of the week has been via TV and a couple of right-on newspapers.

Just for once how about giving a thought to the victims of this lawless subhuman behaviour? Or are they the scum for having anything worth nicking or burning down? This whole skewed way of looking at things is precisely what lets the scum do as they wish.

Empusa · 10/08/2011 11:59

So what should we be calling them?

Pan · 10/08/2011 12:04

Empusa - I don't know what you should use as a descriptive word. I stick to 'looter', 'rioter', and the like. I do that because that's the observable behaviour.

mayorquimby · 10/08/2011 12:27

Seems an apt term for a lot of the people who have been gracing our tv screens over the last few days.

PerryCombover · 10/08/2011 12:51

chumlee
you seem to be somewhat aggravated by recent events.

emptyshell · 10/08/2011 13:12

I'd be using the words "feral little shits" if it wasn't a waste of keystrokes on the low-lives.

The ONLY people I have ANY sympathy for are those who've lost homes, those who've lost businesses, those who've lost property (it ain't "just a car" it's someone's belonging), and those who are just plain scared by it all and sat at home watching the news and the internet anxiously for any news about if hell's about to break loose anywhere near them - and yes I'm one of those, live near the police station that was petrol bombed.

I've got fuck all sympathy for someone sat in a free council house (generally built and maintained to higher standards than some in private rented where those of us who work for a living but can't afford a mortgage ends up - our mould had a name and our mould's name was Boris) who's decided to get bevvied up and go pinch themselves a new pair of trainers and telly because they can't afford one... cos guess what? I can't afford a new pair of trainers either and one of my tellys won't work when the digital switch happens here this month - and I just fucking well deal with it, save what I can (and we're skating very near to bog all disposable income anyway) and work my fucking arse off to survive in life.

It's about time that the scum were held accountable for THEIR actions - without sitting there blaming the social for not providing them with enough cash, the police for looking at them funny, the schools who were bending over backwards to attempt to get them to behave in a civilised fashion and come out able to read and write and every other fucking pat excuse that's trotted out to justify everything. Cos I'm bloody sick of the decent people being screwed into the ground in order to keep the Jeremy Kyle crews' faces straight.

AlpinePony · 10/08/2011 13:16

YABU, although your username is v apt. So extra points for that.