Why does society idolise gangsters?

For many decades, American culture has placed gangsters on a pedestal. America was, to a large extent, founded and built by criminals and its national psyche the most rabidly and unabashedly Capitalist in the world, so this was understandable to an extent.

Over the last twenty years, Britain seems to have assimilated this fascination with gangsters into popular sentiment.

But has this gone too far?

Do we now look up to and admire career criminals?

Gangster speak - that is, vernacular adopted by criminals, is more popular than ever amongst our young people.

During last Summer's riots, an Olympic ambassador was caught looting. On her phone she was discovered to have sent the following text:

Pigs shouldn't ov killed that guy last nite innit. Den dey wouldn't get blown up. Girlz going to steal Wiis. But stealing dooie, da shopkeeper ain't fuck dere! Mugz!

Did anyone see 'At Home with the Noonans' on Crime HD this week? It's the first of a new six part series about the notorious Manchester crime family. It shows the head and members of that family pretty much boasting about committing serious crimes and saying they had put bodies in every cemetery in Manchester.

Last year there was 'Big Fat Gypsy Weddings', which, among other thing, showed gypsies having organised fights, it gave a pedestal to a known gypsy gang ring leader who then went on to win Celebrity Big Brother!

There is a growing 'bad boy' culture among our young men, I have worked with many over the years who aspire to the gangster culture and express themselves through use of language, certain types of music, and pretending they are hard and that they go cruisin' for bitches at the weekend.

I was a huge fan of Ali G, Sacha Baron Cohen is a genius, not only was he incredibly funny, but aspects of Ali G's character were polemical.

We're not talking about Robin Hood and his merry men here, we're talking about groups of people who steal, kill, run protection rackets, and exploit others for personal gain.

There are some seriously nasty people out there who should, logically, be considered the absolute bad guys in society, but they are not, and I do wonder why this is.

Every town and city has it's villains and baddies but most of them are not all that bright. Going on TV and bragging of your exploits could lead to a visit from the coppers and any TV footage could subsequently be shown in court. It makes no sense to advertise you are a gangster unless you are seeking publicity.
I personally, don't see gangsters as role models. I have always valued my freedom too much to get involved in any of that bullshit.

When I was a teenager I was heavily into the hip-hop scene and hung around with some very dubious characters because of it. Most were middle-class wannabee gangsters, but a small handful were real gangsters. I did it mainly to piss my parents off, but there was a small part of me that was in awe of these "gangsters" just because they talked big and did afew naughty things.

In truth these sort of gangsters are not gangsters, just petty criminals who think they're Tupac Shakur. I guess real gangsters are the likes of the Krays and the reason they are idolised is because they only hurt other criminals - if you were a decent law abiding citizen you had nothing to fear.

The ' real ' gangsters avoid publicity. Look at this steroid riddled meathead. They call him the Taxman. His claim to fame is that he robs drug dealers and has never lost a fight in his life. What is it about steroids that make these people think they are invincible ? Any self respecting drug dealer worth his salt wouldn't hand over his ill gotten gains without a fight. Most would simply listen to him rant and rave and then empty the magazine of their machine gun into his nuts. The Taxman has ambitions about being the Mayor of Middlesboro!

https://youtu.be/EuBe7ne5YDo

Reebok Trotter wrote:The ' real ' gangsters avoid publicity. Look at this steroid riddled meathead. They call him the Taxman. His claim to fame is that he robs drug dealers and has never lost a fight in his life. What is it about steroids that make these people think they are invincible ? Any self respecting drug dealer worth his salt wouldn't hand over his ill gotten gains without a fight. Most would simply listen to him rant and rave and then empty the magazine of their machine gun into his nuts. The Taxman has ambitions about being the Mayor of Middlesboro!

https://youtu.be/EuBe7ne5YDo

Be fun to stick him in a cell with that nutter Bronson,wonder what the outcome would be?

What a ringpiece ! The real hard men are known, but sensibly keep a low profile. Wouldn't be surprised to see another muscle-bound idiot see this clip as a challenge, and take him on.