fitz
14 Jun 2009
UK, Ireland / What is it with black culture in the UK? [22]
I think there've always been knife gangs/street gangs in big cities and towns, I remember hearing about some group called the "Peaky Blinders" in the north of England (probably just the name the newspapers gave them). Apparently the idea was to to scar their enemies rather than try to kill them.
Funnily enough I once sat next to a young guy on a flight to Poland, He was going out to teach English (I think), and was from either Liverpool or Manchester, I can't remember now. Anyway he had a very long scar on his cheek after 'falling out with the wrong people'. So maybe that culture's still there.
But knifing to kill someone, and also gun culture, comes from the States. It used to be considered definitely not macho to use guns or weapons just to win a fight, almost cowardly, but now it's sort of the opposite.
I think there've always been knife gangs/street gangs in big cities and towns, I remember hearing about some group called the "Peaky Blinders" in the north of England (probably just the name the newspapers gave them). Apparently the idea was to to scar their enemies rather than try to kill them.
Funnily enough I once sat next to a young guy on a flight to Poland, He was going out to teach English (I think), and was from either Liverpool or Manchester, I can't remember now. Anyway he had a very long scar on his cheek after 'falling out with the wrong people'. So maybe that culture's still there.
But knifing to kill someone, and also gun culture, comes from the States. It used to be considered definitely not macho to use guns or weapons just to win a fight, almost cowardly, but now it's sort of the opposite.