Hoodie 'shoots' Cameron...
...and causes uproar. Under the headline: Teenage 'pistol' hoodie gloats, the Sun predictably wallows in disgust.
"A TEENAGE hoodie told last night how he ran up behind Tory leader David Cameron and pretended to shoot him.
Tagged thug Ryan Florence, 17, said he made the sick gun gesture to impress gang pals who were watching."
And the Great British public is whipped into a frenzy of comment, like this, typical of the Daily Mail.
"This young thug is a good reason why we all should be armed with guns.Oh Purleeease!
- John Smith, Ulverston UK"
Wikipedia is quite ambivalent about the 'bang bang' hand gesture.
"This imitation of the action of a revolver pistol is often meant to represent a handgun in children's games. It may also be used menacingly to mean "I'm gonna kill you", or simply as a playful greeting."
The gesture is represented in stock photo libraries under the Business section. The gesture here surely implies, "Spot on!" or "Right on the money!", "Yes! We're going places!" or some such.
And for fans of wrestling's "Cactus Jack" the double handed gesture is a signature.
Apparently "Cactus Jack" Mick Foley took his trademark catchphrase "Bang, Bang!" from the B-52's song "Love Shack." The song was running through his head at the end of a match, and he held his fingers up like pistols while reciting the "bang bang bang on the door..." verse.
But what, (honestly), is the difference between the top image and this one?
I put it to you that a little boy in Manchester was hamming it up for the camera. No more. No less.
Feel free to comment here and there is further discussion on the message board.
posted by Gavin Corder at 1:47 PM
9 Comments:
he should have squirted him with a bottle of water. In my opinion.
I smiled at DC not wearing a tie so he could get down with the boyz in the hood. Personally I'd like to see him tarred and feathered.
For once we disagree Gav. No, I don't think there was intent to give the impression he wished to really kill and I concur he was playing up to his mates. By the same token this was not "bunny ears" or Cactus jack either. It's the celebration of gun culture and the fast breeding anti-intellectual underclass.
Young Ryan here has certainly been let down by society but seems more than capable of reciprocating. He is a poster boy for the problems the country faces. Both of us know that there is little political will to sort it out. We have to ask ourselves would a nation without Ryan Florence and those like him be a better place and I have to say I think the answer to that is a resounding "yes". This photo is a candidate for picture of the year so clearly does it indicate the gulf.
For those like us, in relative economic comfort, these people are an occasional story in our papers. The trouble is as we let this problem fester they will start to impinge more upon us and our comfy lives. Do we wait until it's too late or get in there and sort it out now? Any answer except the latter is wrong.
My fear is that the politicos know that they will not be around to see the benefits at the ballot box as it's likely to be a decades long process so almost certainly won't bother, but will tinker at the edges.
Ryan Florence is patently a low grade moron - today's "interviews" attests to that - who will remain a burden on the taxpayer one way or another for the rest of his life. A life in which he will be spraying his sperm around the neighbourhood making babies with similarly minded females that he will almost certainly require me and you to look after.
I agree with your point Augustus that the kid needs sorting out. But his crime is not a hand gesture.
I heard him and his mates but they have been hyped to bits over this. the nation's media have courted him and have expected him to play the hard man so the kid obliged. What did you expect.
I'm sure he is actually far more of a weed and far more articulate when not getting his moment of glory.
You're forgetting that the younger generation engages completely differently with the media. They are part of the reality TV generation and will play to the camera for all they are worth- he will see it as his big moment.
The kid just made a silly hand gesture that had no more meaning than a BooKasha from AliGee.
In my opinion this WAS bunny ears (which have their dark side of cuckolds horns etc.) It is the media that has made him ham it up even more. He thought it made himself look cool.
If MY son had done it, no-one would have batted an eyelid. That a lad at a "project" wearing the old ankle watch did it, made middle england gasp at the awfulness.
It is not the gesture or the rudeness that is awful. It is he kid's life that is awful.
I'm more intrigued as to what he's doing with his left hand...
Checking his contaband by all accounts Sarns!
Cocking his derringer?
Having a rifle?
I don't know why people some time think that have a gun in their hands, is an stupid sign, use principally by teens.
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