Friday 9 January 2009

My favourite photos from riot central

A public housing wasteland on the fringes of Sydney has been in the papers this week due to a bit of shooting and stabbing that took place there a few days ago. The Telegraph has a long series of photos, of which I have grabbed six in order to add my own comments.

We have a similar looking slum down the road from us, except ours is on the water, with views that the neighbours have paid millions of dollars for. Having gone through all the photos that the Tele published, I can see that both slums have many things in common.

Photo 1 - gee, that's a Jag. An older model, but a nice car nonetheless. Not that cheap to buy or run. What's one doing in a place like this?


Photo 2 - a couple of typical wasters, of which we have a few around here. Note the slab of beer being carried by the guy on the left, and the smokes hanging from the lips of both of them. This is probably their Wednesday afternoon slab of beer.


Photo 3. Where to begin? The tool with the hoodie up, even though it is 38 degrees. Can't our gang-bangers at least develop their own look, without copying a scum look from the UK?

Then we have the tatts, the bad hairstyles and a sea of thongs. But the hoodie is the thing that always makes me laugh. Ooo, I am so scared of you, tough guy.


Photo 4 - note the big, expensive dog in the background. I thought tenants were not supposed to have dogs? These houses don't seem that big, so where would you keep a mutt like that? It also looks like the aggressive sort of mutt that is favoured by spanners like these. And another hoodie! Two rockapes in two photos!


Photo 5 - another big, expensive, aggressive dog. These things cost a lot to feed. Not what you'd expect a dole bludger in public housing to be able to afford. This bloke also looks pretty fit, but I bet he is on a disability pension. Then we have the nice 4WD in the background, presumably owned by one of these "disadvantaged" folk.


Photo 6. Just look at the hair on the women on the right. It says everything you ever want to know about these places.


My milk of human kindness has clearly curdled.

4 comments:

kae said...

I'm surprised when I see people supposedly on the skids who have had some disaster or another befall them and she's got the nails from Nail Art or somewhere. They aren't cheap, they take time (I suppose if you're on welfare you've got plenty of time), and there's a bit of maintenance every so often which costs, too.

If you weren't spending a fortune on nails and God knows what else, perhaps you could afford to pay your bills?

I know that the luxury of a harcut and colour end for me when money gets a bit tight. Not to mention waxing and colouring eyebrows and lashes.

I know people who are skint and will still spend money on frivolous things, and not once to cheer them up, but every other week.

My sympathy is in short supply for Missus Nail Art, too.

Anonymous said...

Glad I don't live there. Still, the residents could make it a better place to live if they chose to. But that council estate is just a prime example of give a man a fish...

Anyone else see (and sure, perhaps it's a bit of a long bow) parallels to Gaza?

Nilk said...

Heh. Don't get me started on this one.

I'm always impressed when the poor, downtrodden unemployed are on TT or ACA. It's remarkable how they can dry poor and still afford the huge television and all the gizmos that go with it.

The big cars and dogs also are amazing.

Why can't I afford a big dog or a fancy car?

Pogria said...

Nilk,
you can't afford a big dog or a big car because you'd like your child to live on something a little more nourishing than 2 dollars worth o' chips please, every day of her life.