To stab or not to stab*...

Posh Boris Johnson has confused thousands throughout the nation by blaming William Shakespeare for the recent wave of knife crime that has swept the nation. According to today's papers, the rotund London mayor expressed in his famously eloquent tones that knife crime should be seen as 'moronic' - not with the glamorous image that it currently has thanks to Shakespeare characters such as Mercutio from Romeo and Juliet.

Bojo's reference to Shakespeare was part of a passionate demonstration in which he pointed out that the language used by the fellow gang members of stab victims on social networking sites (referring to each other as 'fallen soldiers', etc) is an unnecessary glamourisation of their gang culture. The mayor urged fellow thinkers to study the famous words of the Shakespeare opus, pointing out that the play can teach us all about "the bogus atmosphere of glamour that can surround these gangs and the sort of romantic, sentimental feelings that can start to occur with knife crime and gang culture generally.".

Holding a skull above his head the book-loving mayor addressed the crowd in iambic pentameter:

"My heart sinks when I hear and read of some of the language used to describe some of the victims of knife crime by other members of gangs. This stuff about 'You were a good soldier' or 'Fallen soldier'; we do need as repeatedly as possible as a society to detonate the myth that there is anything romantic or glamorous about these tragic episodes. We need to deglamorise knife crime and make clear to people that this is moronic and wasteful. This is not the death of Mercutio taking place on the streets of London."

He was met by a standing ovation.

It's interesting to note that Bojo has picked up on the language being used by gangs, treating each other as soldiers or so forth. Perhaps it expresses their need for unity of some kind, that our society is unable to provide them with. There seems to be a sweeping alienation that has taken many parts of the UK of recent years. Perhaps we could blame it on technology. Maybe we could blame it on something else.

Whatever it is, it seems to be a fair assumption that with increasing sterility of our culture thanks to ever powerful law enforcement, increased CCTV, or whatever, has led to a desire to break out. The young people that Bojo refers to probably haven't read Romeo and Juliet but, like all good drama, their lives seem to depend on conflict - the only way that they can find meaning in such desolate times.

Etc.

*Yes, we know that's not a reference to Romeo & Juliet.

Photo: Flickr

Written by Oli Anderson on 16 Jul 2008 2:48 PM. Permalink