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About Us & RulesBenefits Street presents ''poverty as entertainment'' blasts local Labour MP
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Benefits Street presents ''poverty as entertainment'' blasts local Labour MP
by Guest Thu Jan 09, 2014 11:13 pm
Blast: Local Labour MP Shabana Mahmood
Birmingham Mail
The controversial documentary Benefits Street was slammed by an MP today for making fun of poverty.
Labour’s Shabana Mahmood, whose Birmingham constituency includes the programme’s James Turner Street, said it was “profoundly wrong” to exploit people in this way.
The first episode of the Channel 4 programme prompted almost 300 complaints to the broadcasting watchdog Ofcom from viewers appalled by its negative portrayal of benefit claimants.
Ms Mahmood said it was “shocking” that the broadcaster would present “poverty as entertainment”.
“There was nothing in the programme that suggested this was a serious look at the challenges, the issues that people face when they are on benefits.
“They were basically just taking poverty and trying to find the most entertainment value out of it that they could,” she told the Birmingham Post.
She added: “There was also a specific issue around the criminal acts being filmed. Most of the programme was given over to two men who were out on the rob.
“I have been speaking to the police to make sure proper action is taken, because there is no excuse for that regardless of the circumstances you find yourself in.”
She said that while it did not excuse crime, it appeared that one of the men was a drug addict and may have other health issues.
“They were filming a very vulnerable person and dressing it up as a programme investigating what life is really like on benefits when really it was just for entertainment.”
Some of the people portrayed in the documentary filmed in the Winson Green area of Birmingham claim they were tricked into appearing in the film.
They claim they took part after being assured the series would be about neighbourly togetherness and community spirit.
James Turner Street resident Dee Roberts, a qualified mentor and support worker, said: “They said they wanted to film for a TV show about how great community spirit is in the street and how we all help each other out on a daily basis.
"They said that ‘Britain was broken’ but that I lived in an area where the community was very close. I participated in the show on that belief.
“But this programme has nothing to do with community, which you can tell from the title. It’s all about people in the street living off benefits, taking drugs and dossing around all day. It makes people out as complete scum.”
A Channel 4 spokesman said: “This is a fair and balanced observational documentary series.
“It is a fair reflection of the reality of life on a street where the majority of households receive benefits.
“The contributors were briefed extensively before any filming took place. If any residents requested not to be filmed they were not.
“The main contributors have been offered the opportunity to view the programmes they feature in before transmission to make any comments about their contributions.”
Check out all the latest News, Sport & Celeb gossip at Mirror.co.uk http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/benefits-street-birmingham-labour-mp-3006131#ixzz2pwhMhbdd
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It's blatant RW propaganda designed to stir up hatred against unemployed people, how they are getting away with it is anyone's guess, i wonder who owns channel four these days, whoever it is this should be looked into and i bet, whoever it is, they are a Tory party donor or something.
Guest- Guest
Re: Benefits Street presents ''poverty as entertainment'' blasts local Labour MP
by Guest Thu Jan 09, 2014 11:18 pm
Aren't the police investigating certain threats that have been made?
Surely this should be pulled for community cohesion reasons.
http://news.uk.msn.com/comment-and-analysis/benefits-street-stars-of-c4-series-get-death-threats
Surely this should be pulled for community cohesion reasons.
http://news.uk.msn.com/comment-and-analysis/benefits-street-stars-of-c4-series-get-death-threats
Guest- Guest
Re: Benefits Street presents ''poverty as entertainment'' blasts local Labour MP
by Clarkson Fri Jan 10, 2014 10:48 am
Oh dear don't you lefties know the truth will out???
How inconvenient. No doubt when you achieve a single party state you can cover up more but until then comrades you be constantly faced with inconvenient truths.
How inconvenient. No doubt when you achieve a single party state you can cover up more but until then comrades you be constantly faced with inconvenient truths.
Clarkson- Forum Detective ????♀️
- Posts : 650
Join date : 2014-01-02
Re: Benefits Street presents ''poverty as entertainment'' blasts local Labour MP
by Guest Fri Jan 10, 2014 10:50 am
You are such a caricature and couldn't see the truth if it got up and beat you every day.
Guest- Guest
Re: Benefits Street presents ''poverty as entertainment'' blasts local Labour MP
by Guest Fri Jan 10, 2014 12:46 pm
"Not everyone's cup of tea" was one of the phrases featured in the 'Born Risky' advert for Channel 4 that was broadcast two months ago, a phrase which has since been justified in a most spectacularly controversial way. With 4.3million viewers making it the most watched Channel 4 show for more than a year,Benefits Street has proved to be one of the biggest belly aches of 2014 thus far. But with the usual complaint citing that it is a misrepresentation of those on benefits and an elite tactic to turn benefit claimants against one another, the question must be asked: why are we not allowed to disagree with a minority's attitude toward their benefits?
It is common knowledge that the vast majority of people who have to claim benefits are not layabouts and are proactive in trying to find a job. It is also common knowledge that not all benefit-claimants are the same. So when we live in a country that is fortunate enough to have a welfare system that can support those who genuinely cannot work or cannot find work, it is good to know that we all have and rightly maintain a safety net for all that contribute to it. But it is for this reason that when we become aware of a minority that do exploit such a valued aspect of our society, that we reserve the right to be angry and for that anger to be vocalised.
One of the fundamental aspects of the benefit system is that it was designed to help those who needed it most. Thankfully, much of that purpose remains true. But when £1.2billion of taxpayer money is lost each year to benefit fraud, we cannot afford to just turn a blind eye. Commentators are quick to argue that the sum of money the taxpayer loses to benefit fraud each year is small when contrasted with that of £25billion lost via exploited tax loopholes, but just because one evil dwarfs another does not make it any less wrong. It does not matter how you spin it to look, £1.2billion is still a considerable amount of money to be lost even when compared to a larger sum. The fact that the usual cry of the commentator is that there are only an extreme few who do defraud the state just serves to make the total sum lost more astonishing.
Where it is no secret that the program has been edited in such a way that it attempts to encourage as many negative knee-jerk reactions about the residents as possible, you cannot escape the reality of what has been done. The program may be able to take words out of context and overdramatise them, but they cannot change actions. For example, Mark Thomas admitting to fiddling his benefits in the past, or Danny going shoplifting - we saw him remove the security tags. Some actions, previous or past, that are documented in the show did happen. It is therefore in this respect that we reserve a right to vocalise an opposition to those actions and the subsequent attitudes that accompany them.
By witnessing what a few consider to be acceptable behaviour in our society we are presented with the opportunity to open dialogue over common courtesy. When one is the recipient of something that others have given in a bid to improve a life, it does not sit well when the recipient then chooses to be a menace. It does not matter if someone is on benefits for a disability or not, they should not drink excessively, take harmful drugs, or shoplift. Just as in any case neither should any member of society behave in such a way. Since we feel so, we should not be berated when we say so.
When we witness the few on James Turner Street break the law whilst receiving benefits we deserve to be angry at them. When we are exposed to the attitudes of those who take and take but do not give we deserve the right to formulate an unfavourable opinion of them. When a program such as this comes onto our screen the majority of the anger that is generated is aimed at those committing the offences.
I believe the British public are not as thick as some commentators think, and that they know who to be angry at. I do not believe that just because one program follows a minority of people on benefits that it will lead to the demonisation of all on benefits. At the end of the day people that defraud the state do exist and they tend to be less than desirable. It may well hurt some to realise that people such as this occur and that not all humans are compassionate, but the truth hurts and we should not feel bad about revealing it.
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/alex-yeates/benefits-street_b_4564688.html?utm_hp_ref=uk
It is common knowledge that the vast majority of people who have to claim benefits are not layabouts and are proactive in trying to find a job. It is also common knowledge that not all benefit-claimants are the same. So when we live in a country that is fortunate enough to have a welfare system that can support those who genuinely cannot work or cannot find work, it is good to know that we all have and rightly maintain a safety net for all that contribute to it. But it is for this reason that when we become aware of a minority that do exploit such a valued aspect of our society, that we reserve the right to be angry and for that anger to be vocalised.
One of the fundamental aspects of the benefit system is that it was designed to help those who needed it most. Thankfully, much of that purpose remains true. But when £1.2billion of taxpayer money is lost each year to benefit fraud, we cannot afford to just turn a blind eye. Commentators are quick to argue that the sum of money the taxpayer loses to benefit fraud each year is small when contrasted with that of £25billion lost via exploited tax loopholes, but just because one evil dwarfs another does not make it any less wrong. It does not matter how you spin it to look, £1.2billion is still a considerable amount of money to be lost even when compared to a larger sum. The fact that the usual cry of the commentator is that there are only an extreme few who do defraud the state just serves to make the total sum lost more astonishing.
Where it is no secret that the program has been edited in such a way that it attempts to encourage as many negative knee-jerk reactions about the residents as possible, you cannot escape the reality of what has been done. The program may be able to take words out of context and overdramatise them, but they cannot change actions. For example, Mark Thomas admitting to fiddling his benefits in the past, or Danny going shoplifting - we saw him remove the security tags. Some actions, previous or past, that are documented in the show did happen. It is therefore in this respect that we reserve a right to vocalise an opposition to those actions and the subsequent attitudes that accompany them.
By witnessing what a few consider to be acceptable behaviour in our society we are presented with the opportunity to open dialogue over common courtesy. When one is the recipient of something that others have given in a bid to improve a life, it does not sit well when the recipient then chooses to be a menace. It does not matter if someone is on benefits for a disability or not, they should not drink excessively, take harmful drugs, or shoplift. Just as in any case neither should any member of society behave in such a way. Since we feel so, we should not be berated when we say so.
When we witness the few on James Turner Street break the law whilst receiving benefits we deserve to be angry at them. When we are exposed to the attitudes of those who take and take but do not give we deserve the right to formulate an unfavourable opinion of them. When a program such as this comes onto our screen the majority of the anger that is generated is aimed at those committing the offences.
I believe the British public are not as thick as some commentators think, and that they know who to be angry at. I do not believe that just because one program follows a minority of people on benefits that it will lead to the demonisation of all on benefits. At the end of the day people that defraud the state do exist and they tend to be less than desirable. It may well hurt some to realise that people such as this occur and that not all humans are compassionate, but the truth hurts and we should not feel bad about revealing it.
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/alex-yeates/benefits-street_b_4564688.html?utm_hp_ref=uk
Guest- Guest
Re: Benefits Street presents ''poverty as entertainment'' blasts local Labour MP
by Guest Fri Jan 10, 2014 2:32 pm
Maybe it would help everyone if at the start of each episode it was stated
How many people live in the street
How many agreed to take part
How many appear in the following episode
How much of the following episode is about each person taking part.
So 100 people in street 40 took part in series 10 appeared in following episode 35% of episode on person 1 25% of episode on person 2 5 % each on the other 8
or 100 people in street 90 took part in series 20 appeared in following episode at break down of 10% each on 6, 5% each on 4 2% each on 10
Then at least people could assess better whether what they were seeing was typical or contrived.
How many people live in the street
How many agreed to take part
How many appear in the following episode
How much of the following episode is about each person taking part.
So 100 people in street 40 took part in series 10 appeared in following episode 35% of episode on person 1 25% of episode on person 2 5 % each on the other 8
or 100 people in street 90 took part in series 20 appeared in following episode at break down of 10% each on 6, 5% each on 4 2% each on 10
Then at least people could assess better whether what they were seeing was typical or contrived.
Guest- Guest
Re: Benefits Street presents ''poverty as entertainment'' blasts local Labour MP
by Guest Fri Jan 10, 2014 3:57 pm
With this kind of programme people are going to see what they want to see
Guest- Guest
Re: Benefits Street presents ''poverty as entertainment'' blasts local Labour MP
by Guest Fri Jan 10, 2014 4:16 pm
http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/channel-4-channel4-stop-broadcasting-benefits-street-and-make-a-donation-to-a-relevant-charity-for-the-harm-caused
Sign petition to have it pulled!
Sign petition to have it pulled!
Guest- Guest
Re: Benefits Street presents ''poverty as entertainment'' blasts local Labour MP
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