I blogged a few days back about Benefits Street in my post I admit that I had never seen it but couldn't find anything to substantiate the claim that it was Demonizing the Poor. Well I have now managed to catch up with the first four episodes and to be honest it has left me feeling pretty angry.
I am not in anyway angry with the residents of James Turner Street (Although I find "Black Dee" very annoying and in need of a bit of a reality check.) but the rest of them I feel sorry for as they struggle to escape the welfare trap they have been placed in. I feel angry at the left wing twitterati taking to social media to denounce every part of the show with the great assurance of an ostrich with it's head in the sand singing "there's no problem" over and over again.
Because you know what, There is a problem and these people need help, they may not fit in with your idealised "Worthy Poor" that you are so heavily invested in it blinds you from everything else, but these people need help, they need responsibility and to be treated as adults - and I believe that is what the upper class left don't want.
Far from demonizing the poor I saw a great deal of hope from the first four episodes of Benefits Street.
In the last episode we saw White Dee's daughter taking work experience where she was cleaning toilets as it was better to start somewhere rather than just live of the state.
Then there is the 50p man, Stephen Smith, who creates a business from trying to help people who may not be able to afford the whole product, he spends his time driving round selling 50p portions of washing powder, soap, toilet rolls etc... and is actually a great role model for anyone of possible solutions to the welfare trap.
Even Fungi who at first glance looks like the worst of the worst is trying to sort his life out, even though his idea of a life coaching note is biro scribbled on the wall this is still showing that he has the desire to change and should therefore be helped to have the ability.
And that is what I think the real point of the welfare system should be and where we have massively missed the point, the welfare system should not be about Benefits and definitely not about unconditional benefits, it should be about helping people get into work, get sorted and lifting them above where they are regardless of limitations, not just handing them cash and going to the wine bar to meet your friends safe in the knowledge that you have done whatever you can for the "poor unfortunates."
This is no better represented than by Mark and Becky, the young couple who struggle to look after two out of control children, at the first meeting they appear to be terrible parents without prospects for their children and seemingly unconcerned with parenting, and yet over the course of the shows we see a different story, a young couple who are struggling to do their best in a society that they don't think gives them any choice. Who, and this is the important bit, when given the skills they need are desperately trying to better themselves as parents, Mark who has never worked in his life even gets a job trying to sell charity subscriptions, he may not succeed in selling any, but for the first time in his life he tries to stand on his own two feet, and that is the first step to a life not just without benefits but with self respect and the feeling of pride that can only come by looking at what you have and knowing that you have earned it from your own hard work. This is what the Champagne Socialists want to prevent him from experiencing and this is why I am angry.
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