We have reached peak hipster.
Moustache, tattooed fingers gripping a heat-wrapped truncheon. Tattoos he got in a non-touristy town in India you've probably never heard of. Staring into the distance, he imagines fitting drum brakes and knobblies to the riot van. 'It would be, like, totally authentic.'
This photo was taken yesterday at the EDL*/anti-EDL demo in Walthamstow, which delighted him, because a friend of his has opened a pop-up in the Stow called Pot Noodles and Palaver, and he can totally get his lunch there after. 'And you won't believe this, but they serve it in an old tin can and shit.'
*EDL - English Defence League. Far right, anti-immigration, anti-Islam street protest group.
Photo: Guy Smallman
it is strange that the picture incites a slight twinge of raised eyebrows with a FTP attitude a sort of punk rock teenage anti establishment Clash London Burning White Riot wiff, yet we perhaps sit, middle aged in nice homes reading sensible papers bemoaning the demise of the working labour movement and here is this constable an officer of the law on the front line, To Serve and to Protect, does he protect us or the state, will he later on go undercover checking out some covert fixy bicycle movement or even the EDL, who knows, perhaps just another geezer doing a job for the love of humanity and mankind....as with life we will never know
ReplyDeleteAHAB
ReplyDeleteI guess I was making two points, both with a chuckle
1) the look/image that some people think demonstrates non conformity has been recuperated rapidly by the establishment, from advertising to law enforcement
2) those of us who still live in or visit the hinterland may benefit from the awareness that the faux Victorian gent in the corner of the pub watching us skin up/watch the match on a dodgy box/ buy a snide moncler jacket from a local grafter might not be as inocuous as he appears.
Totally agree, as you say nothing is as it seems and you can take nothing for granted, badges and uniforms are no longer sacred, this whole conversation can slide into the depths of conspiracy and counter culture, the establishment etc....the bottom line is a great picture with a wry smile and like all good pictures it speaks volumes.....
ReplyDeletexxs
Ceci n'est pas une pipe.
ReplyDeleteOne upon a time only the French ate croissants. Then as the culture spread, what you ate for breakfast became a borgeois statement. Now you can pick up a multi-pack in your local 7-Eleven.
A waxed handlebar moustache is no longer a political statement. Yes this Policeman looks like a Hipster, but maybe he's not a Policeman, but just a Hipster with the latest avant-garde Shoreditch headwear, so unlikely it will definitely catch on. Remember the absurd craze for bikes with no gears, and no breaks?
Crikey, chaps, I can feel the paranoia from here.
ReplyDeleteIt's a cop in uniform with a Movemeber Tash. Calm down.
Sense of humour for Mr Heenan, please.
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