Why is?

[pedmills]

strangely, there used to be a much greater ethnic mix at Glastonbury 20+ years ago than there is now.

In part I think this is due to Glastonbury becoming largely the domain of white-boy-indie-rock, which it didn't used to be - tho of course that type of music has become dominant in more than just Glastonbury over that time.

[.jay.]

Not having a go, I was in swim club, just don't ever admit it cus the memories of those kids in lycra y-fronts trunks makes me sick. More sick to know I was one of them! Paedophiles paradise!

I got my Gold badge!

In swimming, not pedophilia!

[dieweener]

I fail to see the cubscout connection too, totally agree with Dieweener that it was probably more of the fact that those sorts of groups are, on the whole, run by the Christian church. It's only in recent years that parents have started to push those boundaries and for people from other religions to ask why their child can't be included, and indeed, there is no reason why they can't.

I think, on the whole, it will take many more generations before a true multi-cultural community can be achieved for real simply because there is still misunderstanding and fear of the unknown and not enough education to overcome this. When I was at school 20 years ago we didn't learn about Sikhs or Hindus or Muslims or Rastafarians, or anything like that in Religious Education, it was still predominantly a Christian subject. I think (I hope) that things are changing with the latest generation of children, that schools are giving a more balanced education in this respect, and teaching more awareness of cultural differences.

In the meantime we need to try harder to understand each other, who knows, that Asian friend of yours might secretly like the idea of going to Glasto but needs a bit of encouragement to go with you!

[mandypants]

Oh they've changed, you get to learn about every other religion's and about moral choices and stuff. Remember learning the 7 K's of sikhism.

The only problem is...

That RE is still dull as f*ck! Yet to meet an RE teacher that isn't batty and obviously given the job cus they're too old to care, hence why I didn't care and did the impossible by failing the un-failable course.

[dieweener]

i knew you weren't having a go i was just messing too.

and peado's have a merit/reward system!?!?!

[pedmills]

Oh they've changed, you get to learn about every other religion's and about moral choices and stuff. Remember learning the 7 K's of sikhism.

The only problem is...

That RE is still dull as f*ck! Yet to meet an RE teacher that isn't batty and obviously given the job cus they're too old to care, hence why I didn't care and did the impossible by failing the un-failable course.

[eFestivals]

To be fair if you look at the lineups, Glastonbury is trying a million times harder than other festivals to be not just white-boy-indie-rock. This year on the pyramid stage there is a wide mix of cultures and nationalities.

while that's true, it's still mainly music that's the standard fayre of whites and not so much others.

[dieweener]

Oh hell yeah, our RE teacher was sooooooooooo boring, and she was a smelly old bag! We were allowed to ditch RE at options time so that was pretty high on my list to go! Gaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh it was crap!

[eFestivals]

Oh they've changed, you get to learn about every other religion's and about moral choices and stuff. Remember learning the 7 K's of sikhism.

while that's true, the Nat Curriculum says that a certain amount (is it 50%?) of the time has to be spent on Christianity. Yet because we live in a society shaped by that Christianity, the knowledge gained from that isn't great (cos it's all around us all the time anyway), and I reckon better advantage would come from spending less time on what we mostly already know anyway.

[paulo999]

The "it's all very white" observation is certainly one I've made. Probably because I've lived in a big city most of my life, so I'm not used to seeing so few non-White people.

I don't think that pondering over it should be a "move along, nothing to see here" situation, whilst people are discussing it politely - which people here are doing.

If nothing else, it's human curiosity.

And - I'd like to think - that non-White people posting in the thread demonstrates it's not patronising or some totally imagined perception. There's plenty of us that aren't used to the ethnic make up of the typical British festival, compared with our day-to-day life.

Edited June 3, 2009 by paulo999

[dieweener]

Yeah but in my school we learnt all the different religious differences early on and then for GCSE we studied nothing but Christianity in depth. So instead of giving us education about different religions, which might help us understand other people better, they just teach us about the reiligion 90% of us were already born into!* F*king stupid if you ask me.

*I live in Somerset btw, where there is hardly any ethnic diversity.

[dieweener]

while that's true, the Nat Curriculum says that a certain amount (is it 50%?) of the time has to be spent on Christianity. Yet because we live in a society shaped by that Christianity, the knowledge gained from that isn't great (cos it's all around us all the time anyway), and I reckon better advantage would come from spending less time on what we mostly already know anyway.

[Chickenburger]

anyone ever considered that the whole thing is down to the white middle classes having right shit music taste?

[pedmills]

while that's true, the Nat Curriculum says that a certain amount (is it 50%?) of the time has to be spent on Christianity. Yet because we live in a society shaped by that Christianity, the knowledge gained from that isn't great (cos it's all around us all the time anyway), and I reckon better advantage would come from spending less time on what we mostly already know anyway.

[pie_and_a_pint]

My RE teacher, who was married with children, spent four of the five years we were at secondary school having an affair with the PE teacher, who was also married with children, while spending our lessons preaching to us about the morals of the Christian church... Hmmm...

[mandypants]

Failing that, I learnt a lot about christianity from Father Ted. Man, that was a quality show!

[Billy09]

Oh they've changed, you get to learn about every other religion's and about moral choices and stuff. Remember learning the 7 K's of sikhism.

The only problem is...

That RE is still dull as f*ck! Yet to meet an RE teacher that isn't batty and obviously given the job cus they're too old to care, hence why I didn't care and did the impossible by failing the un-failable course.

[cabstar]

This thread has fascinated me, particularly peoples generalisation in general (possibly a generalisation in itself!!!)

White middle class festival goer.

Well most of the people that i know go to Glasto from my town tend to have been brought up on council estates, however the majority of them do now have nice jobs, however I owuld still consider them working class.

The majority of middle class on the east coast woudl refuse to go purely because of the mud.

Alot has also been said about white indie, I have been introduced to more music of black origin whilst attending Glasto than any other music festival. Jazz world is awash with african & carribean music, have also witnessed a lot of reggae on the smaller stages too.

As has been said the festival is not attended by a lot of ethnic people, but then i don't know anyone who attends ethnic festivals either so I guess it works both ways???

Edited June 3, 2009 by cabstar

[frankie boy]

To be fair over 90% of the people in the UK are white, so it doesn't seem too surprising to me to see a similar ratio at UK festivals.

[frankie boy]

Just googled it and its 85% still quite surprised

[Billy09]

From a sociological point of view as I understand it your "class" is defined by your job, or if under working age by the job/s of your parents, and middle class doesn't really exist. I think the white middle class thing is an easy label to apply to the crowd you tend to see at Glastonbury, and probably just means that no matter where you live or work you've got enough disposable income to go and party for a few days of the year, and are white.

It would be nice to see a more mulicultural crowd I guess, but basically if anyone chooses not to go then it really is their loss, there is I'm sure something to appeal to everybody there, it's a shame more don't realise this, or feel comfortable going.

[dieweener]

My RE teacher, who was married with children, spent four of the five years we were at secondary school having an affair with the PE teacher, who was also married with children, while spending our lessons preaching to us about the morals of the Christian church... Hmmm...

Edited June 3, 2009 by dieweener

[llcoolphil]

It's bizzare, believe me, my sister wouldn't because ever since she was 3 she had a fear of mud, which is stupid in itself.

Only reason I like camping is because I was put in Cubs and Scouts and currently work in Blacks Outdoor Store where they sell tents and the like.

I love camping, as do a small minority OF the minority, lol.

Edited June 3, 2009 by llcoolphil

[tylerdurden]

Christ man, the P.C brigade will have a field day I'm sure, they'll find something somewhere

This is a pretty interesting issue, one I havn't formulated an opinion on, theres got to be a reason, I think its just culturally and historically festivals such as Glastonbury do appeal to a white audience, for whatever reason that may be.

[llcoolphil]

From a sociological point of view as I understand it your "class" is defined by your job, or if under working age by the job/s of your parents, and middle class doesn't really exist. I think the white middle class thing is an easy label to apply to the crowd you tend to see at Glastonbury, and probably just means that no matter where you live or work you've got enough disposable income to go and party for a few days of the year, and are white.

It would be nice to see a more mulicultural crowd I guess, but basically if anyone chooses not to go then it really is their loss, there is I'm sure something to appeal to everybody there, it's a shame more don't realise this, or feel comfortable going.