For those of you who aren't aware of what 'Benefits Street' is, great, close this tab and carry on surfing the web for cats on bikes etc. However, at least 4.3 Million of you will know that last night, Channel 4's latest cynical foray into investigative television was aired.

'Benefits Street' is a programme which is based in a run down, poor part of Birmingham and aims to show you as the viewer the way that their community functions. Last night, an episode packed full of thievery, benefit scams and general skullduggery was aired. This caused the shows' name to trend nationwide on Twitter and across the web, with death threats like the following being tweeted:

Whether the show is a fair or balanced portrayal has now been called into question. Those featured have claimed that “[the creators] lied to us from the very beginning. We opened our doors and hearts to them and they violated us and abused our trust" [please, read full interview here]. And the area's local councillor was left enraged, accusing Channel 4 of "encouraging criminality", and offering his own analysis of the inhabitants: “on that street, the majority of people are leading normal lives, working hard and they are honest" [source]. They're also said to have "cut" a working couple from the show, because they weren't on Benefits [source].

You're gallant, Channel 4, though I'm pretty sure Morrissey told me that you're more abusive than paedophiles (we can all lie to boost ratings).

Even if we take the programme as the truth, and the people of James Turner Street in Birmingham are in fact the conniving, machiavellian types that they've been portrayed as, these circumstances are extraordinarily rare! It's the equivalent of creating a show called 'Mansion Grove', which follows a community of trillionaires hiding away in leafy tax havens, eating three course caviar meals served by their slaves. It's just bullshit.

Benefits Street is a manipulative, cynical piece of propaganda which has been manufactured to demonise the lower classes of our country. The media are following the dangerous trend of attacking vulnerable people without a voice at the lower end of society because they need a scapegoat in these trying times. I needn’t patronise you by listing how rallying against the weak is fiercely damaging for civilisations, as history makes it so painfully obvious, but for Channel 4 to capitalise on such a morally bankrupt agenda solely on the basis of ratings is awful.

We, as an educated and privileged people, have a responsibility not to allow this kind of hatemongering, evil shite be broadcasted into the majority of homes around the country, and poison the minds of Britain.

Send a complaint to Channel 4 about the show here, sign this petition to get it off-air, then vote with your remote and never watch 'Benefits Street' again.