No, not the heavy metal group Vio-lence, I'm talking about violence. Especially in American society. Admittedly I'm a hypocrite when it comes to perpetuating violence. Look at Fratricide and tell me some emotionally troubled person won't be influenced somewhat by the band's images and themes.
Scenario: Jack pulls into school parking lot with rifle in gun rack.
1973 - Vice Principal comes over, takes a look at Jack's rifle, goes to his car and gets his own rifle to show Jack.
2006 - School goes into lockdown, FBI called, Jack hauled off to jail and never sees his truck or gun again. Counselors called in for traumatized students and teachers.
Scenario: Johnny and Mark get into a fist fight after school.
1973 - Crowd gathers. Mark wins. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up best friends. Nobody goes to jail, nobody arrested, nobody expelled.
2006 - Police called, SWAT team arrives, arrests Johnny and Mark. Charge them with assault, both expelled even though Johnny started it.
That being said, I read the above post on a message board recently about how things were compared to 1973 vs. 2003. Needless to say, there are a LOT of differences and it disturbs me sometimes that people don't recognize that these changes in lifestyles were not necessarily "choices" but an evolution in ideas and values over the past 30+ years. Sure, it would be great if we could live like we did back in those days (who am I kidding, I was born in 1974) but life goes on and things change.
Since the birth of this nation we (the USA) have reveled in violence (i.e. the African-American holocaust during post-Civil War reconstruction to the government approved genocide of Native American tribes). The advent of television and film has only further glamorized the violent life styles of street thugs, prison inmates, mafia bosses, etc... Violence has been so ingrained into our society that when a person is shot or a news story breaks on a violent event, we're glued to the TV. But buddha forbid a woman accidentally reveals her breast on television. All hell will break loose and suddenly people are proclaiming our morals are being flushed away. I suppose if she had been shot that would have been acceptable.
The numbing of our youth to violence and its harmful repercussions is an extreme problem with no easy resolution. Jack can't bring a weapon to school because he's probably not bringing that weapon for show-and-tell. Johnny and Mark can't get into a fist-fight after school because they have no limits on how far they should go. Just pummel until bloody and unconscious or dead. We're seeing children as young as ten beating homeless people almost to death.
I don't think every young person is a lost cause. There are smart kids out there who have great parents. Unfortunately they have to contend with increasing ignorance and stupidity every day. If you've never seen that movie "Idiocracy", give it a watch. America may just be headed down that path no matter how impossible it may seem.
Get yer heads out of your third point of contacts!
I don't even begin to know where to respond to this. I have so many different thoughts and feelings, but basically ... parents need to pay closer attention to their kids lives and stop the blame going everywhere else. There are always warning signs.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad I found your blog! My main blog is still on LJ, but I just started this one too :p
Love ya, Jason!
I dropped LJ a long time ago. This bloggie thing seems easier to use for me. I'm very simple.
ReplyDeleteI think now, especially after the Virginia Tech massacre, this discussion needs to be addressed in so much more detail. There are no easy solutions but if something isn't done, we're going to see more and more disturbed people going on rampages. What will happen is that security will be heightened and the root cause of this destructive behavior will be overlooked. Much like terrorism, if we can't look into the root cause of it and address what is wrong, then we will be fighting forever.