The increase in child/teen violence and murder should command as much attention
as the Afghanistan or Iraq situations. The degree of savagery that has occurred in the rash of country wide assaults, maiming, murder is a symptom of a decay of our
social morality over ever wider segments of our population. That it has progressed to a point where 20 bystanders could look on a brutal gang rape of a teen age girl
after a school dance, and not intervene, but instead cheer and laugh, and even film the event is mind boggling. And no one called 911 for help!
Too many young people are growing up in homes where the parents practice violence, where they never impart to their children any sense of ethics or morality, and where
empathy for fellow humans is an unknown concept. If the schools would teach those that might compensate for the parental neglect. Teaching those mores in an environment of their peers could have greater impact and acceptance than in the home.
Imprisoning youths for such crimes, without psychological treatment, without teaching
them anger management, will assure repeat behavior if and when they return to the streets. Part of the treatment must virtually put them in the victim's place so they feel the damage they inflict.
Society must tackle this problem now, before the rot spreads into even upscale communities. More youth centered facilities with skilled counselors and planned
activities are needed. We must redirect the macho, violent tendencies into a socially acceptable direction. It can, and must be done with the same priorities
we assign to health care reform, stimulating the economy, and cleaning up the
large financial institutions. Delay poses the danger that we could lose an entire
generation to violence as a way of life.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Undoubtedly teen violence results from lack of moral guidance at home. It is amplified by exposure to television and a free for all internet.
Unfortunately in our days of unbridled freedom, adults are affected just as badly as children:
• Reality shows with inane situations are the norm; murder shows are graphically gory stories.
• The internet has become for many a low common denominator of Twitter nonsense, violent games and porn offerings.
In our modern society we are exposed to a constant subliminal cocktail of situations that reject elementary ethical behavior and have no redeeming social value.
Glad that at my age I fall asleep easily enough in front of my set. I won’t be transformed that soon into a dirty old man.
.
Post a Comment