Is this
a sign of the times?
The Right Tool for the 'Yob'?
Violence and other antisocial behavior by alienated youths have Britons in fear. Some say Tony Blair's aggressive response lacks insight. By John Daniszewski, Times Staff Writer
LONDON -- The headline screamed: "Girl Who Killed for Kicks Aged 14."
The girl in question, green-eyed, auburn-haired Chelsea O'Mahoney, and her crew went on a "happy slap" rampage along London's South Bank one night 15 months ago. In less than an hour, they beat, kicked and stomped eight random victims. O'Mahoney filmed it with her cellphone to add to the teenage gang's only motive -- thrill.
Tempest in a teapot or the shape of things to come?
One man died. O'Mahoney, the daughter of a heroin addict who was abandoned to the grim streets of her housing project when she was just 3 and spent the years that followed in a succession of foster homes, was sentenced last month to eight years in prison.
The attacks, like something out of "A Clockwork Orange," were an extreme example of a phenomenon that has become a boogeyman of public consciousness in Britain: "yobbery," the arrival of a generation believed to be so alienated from the norms of civilized society that decent people must live in fear. The word comes from the old slang term "yob," or "boy" spelled backward, which used to mean a working-class male but now is more commonly used as a synonym for thug or hooligan.
Is this what happens when the lie doesn't work anymore? Kids live what they see and what they see is far from pretty the lower they are on the economic ladder.
It's time to push your buttons now and travel back to when you were a teen; how many of you resent(ed) your parents for not being more successful? This is a game everyone can play because even rich kids resent the fact there is always some other kid whose parents are richer than theirs.
Most of us `outgrow' this resentment towards our parents. It's hard to fault them for buying a lie, the same lie that you'll eventually feed your kids.
Puberty, the wakening of our sexual awareness, brings with it the brutal reality that we are not in fact equal. Nothing in life slaps you in the face harder than the reality check of courtship, a slap that comes while we still live in the world of `I'.
We sit them down, dry their tears and tell them not to despair. If they work hard and play by the rules they will do just fine...
Kids aren't stupid. You know what's going through their minds, it's the same thing that went through yours when you heard this speech: "Okay, what happened to you? Why are we poor if you did all these things you're telling me to do?"
So we launch into our fallback position: "There's more to life than money."...or you can use denial, "We aren't poor, we're thrifty!"
Which may indeed be the case but it's the perception that matters, other kids have nice things and they don't.
The article paints this problem as being confined to the lowest of the low by citing the example of a girl orphaned when she was three but is this really the case?
Hold up the mirror to society if you want the truth. This isn't just about abandonment it's about despair; this is about growing up in a society that has no use for you.
The governing Labor Party believes that antisocial behavior is the No. 1 issue on Britons' minds, more pressing even than concern about the economy, global warming and the war in Iraq. An almost daily diet of sensational street crimes, such as the January robbery and killing of a young banker at an unstaffed London train station, is intensifying public worry.
As defined by the government, antisocial behavior can be mundane: public drunkenness or urination, neighbors refusing to turn down their stereos and teenagers hanging outside shops, intimidating prospective patrons.
I submit good citizen that the problem isn't confined to the UK, this problem is the direct result of the capitalist class system and it exists in every capitalist society.
Which brings us to the capitalist `solution':
To address anxieties, Prime Minister Tony Blair unveiled a 40-page "respect" action plan in January to intervene in the day-to-day lives of errant families before they, and those around them, are undone by bad behavior.
The most striking part of his plan was his announcement that families who are so out of control that they terrorize their neighborhoods could be evicted from their homes.
Whether they own or rent, these run-amok families could be put temporarily into supervised accommodations to undergo a barrage of reeducation. Parents would be shown how to raise their children, and young people would be trained to live in a society of rules.[snip]
In announcing the barrage of measures, Blair laid out his rationale, saying respect has broken down and societal bonds that once served as a check on incorrect or abusive behavior have disappeared.
The criminal court system can't be the substitute, he said. In today's large, diverse society, prosecuting minor crimes is too costly and cumbersome for the police and courts. "To get on top of 21st century crime, we need to accept that what works in practice is ... summary power," he said.
"Anything else is theory, loved by much of the political and legal establishment but utterly useless to the ordinary citizen."
The `check on incorrect behavior' is what is missing here. The British government has chosen to club the `non-conformists' into submission but we may ask what, good citizen, kept `incorrect behavior' in check before this?
Could it have been the prospect if not the promise of a peaceful and productive future as a valued member of society?
Looks like capitalism is withdrawing that offer and blaming the victims for lashing out.
A society that fails to provide all of its members with the means to support themselves will fail.
Non-profit labor driven society...before it's too late.
Thanks for letting me inside your head,
Gegner