Onlookers laugh during teen girl's gang rape

[Heracles 417]

So what IS the problem or series of problems?

When I was a kid, you fought after school, shook hands afterwards and that was the end of it. Today, cut in front of someone in line and they follow you home and shoot you.

Hit the nail on the head there.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

So what IS the problem or series of problems?

Lack of employment opportunities

Lowered high school graduation rates

Generational poverty

Domestic Violence / Broken Homes

Alcoholism

Suicide

Propensity for crime and increased likelihood of being jailed

All of these things are consistent across any economically marginalised population you care to name - from inner city Scotland to inner city Baltimore, Camden NJ to New Zealand and Australia. The resentment also is universal (however misguided or destructive it ends up becoming).

[spookyturtle 9,465]

So what IS the problem or series of problems?

When I was a kid, you fought after school, shook hands afterwards and that was the end of it. Today, cut in front of someone in line and they follow you home and shoot you.

Hit the nail on the head there.

And isn't the breakdown of the family unit a big part of this mentality or lack there of? Education will help to solve a few problems. Drug use sure as hell doesn't help matters either. The problem has been been brewing for a long time. It needs to be addressed. Now.

[Heracles 417]

I think that part of the solution lies at home. And that leads us to the problems of poverty, lack of education, etc. But we need to start somewhere. It's not getting better, it's getting worse. The family unit ain't what it was when I was growing up. Look at octo-mom and single mothers with 6 kids from 6 different fathers. Wonder where the problem starts?

You know what, compare what poor people had when you were a kid to what they have now. Not to mention what the have access to and on the cheap or for free. In 2009, I do not buy the I'm poor card. These kids did not bash and rape this girl because they are hungry or oppressed, they did it because they don't give a #### and think they are above the law. Which also explains those who looked on and laughed. When I hear of ####### like this I want to just burn my taxes than give these losers a single dollar.

The problem in all western democratic nations is that people are free to choose their decisions, yet society has to pay for the repercussions and consequences of their actions or lack of. Effectively individuals are free to do as they please, however, everyone else gets to be burdened with their incompetence and poor choices.

Edited October 27, 2009 by Booyah!

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

So what IS the problem or series of problems?

When I was a kid, you fought after school, shook hands afterwards and that was the end of it. Today, cut in front of someone in line and they follow you home and shoot you.

To be quite honest with you it has a lot to do with where you went to school - I went to a local comprehensive in my home town (not a "great" school by any means) but I can have expected an entirely different experience had I gone to school in say - inner city London.

Bullying of course is universal.

Edited October 27, 2009 by Gene Hunt

[spookyturtle 9,465]

I think that part of the solution lies at home. And that leads us to the problems of poverty, lack of education, etc. But we need to start somewhere. It's not getting better, it's getting worse. The family unit ain't what it was when I was growing up. Look at octo-mom and single mothers with 6 kids from 6 different fathers. Wonder where the problem starts?

You know what, compare what poor people had when you were a kid to what they have now. Not to mention what the have access to and on the cheap or for free. In 2009, I do not buy the I'm poor card. These kids did not bash and rape this girl because they are hungry or oppressed, they did it because they don't give a #### and think they are above the law. Which also explains those who looked on and laughed. When I hear of ####### like this I want to just burn my taxes than give these losers a single dollar.

The problem in all western democratic nations is that people are free to choose their decisions, yet society has to pay for the repercussions and consequences of their actions or lack of. Effectively they are free yet everyone else gets to be burdened with their incompetence and poor choices.

I was taught at a young age that I was responsible for my own actions. Imagine that. I learned what was unacceptable behavior and suffered the consequences if I screwed up. Today, the perpetrator doesn't pay the true price, we as a society do.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I'm sure when you were growing up that other people had different experiences to you.

Society always pays for the crimes people commit - it was true in the 1960s and its surely just as true now.

[spookyturtle 9,465]

Bullying of course is universal.

I think that bullying of some sort is universal, but it sure is hell is not normal to have 10 kids kick and bash someones head in. In my youth, bullying would be considered more teasing or picking on someone; baseball bats, chains, knives, etc weren't used.

I'm sure when you were growing up that other people had different experiences to you.

Society always pays for the crimes people commit - it was true in the 1960s and its surely just as true now.

Except today it is more prevalent and violent than it was decades ago.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Bullying of course is universal.

I think that bullying of some sort is universal, but it sure is hell is not normal to have 10 kids kick and bash someones head in. In my youth, bullying would be considered more teasing or picking on someone; baseball bats, chains, knives, etc weren't used.

You didn't make it over to NI in the 60s

[spookyturtle 9,465]

Bullying of course is universal.

I think that bullying of some sort is universal, but it sure is hell is not normal to have 10 kids kick and bash someones head in. In my youth, bullying would be considered more teasing or picking on someone; baseball bats, chains, knives, etc weren't used.

You didn't make it over to NI in the 60s

No, I didn't. But that whole situation is sad.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Except today it is more prevalent and violent than it was decades ago.

I've yet to see proof of that. We are certainly more aware of such things via ever present news coverage (as we are of stories involving child abuse). That doesn't mean that they are more common or indeed more widespread beyond problem communities.

[Heracles 417]

So what IS the problem or series of problems?

Lack of employment opportunities

Lowered high school graduation rates

Generational poverty

Domestic Violence / Broken Homes

Alcoholism

Suicide

Propensity for crime and increased likelihood of being jailed

All of these things are consistent across any economically marginalised population you care to name - from inner city Scotland to inner city Baltimore, Camden NJ to New Zealand and Australia. The resentment also is universal (however misguided or destructive it ends up becoming).

So why is it that such incidents do not occur and certainly alone anywhere near as often in the poor areas of Maine or Vermont? How about similar poor areas in Australia? That is the million dollar question that none of the above excuses explains. You falsely assume two separate yet similarly poor people will behave in the same manner. They do not. Can you demonstrate that the rate of teen violence and rape is similar across identical socioeconomic classes in numerous countries?

Just the other day I was watching a news story where people in Detroit almost had a stampede to apply for government assistance (welfare) for something. What was interesting and caught my eye was the number of people who had iphones in the crowd. Not to mention the clothes they were wearing, which are not cheap. If you can afford a $200 iphone on a $80 plan, you can certainly afford to invest in your future. Clearly their priorities are not improving their life. Its one thing being disadvantaged, while another when you learn to work and live off the system that someone else pays for.

[spookyturtle 9,465]

Except today it is more prevalent and violent than it was decades ago.

I've yet to see proof of that. We are certainly more aware of such things via ever present news coverage (as we are of stories involving child abuse). That doesn't mean that they are more common or indeed more widespread beyond problem communities.

How many drive by shooting were there 40 years ago? How many youth murders then compared to now? I see change in the city and in suburbia. There are more assaults on Main Street USA today, IMHO. Read the police report in your local community. Talk to the cops. Talk to the court officers and those involved with it on a day to day basis and see what they have to say.

[Heracles 417]

Except today it is more prevalent and violent than it was decades ago.

I've yet to see proof of that. We are certainly more aware of such things via ever present news coverage (as we are of stories involving child abuse). That doesn't mean that they are more common or indeed more widespread beyond problem communities.

Are you for real? I have seen at least a handful of articles so far in the last month alone discussing the rise in teen violence. The one I saw yesterday from a paper in CA, stated a 33% rise in teen violence.

[Ban Hammer 12,829]

BY, you don't seem to know much about your own culture either. There are a lot of novels and films that depict the underbelly of Australian society as well. While these films are of course fictional, they stem from reality, even if that reality is restricted to certain demographics, as it is in the US.

the road warrior is real?