What Went Thee Into The Wilderness To Find?
Entry posted by caldrail
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I'm watching the news this morning and one of the featured stories is about knife crime. One more young man of 19 has been stabbed to death in London recently. The family have organised a protest march to demand action from politicians. The brother of the latest victim is interviewed in the studio. Now I've no doubt whatsoever that this family have suffered a grievous loss, yet there was something artificial about that interview. It's hard to put your finger on it. The modern media are very slick - this particular channel has won an award for news reporting - but the answers the brother gave was somehow a little too obvious.
Naturally he called for harsher sentencing. Thats an instinctive feeling from those who have lost loved ones so I do understand and sympathise. Thing is, the young man claims that these harsher sentences will make knife-wielders think twice, that it would provide a deterrent to such behaviour if thugs realise they will be punished for using knifes in this way.
He's wrong. They won't. The deterrent only works if the thug thinks about the consequences of his actions. Thugs are not known for thinking, and young men commit these stabbings in the heat of the moment or because they believe they won't get caught regardless of the potential punishment. Realising that their peers are armed they seek protection. Since the 'herd' is helpless against a sharp blade they begin to carry knives too. Therefore the real definition of superiority amongst them becomes the willingness to use them instead of just threatening to. Knife culture is the bare bones of a 'warrior' culture in our midst and is therefore based on personal bravado. These people seek self-respect, a sense of self-worth, from the carrying of weapons and the willingness to use them. Further, they want the dread and fear that most people naturally feel if confronted. Young men are naturally competitive. It's part of our animal behviour in that young males jostle for dominance, to settle disputes, for mating rights, all sorts of instinctive reasons. It's the feeling that 'I'm dangerous now everyone respects me' that needs to be addressed. With every generation you need to recreate civilisation. Without that it becomes a primeval jungle in our own back yard.
Inevitably film and tv will carry some blame with copy-cat behaviour cited as a cause for the killings. That isn't quite correct. Young people adopt the manners and actions of the screen in the absence of real examples. Without a firm constructive social background young men will turn to their own instincts and make connections from their own primal instincts to the portrayal of heroic violence that would otherwise merely entertain.
So what solution is there? There needs to be a path for these young men to find self-worth in a more positive way, to work off their competitive instincts without resorting to uncontrolled violence. We also need to convince these young men that carrying knives is not a symbol of manhood. Street credibility needs to be exchanged for social responsibility. I wonder if the protest march is going to aim for that, or is it a veiled demand for revenge? A desire for justice? The government have already stated that action on knife-crime will be taken. Which path will they take? Is there a real desire by our politicans to solve these issues or will they adopt a short-term initiative to survive the bad press? The labour government came to power announcing they were going to tackle the root issues of crime. Ok, here's your chance.
Embarrasement of the Week
Our new border control agency has been set up to prevent illegal immigration and has issued dire warnings to employers that hiring such people will incur heavy penalties. Suprise, suprise, the border agency have discovered that they employed an ilegal immigrant as a cleaner. Whoops. Flog yourselves gentlemen. Nice and hard. No slacking at the back.
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