[alienation] couldn't care less

The Pub Philosopher brings our attention to the appalling young woman who did this:

Sitting through a murder trial listening to an iPod, hidden under a hijab, shows nothing but contempt for the judicial process.

He was referring to this:

A Muslim juror was thrown off a murder trial when she was caught listening to an MP3 music player under her headscarf.. Ruhela Khanom, 20, was exposed by another juror who spotted headphone wires around her neck. At the time of the discovery, the defendant was giving evidence from the witness box. Legal experts described the incident - which took place 13 days ago - as 'astonishing' and 'unique'.

The prosecution went on to say:

"If contempt is upheld, I would have thought that prison would be the likely outcome."

Before I even looked at the article I surmised it was a young woman. The hijab reference told me it was a Muslim but that was hardly relevant. The thing is, most regular readers know I'm dealing with upwards of 100 girls a week in this age range and the signals were so clear that this was one of those.

I have a lot of good things to say about young people today but I also have some negatives. One of those is the change which is coming over girls of 19 to 22 now. I see it everyday. It's a combination, it seems, of two things:

1] Alienation from the mechanisms of society so that the girl is now reacting more than ever in a closed circle only of other young people where certain behaviours are acceptable. It's a conscious resistance to the "old ways", to the grandparents, to the old traditions and then it slides into a sort of self-contained self-centredness of looks and clothes, music, shopping as an end in itself and the "it's all too much trouble-why do you bother me with your demands" way of operating.

2] It's a lifestyle bereft of constraints - sexual, in mores, in responsibilities - in other words, the life of a teenager is being prolonged past a reasonable age into the 20s and when the adult world makes demands, such as jury service, these demands are met by a teenage mind. She doesn't care, she's not part of it all, she has her ipod to keep to her reality. She's so easily b-o-o-o-ored, you know. She really, truly, believes she's done nothing wrong but will burst into tears that people are being "mean" to her.

Where do we start? Parents and teachers throwing up their hands and crying, "Kids today!" without actually getting down and doing what is necessary - bringing the kids up with strong societal values, making constant demands with no apology, insisting they take their place within the family and so on and so on.

And where are the parents? Out working. And why do the teachers do nothing? Because the majority are PCers who are too frightened to insist on things with the kids [this is a former head teacher saying this]. Too frightened they'll cease to be seen as "cool" and relevant without recognizing there must be some distance.

Once insist on kids toeing the line and accompany that with a clearly loving, caring, interested attitude and kids react positively in most cases. It's the wishy-washiness they meet with which gives them no parameters, no limits, which is the destructive force here. Then they are met with downright hostility and withdraw even more.

Again - firm constraints and a loving, caring, interested attitude are all that's necessary.

So no, it's absolutely no surprise or shock to read this. I feel sorry for the girl and that will sound strange after what I've written so far. I feel sorry because she grew up with conflicting values and like a kid, chose the easy way. Shut out responsibility.

Look about you everyday - ipod in one ear, mobile phone on the other with the new mouthpieces which hang round the neck ready to use. It's a complete world within an outer world.

Though I'm sympathetic to how she got to where she now is, still an example must be made of her. If only to underscore the seriousness of some aspects of life. I'm not talking hanging her up on a gibbet for public persual but a term of incarceration is certainly in order here.

Just as it was essential that Paris Hilton was put away and should have served her full time, this one needs to be incarcerated too for some time. It will do more than any words can to convey the message.

This rant will get too long if we start on the conflicting values themselves swirling around society so that's for another time.