Sorry but when I read this it was during a nice elevenses on a quiet Day of the Republic in Sicily and nauseated would be a mild adjective. I look at the above pic and two things spring to mind:
1] Was I any better during my drunken youth?2] Could anyone make love to one of those?
Yes and no. At the risk of alienating half my readership, is it really desirable breeding mindless chavs like this, will you feel secure in your old age with these roaming about [see Kate's post], how did a whole generation go this way? Well done to the forces of darkness which managed to bring about this state of affairs.
Allow me to go further - when the parents and teachers say, 'Oh there's nothing I can do with them anymore,' I am moved to reply, 'Well why don't you just make sure they get home at a reasonable hour, insert the word 'no' in your vocabulary and into their understanding?'
Kids need limits, parameters, generous parameters with a heap of compassion but parameters nonetheless. Parents and teachers need backbones.
Last evening we went down to the local Festa for the Day of the Republic and there were kids everywhere on motorbikes, running around, being cool, making out and so on and that was that. On the hamburger stall were two Catholic icons and everyone was cheerful in a 'mindful' way.
Three nights ago I was coming back home here along an unlit street when a bunch of thuggish youths appeared through the gloom. 'Oh dear,' I thought but not in those words, 'oh well, it was a good life while it lasted.' Thoughts of the BBC news of the two who were shopped by their mother for blinding a man - these thoughts flashed across the mind at that point.
I stepped to one side and as they came at me, one said Grazie and another Buona Sera. They all smiled and continued their argument further along the road. I continued along the road in the other direction, puzzled.
Wonder what would have happened in Britain or Berlin under the same circumstances? Meanwhile, this:
Allow me to go further - when the parents and teachers say, 'Oh there's nothing I can do with them anymore,' I am moved to reply, 'Well why don't you just make sure they get home at a reasonable hour, insert the word 'no' in your vocabulary and into their understanding?'
Kids need limits, parameters, generous parameters with a heap of compassion but parameters nonetheless. Parents and teachers need backbones.
Last evening we went down to the local Festa for the Day of the Republic and there were kids everywhere on motorbikes, running around, being cool, making out and so on and that was that. On the hamburger stall were two Catholic icons and everyone was cheerful in a 'mindful' way.
Three nights ago I was coming back home here along an unlit street when a bunch of thuggish youths appeared through the gloom. 'Oh dear,' I thought but not in those words, 'oh well, it was a good life while it lasted.' Thoughts of the BBC news of the two who were shopped by their mother for blinding a man - these thoughts flashed across the mind at that point.
I stepped to one side and as they came at me, one said Grazie and another Buona Sera. They all smiled and continued their argument further along the road. I continued along the road in the other direction, puzzled.
Wonder what would have happened in Britain or Berlin under the same circumstances? Meanwhile, this:
Please. I mean ... really.
It's like that here, kids say 'goodnight' to you in passing, and it was the same in the Welsh valleys, when we lived there. It was safe for me to walk home alone at night from the pub after a night out with the girls. Life is particularly bad in Britain for 'Daily Mail' readers as it feeds paranoia. The fact that kids like to kick people in the head is very worrying, but it's not new. We grew up with the rhyme:
ReplyDeleteone Paki, two Paki, three Pakis four,
Four Pakistanis lying on the floor,
Five Pakis, six Pakis,seven Pakis, dead.
All the Pakistanis - kick 'em in the head.
Is the incidence of this sort of drunken violent crime very much greater than it ever was? - or is it just that these are the stories the media likes and chooses to run with, and that the internet, making us so much more aware of what is going on up and down the country, serves to exacerbate people's fears?
Probably the same. Not all kids are like that. It's the ones in packs you need to be wary of.
ReplyDeleteI understand that Sicily still has the Lupra? A sawn off shotgun. Could be handy for you and no license required.
I would suggest, with the greatest of respect, that there is very much a problem and it's not all roses, Julie, much as we woul;d like it to be.
ReplyDeleteNot all kids are like that, Bag? No but there are sufficient to concern the community to the point where the term ASBO came into parlance.
"Allow me to go further - when the parents and teachers say, 'Oh there's nothing I can do with them anymore,' I am moved to reply, 'Well why don't you just make sure they get home at a reasonable hour, insert the word 'no' in your vocabulary and into their understanding?'
ReplyDeleteKids need limits, parameters, generous parameters with a heap of compassion but parameters nonetheless. Parents and teachers need backbones."
Parents have been saying no since Christ was in short pants and kids didn't listen then and they don't now. The most well meaning parent can make sure their kids are home and in bed, you would know that kids sneak behind their parents back and the parents wouldn't even know they was gone. Most parents sleep at night so unless you lock the doors and bar the windows there is no fail proof way of stopping them. Of course there are those who don't give a rats.
Limits set in place are useless when the State steps in and takes the rights of parents out of their control. The breakdown of the traditional family unit would be a factor in the behaviours of these kids. A broken family is just that, broken. No matter how it came to be that way. Parents and teachers have a hard enough job with todays youth, but I think your comment regarding them getting a backbone is not relevant. If their hands are tied by laws, there is nothing they can legally do.
I'm so pleased to see things are working out for you James!
ReplyDeleteI've been to parties which resemble the one you picture. It's not really my scene, but that of some of my friends. As a general point I've never felt threatened, intimidated or any kind of fear at events like that. People have always been far more laid back, friendly and welcoming than in any 'mainstream' drunken bar. People who go to free parties/raves and choose to dress in that kind of way tend to be (again wildly generalising) middle class either students or professionals. There is no way you'd catch any of the chav class at such events.
BG
James, I did not say there was not a problem just that in my experience the problem comes in packs. It seems they have to escalate everything to show their street cred to the others. individuals or a pair don't tend to do that because they just don't get wound up so much and, in some cases, they are too scared to do it without serious backup.
ReplyDeleteThe problem is clearly real as you say. Too much so as another schoolkid was stabbed today in London. One up for the gun ban though so it's not all bad.
Nunyaa - that is true about the law tying parents' hands and most certainly that of teachers. At the same time there has been a throw the hands up in the air resignation which now must stop. The question is - who will bell the cat first?
ReplyDeleteBendy girl - thanks for defining that more.
Right, Bag. I just generally see a feeling of shackles of normal decency removed across the society. As Nunyaa says, govt. legislation ties hands but there has to be a point where people say, 'Enough.'
heh welcome back James:
ReplyDeleteRead some of CBI's latest rants, you'll see some of the problems with youth today (even if he is 30)
...Limits set in place are useless when the State steps in and takes the rights of parents out of their control. The breakdown of the traditional family unit would be a factor in the behaviors of these kids. A broken family is just that, broken. No matter how it came to be that way...
ReplyDeleteThat is where the real problem lies! But who is willing to make a stand against it?
And of course this related issue happened in London this weekend.
If you dare to stand up against the State you will encounter more problems than you ever wished for here in Australia. Things are not as black and white as they seem. You open your mouth and speak up you will get trodden on here, have seen it more than once and experienced it myself.
ReplyDeleteI think the parents are responsible for vomiting out kids like these onto society( without so much as a'sorry'). If those parents were so negligent in their duties, can you image what their off spring will offer up to the world?
ReplyDeleteI do think the the media add to the problem. If you watch Sky News here it's enough to make you scared to come to Britain. I agree that kids need\clear parameters.
ReplyDeleteBring back the concept of shaming people... both kids and parents. The state need not be involved.
ReplyDeleteThanks for those comments, people - food for thought.
ReplyDeleteThose women look like they're in their late 30's to me. It seems like they're just one subculture of badly dressed individuals.
ReplyDelete