Really good observations both. :thumbsup: What we are witnessing, I fear, is the slow, steady and chaotic destruction of a certain segment of American society....a demographic stratum where kids roam the streets, have little or no parental supervision (or, more importantly, love and guidance), no incentive to be formally educated so they can become useful, productive members of society, no ambition to work or try to better themselves in a legitimate fashion, no respect for themselves or others and no sense of what is right and what is wrong, what is good and what is evil or what is acceptable and what is unacceptable. The have further become desensitized by the endless and shameless promotion of mindless violence by the media (TV, movies, video games, music, the internet) that surrounds them in their compartmentalized world. It's sad and it's sick and it is only going to get worse I am afraid.
I truly fear for my kids and my grandkids. You can scream and shout all you want about how everyone involved in this horrific episode should be imprisoned or gang-raped themselves or killed or strung up by their balls or whatever but all you are doing is slicing off one head of the Hydra....it is sure to grow back because we don't become outraged about these things until they are manifested and most of us are too ambivalent and concerned with the petty details of our own everyday lives to ever do anything to address the root of the problem at its source....and even if we did, where are we supposed to start?
To me, it all begins at home. As parents, we have an incredibly important responsibility....covenant in fact....to raise our kids with love and respect....to teach them compassion and (through example for the most part) right from wrong....that effort equals result, to treat others with respect and what they need to do as individuals to become good, well-adjusted and contributory members of society. Unfortunately, way too many of us abandon that covenant very early on and the ensuing result is an endless parade of horribly tragic events like this one and many others that are similar (like the beating death of the student in Chicago a couple of weeks ago). How do we force parents to live up to their covenant? Sadly, I don't think it can be done.
We're fucked I'm afraid.
:crying: :helpme: This is soooooo sad. :crying: