I believe that as American's we have become somewhat desensitized when it comes to violence. In this day and age where everything goes viral and is made to fit a 3 inch smart phone screen vicious attacks have been almost like entertainment. Like a train wreck that you cannot look away from because it rights there in front of you. No doubt, the accessibility makes it easier watch even if we find ourselves totally appalled. But in the minds of young teenagers who have never lived without Youtube, the internet, or social media, violent behavior becomes nothing more than a photo op, or an imitation of reoccurring violent themes that they've seen countless time. A theme which has been rendered normal by the mere fact that it is repetitive. I will no longer post the link to such videos because it almost feels as if I am a co-conspirator by doing so.
A West Baltimore, Md., group of girls a beat and robbed a teenaged girl just blocks away from a local mall, where she planned to submit a job application.
The victim’s mother, who didn’t want to be identified, told WJZ in Baltimore that the group that attacked her daughter is part of the “Sisterhood” gang.
“They punched her, they kicked her and mostly they stomped her in the head,” the mother told the news station. “I just think something really needs to be done about these gangs because every time we turn the TV on, it’s another gang after somebody else’s child.”
West Baltimore, Md., police say the 17-year-old girl was viciously beaten and robbed on a street corner Tuesday afternoon as she was on her way to a job interview.
PR
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ReplyDeleteWell, yes, we probably have become "de-sensitized". I used to watch Westerns with my dad--"High Noon", "Gunfight at the O. K. Corral". "My Darling Clementine", just to name a few. During the Viet Nam Conflict, we watched wounded soldiers and dead soldiers being taken away in helicopters. During the '60s we saw race riots in New York, Newark, Los Angeles, and Detroit with people who looked like me lying dead in the streets. When I moved to Newark, Delaware--the very night I got there--a young man was arguing with his girlfriend and pushed her out of the car--where she met her death. Two weeks later, a car was found in Dover, Delaware. It was the car of a missing young woman. There was a smell coming from the trunk, according to passersby, and the police opened the trunk and found the young woman's body decomposing. Did you ever see the body of Emmett Till? The violence done to him was unspeakable, yet his mother had him shown in an open coffin. And, oh, yes, I should talk about the "Strange Fruit" that Billie Holiday sings about. She's talking about men hanging from trees--lynched. Yes, there has been a lot of violence vicariously in my lifetime, but I don't belong to a gang, don't have a need to hurt anyone, never stole from anyone--I'm willing to just live my life.
ReplyDeleteThe Vietnam war is a little before my time. But my father did show me photos of Emmett Till in Jet Magazine as a warning! The difference between violence then and violence now is the fact that it has become entertainment on a wider scale. As I am sure you know there was a time that the "strange fruit" Billie Holiday talked about was often viewed as entertaininment by racists, and even depicted on post cards. Today's strange fruit goes all over the world!
ReplyDeleteI guess that what I am trying to say is that the things that I watched in the movies and on TV, the "strange fruit" and the body of Emmett Till were all EXTERNAL. I had the love and correction of my parents; we went to church, sometimes a little too much for me; we sat at the breakfast and dinner table together; my mother did not work; my parents did not drink, nor do drugs; they didn't have us out of wedlock; I just think that all of the things that are happening today with some of the young people is a result of not being loved by their parents-- many of them are searching for a "family". I had a family, good and honorable parents.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you 100%! You and I have identical upbringing's. I think today's children have little or no foundation, married parents, father at home etc. with that being said often times it ends up being fools raising fools!
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