This is a father speaking!
Apparently, some time last week, a fifteen-year old boy was stabbed and killed over an iPod.
This is the value of human life to some people. $299. Now, I can understand (well, no, not really) mugging someone for the $299 piece of electronics if the criminal is going to sell it for money; but outright killing a person over it is ... well, stupid. What goes through a person's mind--other than "DUHHHHH"--when they lift that blade to strike their victim? If you're going to rob someone, subdue them instead.
Or, even better, don't do it at all.
"DUHHHHHH"
This, of course, will now lead me into another political tirade. We Americans really love our Bill of Rights. "Cruel and Unusual." For sure. What's cruel and unusual is that we don't actually make a real effort to stop acts like this. Nevermind the cruelty and unusualness we place on our innocent citizens when we mollycoddle criminals and let them run rampant. Oh, you got caught? Throw you in jail where you can learn MORE tricks for committing crimes.
"DUHHHHHH"
There has to be another way. Media has made it "cool" to be a "gangsta" and to have been thrown in jail, because now you're "down". I see teenagers running all over the place with do-rags on their heads and their pants down to their knees. Is it really nothing more than a style? Or do some of these kids fancy themselves "gangstas"? What if we did like in the Muslim world, where if you steal from someone, you lose an appendage? I imagine violent crime in those countries is pretty low.
Or, we could do something a little less ...extreme. Education. We could force the media to make it UNCOOL to be a gangsta. Oh, but then we'd be infringing on the media's First Amendment rights. God forbid. Or, we could offer psychiatric help to troubled teens that can (and often do) turn into our violent offenders. But then we'd have to raise taxes (or cut spending somewhere else) to pay for that. God forbid. Or, parents could take a more active role in raising their children; and whenever the child comes home with a CD that says "violence is cool," the parent promptly confiscates it and smashes it with a 16-pound sledgehammer. Oh, but that would be violent, too, I guess. And, it would interfere with the parent's watching Reality TV Show (tm). God forbid!
I guess, as a society, we're pretty screwed. Is the Second Coming here yet? Hurry UP, Jesus!!!
This is the value of human life to some people. $299. Now, I can understand (well, no, not really) mugging someone for the $299 piece of electronics if the criminal is going to sell it for money; but outright killing a person over it is ... well, stupid. What goes through a person's mind--other than "DUHHHHH"--when they lift that blade to strike their victim? If you're going to rob someone, subdue them instead.
Or, even better, don't do it at all.
"DUHHHHHH"
This, of course, will now lead me into another political tirade. We Americans really love our Bill of Rights. "Cruel and Unusual." For sure. What's cruel and unusual is that we don't actually make a real effort to stop acts like this. Nevermind the cruelty and unusualness we place on our innocent citizens when we mollycoddle criminals and let them run rampant. Oh, you got caught? Throw you in jail where you can learn MORE tricks for committing crimes.
"DUHHHHHH"
There has to be another way. Media has made it "cool" to be a "gangsta" and to have been thrown in jail, because now you're "down". I see teenagers running all over the place with do-rags on their heads and their pants down to their knees. Is it really nothing more than a style? Or do some of these kids fancy themselves "gangstas"? What if we did like in the Muslim world, where if you steal from someone, you lose an appendage? I imagine violent crime in those countries is pretty low.
Or, we could do something a little less ...extreme. Education. We could force the media to make it UNCOOL to be a gangsta. Oh, but then we'd be infringing on the media's First Amendment rights. God forbid. Or, we could offer psychiatric help to troubled teens that can (and often do) turn into our violent offenders. But then we'd have to raise taxes (or cut spending somewhere else) to pay for that. God forbid. Or, parents could take a more active role in raising their children; and whenever the child comes home with a CD that says "violence is cool," the parent promptly confiscates it and smashes it with a 16-pound sledgehammer. Oh, but that would be violent, too, I guess. And, it would interfere with the parent's watching Reality TV Show (tm). God forbid!
I guess, as a society, we're pretty screwed. Is the Second Coming here yet? Hurry UP, Jesus!!!
posted by xanadian at 8:58 AM
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