What is the reason for the level of violence to which teenagers are willing to go for trivial reasons?

Question

i have some superficial ideas which may or may not be derisory in your opinion, but i'm only an average observer. To make things easy, i'll bullet point them, Tory style.
1. The breakdown in family structure/family values.
2. The secular nature of British society.
3. The ubiquitous glamourisation of violence/gang culture/guns/knives/machismo in popular culture.
4. Failure of Represssive State Apparatus and Ideological State Apparatus to marshall popular opinion towards restraint.
5. The proliferation of alcohol and cannabis as accelerants in the breakdown of societal inhibitions.

I can't make sense of why I get threatened on the streets of Nottingham so much, by people of all ages and denominations, and believe me, i'm Joe Average. What do you think?

Answer 1

They were not taught and disciplined the way we used to be---also the movies and the games they play are all violent, not taught about God and Christianity.......x

Answer 2

Hi there Barry Bowfinger, Your compilation of bullet points are a fair observation of the way in which society if fast declining into near anarchy.
In addition to your points, I would add that, the younger generation have too many rights and they are fully aware of this. Combined with the fact that the contemporary judicial system does not issue a strict disciplinarian stance when it comes to teaching youngsters that there must be a consequence to their actions. Even when offenders are given a custodial sentence, jails are not deterrents, they are akin to 'glorified hotels' where a stay in jail is predominantly regarded as an 'occupational hazard.'

Answer 3

They know right from wrong, they just don't care. All teenagers at one time think they are indestructible. Some go to great lengths to prove it and think they are excluded from the law when they can dump a convenient blame on their violence.
My theory is parents don't do a good enough job explaining every twisted detail of committing a crime to ending up in prison. Too many parents today concern themselves with fairy tale endings for their children because the harsh details are cruel to tell to their kids.
Our boys are terrified of breaking the law, knowing what could happen to them in prison. Call me wrong for it if you will, but I refuse to baby them either. If they break the law, it's not music, t.v., video games, or ADHD. It's them.
ADHD wasn't around when I was a child so why is it around now? If I blamed ADHD on my behavior my father would've put my head through the wall and called it Ritalin.
Kids today, need to be straightened out as they commit infractions, not babied. But too many people are worried about hurting their feelings and damaging their minds.
Which is funny, because when they do kill or hurt someone, what does the parent say then? The parent chooses to blame others because they don't want to accept responsibility for being weak around their child and giving them everything they ever wanted.

Answer 4

first, weed isnt responsible for voilent agression, thats the beer...

and whilst your observations are accurate, they miss the point, almost entirely.

the deterrent isnt working. for the carrot to have effect, the stick has to be real..

im 50, and have a degree in sociology, and i live by choice on a council estate. i work in our community..

heres what i see; i left school, with nothing, and started work on the tuesday after teh easter bank holiday...i was 16...

for the next four years i was put in my place if i got out of line. and slowly i learned how to be an adult, in teh company of other, older adults. i learne dwhat was and what wasnt acceptable... and those miserable old buggers, well their lessons have stayed with me 35yrs... and i have 4kids, an ex wife and grandchildren...

todays youth is feckless because it has had the lessons of the old men taken away, it is dealt with by a police force hampered by liberal do gooders, who with the best intentions have let the tail start wagging the dog...

the lunatics are running the asylum... kids need purpose, they need guidance and rules, and occasionally a damn good lecture... but there is no deterrent, a benefit culture exists, whereby, you sit on your a ss all day, smoking weed, being a lazy bone idle drunkard, and you get paid... you get a roof, food and money...

the people who educated me were from a time before the dinosaurs... ww2 era.. they knew what it was like to go hungry, and have absolutely nothing... they lived thru means testing... and soup kitchens... these guys knew real hardship... and worked as a consequence...

now all that "incentive" has been lost. the state spends bilions on reports and schemes to identify thes problems, and all it ever goes for is the quick fix.. the high profile headline grabber... and IT DOESNT WORK... why? because teh root cause is still there, nagging away like toothache... and you can only do so many aspirin...

and, (at last) the root cause of violence is society itself. it has no purpose, no goals, no aspirations... just mounting debt, no job security, and a bleak future... circumstance has placed a wall in front of them, and they have no idea how to go around the wall... they jsut accept it...

the liberal namby pamby generation, bless em, tried, because, lets face face it, growing up in the 50's was brutal... and they didnt want that...

BUT... for over 1200 years thats how we bought our kids up... we taught them skills, and we put them to work... and we sent them out into the world... 50 years ago we stopped that... conscription ended... and then the apprentice scheme collapsed 35 ago... and now look at us... no better than a drunken baying mob.. with no self respect, and NO honour.

Answer 5

You're probably right about everything you say, but to sum it all up I think the problem really comes down to the fact that they really needed a good slap or two from their parents when they were growing up, and occasionally perhaps, a sharp cuff round the ear from the local Bobby when they were caught misbehaving in the street.

Sadly everyone is now forbidden to give them a dose of what they need, and the results are all too evident!

Answer 6

Because this is what the media says, repeatedly, is normal for a teenager. Because there is little alternative. Because a good deal of teenage subculture is arranged around violence. Because adults are violent, and teenagers are influenced by this.

You may call the reasons "trivial", but is that what a teenager would call them?

Answer 7

maybe its the fact that old ppl dont give us teens a chance and just like to catagorise a certain age group. i am a teenager. so i must smoke weed? stop making perceptions until you have met all the teens in the world. think you are clever? i didnt need violence to shut you up did i?
thank you for reading

Answer 8

Bad parenting maybe.

Some kids feel the need to prove themselves and gain respect from their peers.

I get it in Manchester sometimes in my town. It's best to surround yourself with as many people as you can. Ofcourse it's not always that easy.

If there was more police walking around with truncheons then I think it would be less of a problem.

Answer 9

i think of that's loss of kinfolk cohesiveness: disfunctionality. All babies want 3 important adults of their lives, human beings they are able to have confidence, those that shield them emotionally and bodily. Many babies do no longer even have one, much less 3. without such help, many babies discover their lives insufferable. toddler abuse (emotional besides as actual), chilly/distant dad and mom, and poverty make residing house life a misery. that's no ask your self many run away as quickly as they're able. regrettably, working away isn't as good as working TO. i'm appearing a number of your homework. Why do no longer you pay me decrease back by potential of volunteering a number of it sluggish to ease this difficulty quite of basically writing approximately it? try mentoring an at-possibility toddler, volunteer in a kinfolk homeless shelter, examine to youthful babies at a community college, connect Junior fulfillment and help those youngsters. you are able to make a distinction. do no longer sit down on the sidelines and basically write papers regarding the difficulty. As they stated interior the Nineteen Sixties, "in case you're no longer element of the answer, you're element of the difficulty."

Answer 10

i know that 1,3and5 is definitely right but also concider the rate of violence that is released in video games and movies and such that can actually teach teens how to do things that are wrong. Also, teenagers have alot of hormones they are trying to deal with and some fine it harder to handle then others.

Answer 11

The only thing that you missed is that the gang becomes his family. I've seen more love between two gang members, than they got at home.