I really only see it prominently in kids though. Not even a majority, but way more than I saw when I was a kid.
I genuinely believe that the current batch of kids born since 2k have a chance of making a better world. They’ve got their peculiarities, but I see way more empathy and expressions of wanting to be better.
Not that there aren’t assholes in that age group too, but they seem to be less severe and less catered to.
Meanwhile, where I live, kids are going the other way. Drastically increased crimes by minors, especially in the last two or three years. Shootings, automobile thefts, robberies, car jackings.
I know that's different than what people are mostly talking about here, but it still demonstrates the mind of a subset of our current youth, which has clearly fallen between the cracks.
Could also be an urban vs suburban vs rural thing as well. Out here in the sticks, there’s less pressure into crime and violence because there’s less infrastructure for it via gangs, fences, and less access to weaponry without education in their use. That last isn’t as off as it seems, btw; when you get drummed in that guns are for hunting as their primary use, you tend to think of them as tools for that first, with other uses secondary. Knives aren’t much different because rural kids have often seen them used on game, so they don’t have that disconnect about exactly how dangerous they can be.
But we do have our share of crime, with teenagers included as both victims and perpetrators. It just tends to be more drug abuse, drunk stupidity, and non-weapon related violence for stupidity. Less armed robbery among the younger folks for sure, and I don’t think there’s been a car jacking in the entire county this year.
But, I actually factored that kind of thing into my opinion. I have family in cities, so I get news and second hand info from denser populations. I think you hit the nail on the head with your closing sentence. The kids that the system, that society doesn’t catch in safety end up sucked into the worst parts of human behavior because they can’t see a way out. They end up living with crime and violence, so they see it as a primary option for survival, and with a poor safety net, a better option.
Agreed. I think we took self expression too far. Things like the Internet, hip hop, counter culture etc definitely changed how we express ourselves. I cringe at the idea of how I defended the use of words and phrases even as an adult, hiding behind defenses like “intent matters”. It wasn’t until I was in my late 20s that I started to think about how the things that I express might be harmful to others. Thankfully I don’t see many kids act like we acted. I even caution my son against the use of phrases that might be worded too strongly, such as something “being stupid”. If we can give our children a world to inherit, I think they can come closer than we’ve ever been to world peace.
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