CRIMINALIZING YOUTH
This has been something that has bugged me for awhile, but it seems to be getting more common, so I've decided to comment about it. Namely, how many daytime talkshows are showing teenagers getting carted off to these "scared straight"-style boot camps.
If you've seen them, you know what I'm talking about. Basically, these teenagers are surrounded by fatigue-clad drill sergeant wannabes who scream at them and do assorted things to them, including sleep deprivation, pointless drills, endless exercises. All heaped with generous spoonfuls of scorn and derision.
What seems to happen is these parents come on the shows and bitch about how bad their kids have become. Now, in some cases, the kids are bad. But whose fault is that? The parents seem to get off free as birds, when they're clearly part of the problem. They should cart their fat butts to the boot camps, too...
Showing posts with label teens. Show all posts
Showing posts with label teens. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
THE CRIMINALIZATION OF YOUTH
THE CRIMINALIZATION OF YOUTH
A lot of talk is being heard about the criminalization of our youth-particularly in the inner cities of this country, and our city has experienced some very public examples in the past few years. For instance, the former District Attorney Ira Reiner labelled every other black male teenager in Los Angeles a gang member because of so-called gang sweeps and documentation that called every young person in a target area a gang member, regardless of the actual life of the child....
A lot of talk is being heard about the criminalization of our youth-particularly in the inner cities of this country, and our city has experienced some very public examples in the past few years. For instance, the former District Attorney Ira Reiner labelled every other black male teenager in Los Angeles a gang member because of so-called gang sweeps and documentation that called every young person in a target area a gang member, regardless of the actual life of the child....
Criminalizing Youth
Criminalizing Youth
The media's portrayal of teens within the last ten years has been one of the "troubled", over-sexed, under-supervised, violent video game addicted little robots who do whatever musicians (be it rock or rap) tell them to. And the solution is to install Orwellian surveillance systems, metal detectors and a host of other privacy invading measures. Of course, nothing (both the "problems" and the so-called "solutions") could be further from the truth...
The media's portrayal of teens within the last ten years has been one of the "troubled", over-sexed, under-supervised, violent video game addicted little robots who do whatever musicians (be it rock or rap) tell them to. And the solution is to install Orwellian surveillance systems, metal detectors and a host of other privacy invading measures. Of course, nothing (both the "problems" and the so-called "solutions") could be further from the truth...
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