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Printer-Friendly ModeViolent acts among youth unacceptable
April 14, 2008 —
Violence is in the news every day. A shooting, a beating, a robbery - you name it, it probably happened somewhere nearby. Not all violent crimes make the news, but two recent incidents in the news have me worried about the youth of today.
AOL News recently reported that at the end of March, six teenage girls attacked a fellow classmate while two teenage boys stood guard.
It also reported that the victim's father said the motivation for the attack was so that the teenagers could have a popular video on YouTube.
I am completely baffled by what they decided to do to gain online popularity. Now, I could see doing a funny dance or amusing commentary to get a lot of viewings, but beating someone up? I don't think so.
Violence seems to be on the rise amongst the younger generation in the United States. A group of third graders were arrested for plotting to kill their teacher at the beginning of April.
ABC News reported that the motivation behind this attack was due to the teacher reprimanding a student for standing on a chair. It reported that the students "planned to knock the teacher unconscious with a paperweight, bind her with toy handcuffs and duct tape, and then stab her with a steak knife."
I was very alarmed when I read this. What type of environment do these students live in where they would think it would be ok to commit such a horrid act? Where are the parents? Those are the questions I ask every time I read or hear about violent acts by people under the age of 25.
There is no excuse for this type of behavior. Third graders may not fully realize the consequences of their actions, but they shouldn't have the capability of visualizing how to kill a person. I assume that they get the ideas from TV shows and movies, ones that they probably shouldn't be allowed to see.
Parents can still be blamed at this point, because while a number of teenagers are old enough to see violence in TV shows and movies, they should have learned the difference between right and wrong during their childhood.
Under no circumstances should these teenagers and third graders get "light" sentences. They need to understand that what they did was wrong and should be punished to the full extent of the law.
People of all ages need to understand that violence is not the answer. If you have an issue with a teacher, talk to someone about it. To gain popularity on YouTube, do something funny, not violent.