Not since the West Side Story have I heard so much talk about "gang-related" this and "gang-related" that...only difference is, the Sharks and the Jets didn't have automatic fire arms. Just knives...but we romanticized THAT, too, and created an entire musical about it!I know, I know...the West Side Story was a "romance set to music". Yeah, right. Just like Romeo & Juliet was a "classic love story"...ABOUT TEENAGE SUICIDE! Whatever. I'm just sick in the pit of my stomach today about our "gang-related" shooting in the hood last night...and I'm ever-so-frickin'-sick of the media using that term. GANG-RELATED.
Can we stop labeling everything that has to do with anyone under the age of 18 committing crimes as "gang-related"? Whatever happened to basic terms like THEFT, CAR JACKING, ARMED ROBBERY, PROPERTY DESTRUCTION (graffiti), BREAKING AND ENTERING, VUCSA (Violation of Uniform Controlled Substance Act...aka, selling DRUGS), ASSAULT, and plain old fashioned MURDER???
"Gang-related" somehow romanticizes these acts and makes them less than what they are, numbing us all into a state of complacency. Murder is murder, no matter what the age you are when you intentionally brandish a gun, point it at someone, and pull the trigger with the INTENT to KILL someone. It's called MURDER, society and media writers. No matter what gang sign you flash, color you are wearing, or how old you are. And it is gut-wrenchingly sad we are producing more and more MURDERERS in this country.
I don't know WHAT Obama's got in his bag of tricks anymore than I know what McCain is sporting...I'm politically pensive and democratically doubtful (not to be confused with the Democratic Party). But what I DO know is this: It is time to get out there and save our children in this country...before all we have left is a society of shiny, new prisons filled with children under the age of 18 and dilapidated, old houses where these kids used to live, spray-painted with "gang-related" graffiti and falling down.
Now excuse me, while I go watch some more "gang-related" TV (because I KNOW several people who have a television set...it must be "gang-related", right?!?) about the "gang-related" shooting (**bile rises in throat just typing THAT trite statement**) in my neighborhood. Who knows? Maybe I'll have me some of that "gang-related" ice cream (cows bunch together in herds, too) while watching the "gang-related" political ads.
Or am I still allowed to call political smear campaign tactics LIES and the misuse of power CORRUPTION?!?...
Truth and honesty - sorely lacking.
ReplyDeleteWhatever they care to call it, it still sounds frightening to be in your neighborhood tonight.
ReplyDeleteJust as maddening and frightful is that sick WORLD is so many youth's reality. And IF those youths grow up many are just as violent as adults. Very sad and scary.
ReplyDeleteAnd why can't the political commericials tell/show positive tactics what actually talk about SOLUTIONS???
Yep, greedy, corrupt mankind are the ones in power and dominating injury to our entire world.
Perhaps it's time to get a guard dog to keep your kitty, POD, and you, company?? You need something warmer to sleep with anyway than your cold laptop :-)
Hope you have a safe night and can get some good sleep.
Society has become desensitized, and where necessary they invent language to soften the blow of reality. Important ideas are reduced to easily digestible sound-bytes. No need to think/no need to feel.
ReplyDeleteThe thoughtful and empathetic struggle while the rest pass by with blinders.
It is terrible but unfortunately it is gang-related. Let me explain because I do not mean this in the sensationalized,desensitized way the media does.
ReplyDeleteKids have more and more to deal with these days and fewer meaningful outlets. They are inheriting a world of shit and rather than facing the challenge, they are seeking the worst possible outlets. I see this every day in my school and neighborhood. Slowly I am watching gangs claim my students. I see more grafitti around town and in my school than I ever have before. The crime is no less, it is greater. Kids who used to be nice and respectful are being warped by their gangs, their peers and their poverty. I want to cry every time I see a new one of my kids change the way they're dressing and start shaving their head. It's like one new one a week now. I see the signs even before the student makes the outward changes. I watch parents weep in meetings with the school, begging their kids to change and I watch kids who were sweet and loving a year ago, gaze stonily at their parents tears now. Obama, parents, teachers and society do have an enormous challenge to face. This is a huge part of why I am so hard on myself when it comes to my job. If I can't save them, who's going to?