Young people and knives in Britain and elsewhere

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

We have had knives in our homes, etc., for how long? Boys used to carry a knife on them, in years gone by, and that is not really that long ago, more or less routinely, especially in rural areas, from the simple pocketknife to fixed bladed sheath knives. They also took those knives to school often and how many stabbings did we have among children and young people? Almost zero.

Boy Scouts from Cub Scouts upwards carried the traditional Boy Scouts knife – first in the form of the “official” pocketknife, later the sheath knife – on their belts, openly, and even the Scout hatchet. They attacked each other or others? No.

Now we have this so-called knife culture (sorry, the people who phrased that term have no idea of true knife culture) with all those stabbings and such. When did this phenomena appear? Around 30 years ago or so. And what happened at that time? The proper disciplining of children was outlawed, more or less. A correlation? I sure think so.

The same goes for guns, say, in the United States. People in the Unites States have had guns in their homes for 200 years and more. Mass shootings, including and especially those in schools, perpetrated by students, have only become a problem in the last 30 years or so. If you look closely enough you will sure see the correlation between gun shootings and the decline of and in disciplining our children. Children today believe that they can do as they like having to fear no consequences, as they no longer are permitted, by law often, to be spanked.

When the paddle and the cane were removed from home and school the trouble started. We had – virtually – nothing of this kind in the years until that time. And still people refuse to see the correlation between the two. In addition to that ever since then there seems to have been an increase, generally, in aggression and violence in children and young people, against one another and against other people.

Treating the kids today with Ritalin for supposed ADHD and ADD also is an additional problem for one of the side effects, apparently, of that drug, and of Prozac, is what? Hold on to your hat. According to some medical professionals the side effects are uncontrollable anger. So, while it may dull the kids down when they explode they really do and have – almost – no control of their anger.

Yes, admittedly, violent TV and cinema, computer games and especially virtual reality also have a great deal to answer for but when one looks close enough there seems to be only one real reason for all this malaise and that is that, today, parents and others may not guide their children by the use of proper methods of discipline and chastisement.

Any animal parent chastises their offspring and maybe some people would do well to observe the ways in which this happens but then, most of the do-gooder brigade have so much lost such a connection with reality and Nature, as have our nations' children, that they would not comprehend those ways.

In many other countries that, on one level, have higher cultural values and where the community, in raising kids, is more the focus than the individual, and especially those in the East, and where there is also a lot more focus – in the family and community – on disciplining of children, including physical chastisement, the problems that we, in the so-called liberal West have, seem almost non-existent. But when in those countries and cultures those old values are eroded or abandoned almost the same problems arise.

And still almost no one is willing – in the West – to see a correlation between the abandonment of proper chastisement of children and the rise of the issues that we are faced with, from lack of respect for people and property over general anti-social behavior and mindless violence all the way to knife- and gun crime and the rest.

Talking about rest... I am going to rest my case here; it is becoming rather heavy.

© 2018

Rising abuse of alcohol among children and young people

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

What is the answer? More education or does it need stronger prohibition and laws?

I think what everyone forgets in this equation is to ask the question as to why children as young as eight and ten drink themselves into a coma even. We must first ask why are children and teenagers taking to excessive drinking, so-called binge drinking, which lands some in a coma, and there are at least two reasons here. One is the very system and the pressure of the education system to perform to set standards and the second is the very fact that children no longer have boundaries of any kind and thus feel insecure.

German media recently reported that in central Germany, what is known as Mitteldeutschland, Saxony and Thuringia, more and more children and teenagers end up in hospital because of alcohol. In 2016 more than 950 children and young people were treated in hospital in Saxony alone for acute alcohol poisoning. In Thuringia the number was around 530. This is a rise of 3% above the previous year. Alarming is the rate of 10-14 year-olds among that number. In that age group there was a serious increase in binge drinkers, almost 25%. More than half of those were girls.

The story, more than likely, will be no different in other countries, including and especially Britain and the United States, despite strict alcohol laws and all the jazz.

While everyone is talking,again, about educating children and young people about the danger of alcohol and especially binge drinking and even stricter laws the underlying cause no one seems to be prepared to look at, consider, and especially not tackle.

Those engaging in this activity of drinking themselves into a stupor and even a coma – almost at least if not actually – have, I should guess, heard all the warnings, had the lessons about it, and there is, in most countries, already a minimum age to buying alcohol in that it is illegal for anyone under a certain age to purchase alcohol and more importantly that it is illegal for traders to sell alcohol to anyone who even appears to be underage. So, how come they still do it and more importantly why?

The idea of the powers-that-be, however, once again, is not to tackle the causes but to deal with the symptoms by more education and more prohibition. Seems to be working well, doesn't it.

© 2017