"Your time is limited so don't waste it living someone else's life.
Don't be trapped by Dogma which is living with the results of other people's thinking.
Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your inner voice.
And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition, they somehow already know what you truly want to become."
- Steve Jobs

Thursday, July 14, 2005

A scary forecast for the future

I read these two stories today and was highly disturbed:

"A BOY of 14 faces SEVEN charges of raping four primary school girls in a park near their homes. The lad is accused of carrying out the sex attacks on a seven-year-old, two girls of eight and one of ten. They had been playing on swings in Mandley Park, Salford, Greater Manchester, before the alleged incidents last Sunday. The Salford boy, who cannot be named, is said to have attacked each in turn in secluded undergrowth."

A BOY of 13 told yesterday how a “happy slapping”gang tied him to a tree and set him on fire. Kyle Parker — who also had a monkey mask forced on to his face — screamed in terror during the 20-minute ordeal, filmed by the yobs on their mobile phones. Kyle was bound to a tree with masking tape and had his legs tied together with his tie. He said: “The gang were all laughing at me and then they set the tape on fire. “I managed to get out of the tape but they tied me back up again and set it on fire again. “I felt the heat from the flames on my shoulder but I managed to get out of the tape and put out the flames before I was seriously hurt.” Police will quiz eight boys, believed to be 15 and from the same school. They also seized seven phones.

What on earth can be going on in the mind of a 14 year old for him to rape such young girls??? What happened in his life to fuck him up so much? 14 year olds shouldn't even KNOW about sex at that age, let along RAPE? He should be out on his bike after school or playing with his mates or on his computer, or going to football club or something???? And what will happen to him regarding punishment?

He's too young for prison, will he go to a YOI where he will doubtless learn the trades of crime from his fellow teen inmates? Will he get a slap on the wrist and be released into the community again? Will he get an ASBO and be forced to stay indoors? Will he be counselled by a bunch of do-gooders? And will someone investigate his family and parents to find out what the fuck happened in his young life to mess him up so much?

More importantly, how will his future be shaped and monitored to prevent this happening again when he is older and physically stronger, to prevent more violent abuses and rapes from happening to innocent victims?

As for the "happy slappers", it seems their borders between fantasy computer-game violence, and real fear and pain have been thoroughly blurred. How can they think that setting someone alight is a) funny, and b) NOT dangerous???? It's a shame that they can't be given the same treatment as a form of punishment, see how they like it. Maybe if one of the boys had accidentally burned himself while setting the other boy on fire, he could have sued someone for emotional trauma because his crime was interrupted by his own clumsiness. No doubt we would have given him legal aid and supported his case all the way to the European Court of Human Rights too???

Childhood has lost its innocence and it seems that every day more evidence is presented that assures me that it will never return.

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