BAR BAR 2 said:
I agree up to a point. This was one tragic instance in a much larger societal problem though. How do we handle the fact that so many now look at being sent to prison as a right of passage? Children are taught from a young age that that is where you go to prove yourself. If they don't know their father, they look up to an older brother or some other thug who has been there. They look to the older kids and adults for guidance and seeing them commit crimes for personal gain gives them the idea that this is the proper way to live.
We are now about three generations into a welfare society in many areas. Used to be, that kids had a mother or grandmother who tried their damndest to do right. Nowadays that is the exception. The government has made it too easy for people to do nothing and still get by. Children not only have bad influences outside of the home, but now have noone to look up to inside the home. I won't even go into the sway that music and tv holds.
There are too many people out there who, by molly coddling, try to help societies leaches justify their laziness. By trying to make up for past sins, being too soft hearted, something, we have created a monster. By not taking a stand, we have condoned and promoted bad behavior. It is our fault this has happened.
There is no way that a soft approach will solve this. Kids are in school eight hours a day. They are around bad influences the other sixteen hours. If children haven't already learned respect at home, how in the hell do you expect them to respect an overworked, underpaid teacher who is trying to teach them about sexual harassment or common sense? Criminals are a predator who has reverted back, away from structure and rules, to self preservation. Hence the gang culture and running in packs.
Modern society was built upon fear and consequences of rules and structure not followed. Acts detrimental to the community were not tolerated and swift action was usually taken as a punishment and deterrent. People knew that it took a whole community to survive and thrive and any percieved harmful acts were dealt with quickly and sternly. In todays world, chance after chance is given and people eventually got tired of even trying. Fear of the consequences used to work. But now its time to start reminding people again that there are still a few things to be feared. Cater to their instinct of self preservation and let them know they won't survive very long by breaking the rules.
Yes, all of these are big problems. From a historical economic perspective, it has been shown that a strong economy with a strong job market gives people more of a chance to get out of that welfare trap than any other thing including cracking down on them through the police and such. You have to have that carrot looking like a much better choice than the welfare safety net. Often it is not.
If you don't have much stake in an economy, your incentives are not with it, and often (not always) revert to worse behavior.
Again, from an economic perspective (not an excuse here), we have to have decent jobs for decent wages. A way out, if you will, and not just if you happen to be a sports star.
We have had an economy where the lowest price was highly regarded and we allowed most of our clothes and home goods to be shipped from china at low wages. They bought those and other industries.
We have the opposite problem Russia had. They had their shelves empty because they didn't allow freedom and capitalism. Our shelves are full but we have run off good jobs and good wages to buy those goods.
Our problem is a result of corporatism instead of capitalism. What is good for the corporation, regardless of what it does to the economy and the people living in it. Outsource jobs, outsource industries, all for the lowest price.
These guys who raped the girl should still be in prison and I was glad to see it coming from a Black Panther person. Muslims in the U.S. need to call out their own when it comes to some of their radicals who try to get their way through terror. Everyone needs to step up.
Texas is pretty tough on crime and if these allegations are proven, they will be dealt with harshly.
You make some very good points, here, Bar Bar 2.
Tex