Yes, each generation has had its troublesome element, I would be the last to defend some of the violence wrought by the mods and rockers but they were distinct mass groupings and effectively territorial, like a lot of rutting males showing their virility.
From a very young age I can remember the call going round the neighbourhood that there was going to be “a bundle” down the rec. In those days the only weapons were words and fists.
Yes, sometimes it went too far and kids got injured, bloody noses, split lips and untold bruises, but it was incredibly rare for anyone to be hurt enough to need the Dr., let alone the hospital.
In fact it was more than likely that there would be a clip round the ear for the injured party when they got home as a punishment for fighting, or, depending on the parents, for not winning the fight!!
Things just seem to have escalated over the years moving through lumps of wood, bats, the occasional penknife or flick knife to the seriously heavy duty knives and guns that we see with far too much regularity on the news today.
But it was gang warfare from the get go back in the day when kids just shouted abuse at each other and wrestled or blooded each other’s noses through the clashes of the mods and rockers to the territorial gangs that grew up a few years ago. Whilst not to be condoned it is very easy to see the sociological parallels between countries fighting wars and groupings of young people fighting each other.
However many of stabbings and shootings that occur these days do not seem to be gang related, at least in the sense of occurring during a clash of gangs, they are not so much part of a big fight but more a picking off of people when either alone or in very small groups, some of it is clearly linked to prejudice or vengeance and it feels very different from the traditional overt hostilities.
Is it the fact that, in real terms, the young today have access to more money than ever before (however they come by it!), do they feel more hopeless and disempowered than previous generations, is it that they are bored senseless, have they been so de-sensitised by the barrage of violence on TV, in films and video games or is it fear and paranoia that fuels the anger and hatred.
Whatever the cause it is scary because so many truly innocent bystanders, including young children, seem to end up being victims of the sociopathic behaviour of these disaffected juveniles.
I fear for our youngsters when they are out and about in a way that would have never occurred to my parents.
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