Regarding the crime wave (tm.) Monkeyleg hit on something when he was talking about brutality. How all the best and brightest can't understand why they're so brutal.
Well that ain't hard to figger out. We live in a society that does not teach values or moral standards. We nit pic and argue about gnats the answers to which are painfully obvious, while embracing the vulgar with reckless abandon and acceptance. The value of life is demeaned or argued about. TV, music and movies are a classic example of all this. Our government schools are another. This says nothing of the one parent households and the absence of the stabilizing influence of a responsible mom and a dad. Adults act more like children when they value their personal freedom to do as they wish with no thought of the ramifications their indolence has on their offspring.
Our society has become somewhat ruthless imho.
It has been my observation that children do not have to be taught how to do bad things. They do have to be taught to be upright, moral and ethical. In other words, children have to be civilized by example, rote, and other time honored methodology.
If kids are not being civilized, how can one expect them to be civilized.
