Paedophobic Britain [boardwalk]

THIS COUNTRY HATES CHILDREN Little Richardjohn - 51st post - 1 Sep 2004 17:54

Standards of behaviour, rates of crime, and levels of drug abuse will keep on getting worse until this country decides to spend some money ensuring that kids are not forced to play in the streets.
Simple as that.
We treat kids like Precious Little Angels when we want them to be status symbols, but when they want to be themselves, we treat them like animals. We kick them out into the streets amongst the cars and drug-dealers and then expect them to be Little Lord Fauntleroys.
It is this country's attitude to children that stinks, not the attitudes of the kids themselves. There was a period of five years when my local council's budget on Youth spending was actually zero - zilch. With the result that most kids are completely bored out of their skulls and can't wait to be old enough to be smashed out of their skulls.
It is absolutely no use saying :'Well, I blame the parents.' Parents have no control over their children after the age of fourteen or so - that's the point of being 14 - you are nearly an adult and the less you do what they tell you, the more of an adult you are.
Besides, MacDonalds and the Music Industry have more control over children's attitudes than parents ever do. 'Discipline' is another chimera, another cop-out to avoid spending any money on proper youth facilities which would keep adolescents stimulated and amused. Which would allow them to socialize in a neutral environment which they felt they were in control of in some way and which gave then a greater sense of belonging to a wider community.
What community to kids belong to now? If it isn't dripping with Bling and driving a Porsche they don't want to know. And is it any wonder?
Thanks again Maggie Thatcher, hope the boy gets what he deserves.


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update 15/2/07
"UNICEF report ranks well-being of British, U.S. children last in industrialized world"

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007...pe/EU-GEN-Germany-Child-Welfare.php

Tell us something we didn't know.

But at least it's now official. We hate children most. We are officially the most paedophobic industrialised country.

And is it any wonder? The sole purpose of everything else in our godforsaken consumerist orgy is to bring as much gratification to those who can afford it as possible, so why shouldn't children serve the same purpose? They have become another product, a toy designed to enhance the social standing of the owners and make them feel good about themselves.

They do not represent the future, or even human beings in their own right. If they did, we would treat them as human beings. Our society would see that by wasting the social instincts of the next generation of decision makers, we are committing social suicide. But instead we bow to the needs of our cars and the Property Market by cleansing our streets of children, whenever they appear to be enjoying themselves, or merely being children.

From an early stage, if they are to learn to socialise and feel part of their communities, children need some kind of space, however primitive and improvised, they can call their own. Where they are NOT confined and bossed about at every turn, where they get the chance to negotiate their own rules. The technical term for this process is 'Play'.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Play_%28activity%29

The destruction of communities and the unprecedented consumer spending boom of the last ten years has bulldozed away Play, replacing it with television. There was simply no money in it...

Unless we blame British parents en masse. There is that excuse, I suppose. It seems that catching the ferry from Calais infects every parent with a virus which numbs the sense of nurture in human beings. Shouldn't we try to come up with a vaccine of some kind? Until then, all british parents should be put in prison, perhaps. It's the only way!