WHAT GIVES WITH THE POLICE DEPARTMENT OF THESE
DAYS?
Experiencing
the failure of centralized planning on a massive scale (in this case for the
area of police “protection”) Residents are arming themselves, getting guard
dogs, forming neighborhood watches and hiring others to help protect their home
or person to proactively mitigate crime. Good for them.
One
high-ranking official in the county legal system, speaking to a newspaper reporter which I will leave un-named and said
the rise in justifiable homicides mirrors a local court system that’s
increasingly lenient of the practice.
“It’s
a lot more acceptable now to get your own retribution,” the official said. “And
the justice system in the city is a lot more understanding if people do that.
It‘s becoming a part of the culture.”
That’s
not a stretch. The same write-up included this passage from a Detroit police
department employee: ‘It’s
not about police response time because often the act has already taken place by
the time the police are called,’ said Sgt. Eren Stephens of Detroit. She said
citizens have a right to defend themselves.
Should
we be surprised ? Not at all! If anything, we should be surprised that people
have put up with the current racket for so long.
Do
you want government providing your food, to handle the growing, harvesting,
processing, distribution and sale (or rationing)? Of course not – you know
they’d do a poor job. So why trust people working for a claimed monopoly, who
are subjected to the same perverse incentives, to supply “protection”?
How
hypocritical it is for supporters of policing today (who think competition is
untenable), to claim the need for police to protect people and property when
the police themselves exist solely on the wealth others have created. The very
foundation is based on violence. Every police salary paid or round of
ammunition purchased was bought with stolen money. This circular logic says it’s
ok for someone with a badge to steal from someone to “protect” them. Why does
an action – theft – become ok when the thief dons particular attire?
It
doesn’t. Fortunately that bad idea – that certain should be granted extra
authority based on their place of employment, is eroding.
What’s
becoming more commonplace in the world is just a harbinger of things to come
elsewhere. Governments will implode under their own bloat. More people will
withdraw their consent if not for moral qualms, because they find it in
interest to become more self-sufficient or reach a consensual interaction with
someone who has that comparative advantage to provide a certain good/service.
In
his 1849 essay, The Production of Security, Gustave de
Molinari proposed much the same. From a reviewer:
His
singular contribution, then, was to lead us away from the false assumption of
Hobbes that somehow the state was necessary to keep society from devolving into
chaos. On the contrary, argued Molinari, the voluntary society is the source of
order that comes from freedom itself. There is no contradiction or even tension
between liberty and security. If free enterprise works well in one sector, it
can work well in other sectors too.
Shouldn’t
you have the choice how your money is spent? Wouldn’t you expect greater
transparency and bang-for-your-buck if you yourself hired them and had the
option to fire them? That’s what society could look like without a system
sheltered from competition.
The Way I C IT...
IF POLICE OFFICERS RETURN ACTING LIKE THE TIMES WHEN LAW ENFORCEMENT DID HAVE A RELATIONSHIP WITH THE PUBLIC,
PERHAPS PEOPLE WILL BEGIN TO ACCEPT THAT THEY ARE ACTUALLY HERE TO HELP RATHER THAN HURT AND TRUST WILL BE ESTABLISHED AGAIN.
Televison Shows
Which, Through Mind Altering Messages,
Turn
Our Youth Into Rebellious, Sexually Promiscuous, Self-Centered, Disrespectful
and Desensitized.
The young
cast members are paid to do nothing but party and create drama. With partying,
comes drinking, mistakes, and confusion and this show is designed to “appeal” to
the young viewers. MTV is glamorizing a lifestyle of drunken mistakes.We see out own everyday teen aged girls with their
hair done up in the famous snookie hairstyle (The poof), trying to talk like
Snookie, and even act like Snookie. These
young girls must think that the Jersey Shore cast are just the coolest. I look at them and see changes in her
personality. Why? Because look who their role models are! People who drink
their problems away and let their hormones do the talking.
Another
effect is that children begin to show bad behaviors, like fighting, using
profanity, etc. For example, a reality TV show that airs on MTV called The Real
World, majority of the roommates fight a lot and use profanity over the most
idiotic and unnecessary things due to either misunderstanding or high intake of
alcohol.
Pay close attention to what you see,
because you have no idea how much it impacts you and your children as people.
"Noneducational" reality TV includes shows like Keeping
Up With The Kardashians, Teen Pregnancy, and My Sweet Sixteen. These prime time shows
target youth, but they do not teach lessons. In fact, they do the opposite,
since many young people think it okay to emulate these reality show stars.
These shows promote drinking and heavy sexual content. Nonetheless they air in
the time slot that targets youth. Kids seem to be growing up faster than just
20 years ago; perhaps disrespect and aggression can be blamed on the influence
of the shows they are watching.
Instead of fighting and being rude to each other, it would be nice
if the characters in these shows could, for example, reflect how ten ordinary
people come into a house and work together to make the quality of life better
for everyone. They could show the reality of working together to pay the bills
and keep food on the table. They could teach how to step in when something bad
happens to someone else and help them get back on their feet in one way or
another.
Video Games:
A study of video games found that the few female
characters in those games are often highly sexualized—wearing tight revealing
clothing and having unrealistically large breasts and distorted small waists. (Girls
and Gaming, Children Now; 2000)
Video games and
other media sometimes use prostitutes as characters that are targets for
the male hero. In a game from the Duke
Nukem series, prostitutes are forced to strip and are then killed. In the
number one selling video game for 2001, Grand
Theft Auto III, the player can "clobber" a
prostitute with a baseball bat, with a new game technique, that allows the
player to feel he or she is really doing this. In other popular media,
prostitutes and strippers are often included to add scenes of female
breasts and rear-ends on camera. These "games" offer viewers
images of women and female sexuality associated with exchanging sex for
money, and sex with violence.
Non-realistic
and unhealthy body image:
The women seen
most often in the media are fashion models, pop stars (singers) and
actresses. (We don’t like the word "supermodel," ‘cause they
really don’t do anything that super.) Many women seen often in the media,
especially models and increasingly actresses, are seriously underweight,
and many diet and smoke to keep their natural weight off. (A girl or woman
who diets and is underweight can be undernourished, sometimes even losing her
menstrual period. Prolonged loss of periods can lead to fertility
problems---while constant or extreme dieting also carries health risks and
can actually lead to long-term weight gain.) (Body Wars, by
Margo Maine, 2000)
In a 1992 study
of female students at Stanford University, 70% of women reported feeling
worse about themselves and their bodies after looking at magazines. (A
British study also had a similar finding.) Roughly 50% of teen girls in
the U.S. read teen or adult fashion magazines. (Body Wars)
In movies, body
doubles are often used to substitute for "imperfect" female
movie stars (such as America’s favorite actress Julia Roberts, in one of
America’s favorite movies, Pretty
Woman). Eighty-five percent of these body doubles have breast
implants. (Jean Kilbourne, Can't Buy My Love, 2001)
Scientific
evidence suggests many women with breast implants have some adverse
affects: pain, permanently deformed skin if implant is removed, loss of
sensation in breast, interference with early detection of a tumor, and
potential links with serious auto-immune disorders. (National
Research Center for Women and Families.ca: Wash., D.C.)
Studies show
that all plastic surgeries among teens increased by almost 50% from
1996-1998, mostly for girls. At the same time there have been more
advertisements for breast implants and other surgeries, and more models,
actresses, and singers as "advertisements" for the surgeries
(think Cher, Pamela Anderson, Demi Moore, Mariah Carey, and some have
suggested, Britney). (newswecanuse.com; 1/9/01)
Hate and violence directed at women:
Words expressing hate and disrespect toward girls and
women are used frequently in popular media, and especially on TV and
radio. Use of words derogatory to girls and women like "bitch,"
"slut," "whore," and "ho" can be heard on
many TV and radio programs, especially those watched and listened to by
kids, including WWF (wrestling) programs, That 70’s Show, and Boston
Public, as well as on the radio.
Advertisements from some segments of the fashion
industry use images of violence against a woman and try to make it
fashionable or erotic. An ad for jeans in Elle shows three men physically
attacking a woman; an Italian edition of Vogue shows an ad with a man
pointing a gun at the face of a naked woman wrapped in plastic; from an
American skateboard manufacturer, an ad aimed at young men shows a man
pointing a gun at the head of a female, along with the slogan
"bitch." (Jean Kilbourne, Can't Buy My Love, 2001)
Dragon Age: Origins Video Game- City Elf Trailer Depicts Violence Against Women
Some Things You Should Know About Media Violence and Media
Literacy
Media violence
can lead to aggressive behavior in children. Over 1,000 studies confirm
this link.
By age 18, the
average American child will have viewed about 200,000 acts of violence on
television alone.
The level of
violence during Saturday morning cartoons is higher than the level of
violence during prime time. There are 3 to 5 violent acts per hour in
prime time, versus 20 to 25 acts per hour on Saturday morning.
Media violence
is especially damaging to young children (under age 8) because they cannot
easily tell the difference between real life and fantasy. Violent images
on television and in movies may seem real to young children. They can be
traumatized by viewing these images.
Media violence
affects children by:
a)Increasing
aggressiveness, rage and anti-social behavior.
b)Increasing
their fear of becoming victims.
c)Turning
them against their parents, making them disrespectful to their parents, elders and
authority figures; sometimes even violent.
d)Making
them less sensitive to violence and to victims of violence.
e)Increasing
their appetite for more violence in entertainment and in real life.
Media violence often fails to show the consequences of violence.
This is especially true of cartoons, toy commercials and music videos. As a result, children learn that there are few if any repercussions for committing violent acts.
Parents can reduce the effect media violence has on children by:
Limiting the amount of television children watch to 1 to 2 hours a day. Monitoring the programs children watch and restricting children's viewing of violent programs. Monitoring the music videos and films children see, as well as the music children listen to, for violent themes. Teaching children alternatives to violence.
Parents can help children develop media literacy skills by:
Helping children distinguish between fantasy and reality.
Teaching them that real-life violence has consequences.
Watching television with children and discussing the violent acts and images that are portrayed.
Ask children to think about what would happen in real life if the same type of violent act were committed. Would anyone die or go to jail? Would anyone be sad? Would the violence solve problems or create them?
I have added a post (above) of an article which I found to be interesting regarding teen anger/rage
and am including the link to it below;
it suggests that overwhelming anger /rage may be a disorder.
