It's everywhere recently. You read the papers, it's there. You turn on the TV, and its another figure, statistic, a growing number on the tally chart of young people knifed for the most trivial of reasons. It's something that's impossible to ignore. Just take a look at the Google search of 'BBC' and 'knife crime'. Much of it is from this year alone. The danger is that after a while the term 'knife crime' - much like 'gun crime' and any other type of crime - becomes just a buzz word. It even shifts the blame away from the individual and onto the knife.
I think as a country, Britain is becoming engulfed by this...and to be honest, sometimes I can't tell if it's hysteria or a genuine rise in incidents. I don't say this to belittle the problem; I just have a deep mistrust of anything the media swing my way, and believe you can't know the absolute truth unless you go out there for yourself and make your own findings (much like Al Gore, but that's another story...). But in the end, the papers are not making it up, and there's a sick problem out there.
The thing is, it's not exactly anything new. Teddy boys of the 50s were renowned for their razor blade and knife brandishing and use. It's a whole culture that revolves around bravado, intimidation, and turning to weapons to give certain people a sense of power and control over their (and others') lives that they may not otherwise have. Did you watch 'Fallout' on C4 the other night? It was right;
"People talk about the 'war on the streets' - but they're wrong, there is no war, because wars have an end and this just goes on and on and on."
It's a cycle, with so many factors involved. Lack of money, lack of motivation, lack of hope. No aspiration, and a belief that their life is stuck on one level. Those that attack others do so not because they have power, but because they see a certain power in others; it's a fear that while others succeed, they'll get left behind. How will it end? Who knows if it will ever end. There's always been people like that, and there always will be. There's no black without white, and no good without bad. It's just making damn sure they don't outnumber the ones who have a chance of making it out of there.
Ok, well here's a little something I wrote, thought I'd get all this off my chest in one big blog post. Oh, and here's a clue if you're still puzzled at the end: tally.
The Drip Drip Drop
The drip drip drop
The sound of another
A childless mother
Four lines,
The drip drip drop
When will it stop?
We're all at a loss
One across.
The drip drip drop
A city disease
Deaf to the pleas
Four lines,
The drip drip drop
A failing crop
Life became a cost
One across.
The drip drip drop
The animals run
To the sound of guns
Four lines,
The drip drip drop
How can it stop?
We're all at a loss
One across.
Your thoughts please (and I mean the issue, not the poem!)
w.x
2 comments:
The sad thing is it's the same everywhere else. Even sadder is that it is just so accepted in other parts of the world. I think that making more out of it than it really is is a healthy sign - means you don't accept it as run-of-the-mill, that it outrages you and hopefully. that will also mean that sometimes you try and do something about it.
In Chile it's the same: more and more media coverage on street-jacks, house burgularies with extreme violence etc. The statistics are actually not that terrible compared to other decent places (USA I think falls out of any category whatsoever... nutters). And the security organisatinos here in Santiago are taking extreme measures to try and avoid the violence from escalating.
I was talking to my French teacher on the subject (by coincidence around the same date of your post!) who says that it's just so common in Paris that people accept it, try to avoid it but finally when it happens it's not a big deal - they always know they are not alone.
But, as nice as the whole stoicness thing is, do we actually want to be a society where violence is just an unavoidable thing? I certainly wouldn't. But perhaps I was just raised the old-fashioned way...
oh and I liked your poem lol very graphic
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