Posted on 12/21/2013 7:17:24 AM PST by IbJensen
Let’s face it: There is something very, very wrong with kids today. It seems as though there are hordes of young psychopaths running around, wreaking havoc on others.
Two recent examples, and the reasons that I refer to these young people as psychopaths, are the “Knockout Game” in which a mob of youths target a random victim and punch him or her in the face, hoping to knock them unconscious with one blow, and the boy in Texas who got away with the murder of 4 innocent people because he was too wealthy to be punished like a normal person would have been.
Psychopathy is defined as either an aspect of personality or as a personality disorder, characterized by enduring dissocial or antisocial behavior, a diminished capacity for empathy or remorse, and poor behavioral controls or fearless dominance. (source)
Lots of research has been done exploring whether psychopaths are born or created by circumstances. In the case of these teens, I believe that our society has created them. They have been raised with an entitlement mentality. They have parents who either ignore them and are not present, or who give in to every whim and constantly try to give them the “wow” factor, forever upping the ante with bigger and better gifts and experiences. Kids, even those who are mainly ignored and neglected are still constantly stimulated with television programs, movies, the internet, and cell phones. Their needs are met electronically and this removes the very vital element of empathy from their lives.
When every day is a trip to Disneyworld, how are you going to be satisfied with climbing a tree and finding animals in the clouds that float by?
When your entertainment consists of stealing cars, running down hookers, and shooting into crowds of people, like one popular video game, how will you be entertained by going skating or taking a walk in the woods?
I came across an article about the Christmas wish lists in 1913 versus this year’s wish lists, and I believe that the list says it all. The differences illustrated in these two lists define our society, then and now.
In 1913, the yearned-for items were mostly simple ones. Many of them could be homemade by a loved one who cared enough to take the time to do so. The toys on the lists were “imagination toys” that required kids to playact scenarios in their minds.
1. Candy
2. Nuts
3. Rocking horse
4. Doll
5. Mittens/gloves
6. Toy train
7. Oranges
8. Books
9. Handkerchiefs
10. Skates
Fast forward to 2013. The most popular toys on the list are electronic stuffed animal that dispenses affection and companionship on command. Personally, the only items on this list I would have ever gotten my kids were the dollhouse, the Nerf Gun, and the Lego.
1. Furby Boom
2. Teksta Robotic puppy
3. LeapPad Ultra
4. Flying Fairy
5. Bug Hugs Elmo
6. Barbie Dream house
7. Giggly Monkey
8. Nerf Gun
9. Ninja Turtles
10. Lego
When you are forever seeking a greater “wow” factor in your belongings and your experiences, you’re doomed to either be completely unsatisfied or to turn into the kind of little psychopath that we see every time we look at the news. If you are always looking for some type of excitement and stimulation that tops the last episode, then you will never be content with simplicity. If you look to your electronic devices for companionship and entertainment, you can’t fully develop a love and empathy for your fellow man. Those random people on the street simply become a character in the video game that is your life, and causing them pain and harm means as little to you as pushing the buttons on your video game controller.
This Christmas, instead of going broke and focusing on the number of extravagant packages under the tree, focus on experiences. Focus on small simple things that you can’t buy from the store. Homemade candy and cookies. Singing Christmas carols together. Going out with hot cocoa and looking at Christmas lights in a brightly decorated neighborhood. Have a snowball fight.
Children who grow up with traditions and with families who are present do not grow up to punch innocent strangers in the face or mow down pedestrians without regard. They develop qualities like empathy and kindness. They become productive members of society.
The problem is that God is no longer the highly important center of everything like He was prior to 1962. Jesus said, 'Without me you can do nothing, with me you can do all things'.
Today the leftist portion of our declining society considers young boys as vermin to be drugged and emotionally beat into girl-like sub humans.
What has changed, is that everything is now made in China.
Bring back American goods.
Buy American.
Wrong with kids? Who raised them? Today’s kids are just the fruits of 60’s radicalism.
Poor parenting since the 60’s has done it. 60’s parenting psychology that has continued through today basically encouraged them to never say no to their children because it will damage their ego. Peer pressure causes these parents to literally never say no to their children. Narcissists are being raised in droves.
We posted just about them same thing within a minute. It is soo true that the 60’s psychology has done it.
The real issue is that we are now a much more affluent nation.
Add to that modern technology, easy credit and the availability of nearly any item at any time.
Children used to wait for their birthday or Christmas for that special item. Now they can have it at will.
While this has many bad aspects such as creating immediate gratification and reducing the concept of saving and delayed gratification it is also a result of the benefits of a capitalist system. All those things that were once the exclusive domain of the 1% are now available to almost everyone.
I looked at the picture and immediately thought that many of today’s kids are missing a united family. I overheard several parents at a sporting event the other evening.. all discussing the difficulty of “splitting” up the kids for Christmas Eve, day, New Year’s Eve/day between the divorced parents/grandparents. A little girl (my daughter’s friend) whispered to me, “I’ll be glad when the holidays are over”. Poor thing must feel like she is being torn apart...
>>What has changed, is that everything is now made in China.
>>Bring back American goods.
>>Buy American.
Corporations sent those jobs to China to jack up share prices.
That caused higher unemployment.
That allows them to say that “market forces” allow them to pay their workers less money for more work every year.
Meanwhile the stock market is the only “prosperity” left in the US (and that is mostly due to gummint bail-out money).
I can’t afford to “Buy American” anymore because I make my money from my labor and not from my excess money.
But, none of that has anything to do with the OP.
Expensive,over-the-top, nothing-but-the-best for our kids generation.
Respectfully, all of this has a great deal to do with the original post.
Thanks for your reply.
America needs to make things once again. Bring back manufacturing to America.
In the meantime to stop importing everything, let’s immediately start charging people to import stuff.
Just saying.
How much taxation is appropriate, is clearly a matter for discussion, but we have been de-industrializing what had just one generation ago been the world’s foremost manufacturing economy so extensively that now virtually every store in America is simply a sales hub for stuff actually made by Chinese employees on Chinese manufacturing lines.
Bring back American jobs now.
My grandmother(born in the 1920s) told me that she would be thrilled to get a few oranges for Christmas, which was unthinkable to me. When I was a kid, GI Joe, Transformers, and video games later on were all the rage.
If I gave my children Oranges for Christmas, they would probably get pissed off and throw them at each other.
Children used to wait for their birthday or Christmas for that special item.”
My children each received four gifts: Something they want (not expensive), something they need, something to wear, something to read. We have continued the tradition with the grandchildren and it works well. Two Chinese families I know give each of their children one small gift for Christmas. A larger, more expensive gift is given when the final report card arrives each May, providing they have done well and performed at an excellent level.
My dad just turned 91 two days ago. On the path of life, he’s made that last ‘turn’ and is headed “Home” (congestive heart failure). I am talking to him a lot and getting him to recall his childhood memories for me and I am documenting them in a private blog for myself, the grandkids, and the rest of the family. We’ve been talking about Christmas .... which when he was growing up, was also during the Depression Years.
A significant observation .... people in those days, including kids, had to WORK hard (manual labor) to SURVIVE. There was not all this free time people/kids have today. Working for the survival of the family made early men out of boys and women out of girls. Responsibility was something you lived, not read about in books as a characteristic you should have. It was all “on the job” i.e. “living life” training.
My dad’s sister shouldered an ax and went out and chopped down a cedar tree. They decorated it with a precious few glass ornaments my grandmother had & with paper chains made out of wallpaper samples in catalogs. They did have silver tinsel ... placed individually on the tree ‘til it shimmered “like a waterfall” (dad’s description). When Christmas was over, each tinsel icicle was removed and carefully laid out in a box for next year. In this day and age, the tinsel stays on the trees, all the way to the dump.
On Christmas Eve, the kids would put out their plates at the table where they ate their meals. In the morning, they would find an orange, a couple pieces of hard candy, a chocolate drop or two .... and being the youngest, dad might have a pair of socks or a 5 cent tube of bb’s for his gun. That was IT .... and they were GRATEFUL.
This year, I made virtually all my Christmas presents .... I’m trying hard to have an old-fashioned Christmas by taking a lot, if not most, of the commercialism out of it for me personally. It’s the best Christmas I’ve had in years .... more satisfaction, more anticipation .... and more joy. I can’t wait for our family celebration (tomorrow, to accommodate folks traveling). Merry Christmas to all .... and I think we need to take Christmas back ... to where it is something meaningful again ... and doing so is a choice.
“The real issue is that we are now a much more affluent nation.”
God does warn a number of times not to let wealth corrupt you or your nation.
you see that “person”, with hat on his head, it was called a father, a man....see where he is standing behind the family, backing up the family unit, with strength...
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>>Bring back American jobs now.
I agree with that 100%. But, the key is not “Buy American”. People who work for a living cannot afford to pay even more for the things they buy. As you said, make it expensive to import goods. That would be a good start. But, if the full cost of those tariffs is then passed on to working people, then what has it done except to make us poorer?
This isn’t a problem that is solved with a bumper sticker slogan. And the real solution cannot even be stated on FR.
The only thing wrong with American kids is their parents.
>>you see that “person”, with hat on his head, it was called a father, a man....see where he is standing behind the family, backing up the family unit, with strength...
And that is the real reason for all of America’s family problems. Even in two-parent families, the father is ridiculed as a fool by popular culture. He also lives in fear that his wife could declare that she is “unfulfilled” or that he is “controlling” and suddenly he will find himself thrown out of the family and forced to use lawyers to be able to just spend time with his children. So, many fathers try to “out-mom” the mother and that leaves children with no authority figure to learn from.
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