Posted on 12/13/2010 8:04:05 AM PST by SeekAndFind
During the eight years I lived in Japan, there occurred a rash of horrific murders committed by young men in their teens. Almost all of these crimes were the acts of lonely outcasts, teens with especially low self-esteem who had been victims of bullying and ostracism their whole lives. They lived uneventful lives until one day, they snapped. Then, all of the resentment they felt came to a head, and they lashed out at peers, parents, or complete strangers, often committing multiple murders with such weapons as kitchen knives, baseball bats, or samurai swords. It got so bad that walking the streets of Kyoto, I started giving a wide berth to every young man under twenty.
It was the mob attack last week on Charles and Camilla that brought back these memories for me. This attack was also the work of teenagers for the most part, but it had a very different source. The violence in Britain was the work of an inflamed mob, roaming en masse from one object of attack to the next and arrogantly chanting "off with their heads" as they assaulted the royals' car. These were not the actions of lonely outcasts driven to despair by years of abuse. Rather, they were the acts of young people who felt an almost unlimited sense of entitlement and who became enraged when their expectations were not met.
In addition to the mob that gathered outside Parliament and then swarmed through London's shopping districts, a second teen mob was on the rampage last week. The "Anonymous" mob apparently seeking "payback" for the detention of Julian Assange caused temporary disruptions to the websites of several major financial institutions.
This second mob had a similar profile to the one rampaging in central London. These were not teen pariahs acting out of desperation. Like the 16-year-old Dutch boy arrested Thursday, they were largely middle-class youths who are the product of an affluent society. They were young men and women who, with their excessive sense of entitlement, claim the prerogative to flout any law with which they disagree.
Unlike their Japanese peers, who too often suffer from a lack of self-confidence, many teens in Europe and America seem all too self-assured, even smug, emboldened by the belief that they can deploy any means to obtain their political ends. Whether they engage in violence in the streets or illegal acts on the web, they seem to relish the sense of power that mob activity confers. They are not victims seeking redress for wrongs done to them, but bullies reveling in their power. They are not interested in political dialogue or negotiation. Because they have been coddled and praised all their lives, their natural inclination is to have their way without discussion or delay.
Indeed, I suspect that it is not the raising of tuition fees, in and of itself, or the fate of Julian Assange that triggered the enraged responses of the London mob and their Anonymous peers. Rather, it was the dawning sense that society has reached a crossroads after which more will be expected of them and less handed out for free. It is not so much university fees that are troubling British teens as it is the sense that they may finally have to grow up.
After all, the tuition increases approved by the British House of Commons actually eliminate upfront fees. Payments are delayed until such time as graduates are earning £21,000 per year, and even then, the relatively modest tuition costs are repaid over a period of years. This seems like a reasonable arrangement for a country suffering one of the largest debt burdens in Europe.
Likewise, those involved in Operation Payback seem to believe they are defending the principle of freedom. But Julian Assange, whose detention they are supposedly protesting, has not been charged with any crime related to WikiLeaks. He has not even been charged in the Swedish cases involving sex crimes: he is merely wanted for questioning. And yet his anonymous supporters on the web apparently believe that the detention of any individual for any reason, even for questioning in regard to such a serious crime as rape, is a violation of basic human rights.
What sort of world do these young anarchists envision? A world in which murder, rape, and robbery cannot be prosecuted because they entail detention, trial, and imprisonment?
What they seem to desire is a world in which they are free to do more or less anything they feel like doing. They seem to have no idea that there are limits to what individuals are permitted to do, regardless of whether they feel like it and even regardless of whether they believe it to be right. This is why the mob that attacked Charles and Camilla was so very dangerous.
Make no mistake: had the London mob which broke the rear window of the royals' car actually gained access, they probably would have done grave harm to the occupants. In the supercharged atmosphere that existed, with thousands of young thugs rioting and carrying sharpened stakes and other weapons, Charles and Camilla wouldn't have stood a chance. The situation might not have ended well, to say the least.
Again, though, it is important to pinpoint the source of this rage. Charles and Camilla were in no way responsible for the tuition hikes under consideration. Nor were they responsible for the debt crisis that has necessitated these fee increases.
Similarly, Visa, MasterCard, and the other financial institutions targeted for attack were not responsible for the questionable activities that necessitated their denial of services to WikiLeaks.
What enraged the youth of London and the anonymous mob on the internet last week was not mere legislation or legalities; it was an awareness that things have changed in the post-financial crisis era.
As a generation, the millennials have enjoyed unprecedented privilege and wealth. Now, unless they are willing to work a good deal harder and longer, they are going to have less. They are about to lose out -- not to British legislators or Swedish prosecutors, but to global economic and cultural forces. They are about to become less affluent, less entitled, and less free -- and they don't like it one bit.
-- Jeffrey Folks is author of many books and articles on American culture and politics.
Boatloads of self-esteem for no apparent reason.
This shit happens in the US, and you’re going to see homeowners and shopkeepers on their balconies and roofs with semi-auto rifles trained on the rioters a la the LA Riots. That’s the big difference between Japan and Europe vs. the USA: the Second Amendment.
[ Boatloads of self-esteem for no apparent reason. ]
Everyone is a winner in PC America...
Check this out:
Muslim woman with 8 kids living in Government supplied $4.2 million London Council House
near Paul McCartney,
costing $11,000 a month paid for by the Socialist Welfare State.....................
says “Life in Britain is great” !!!
Ya think???
And then she gets an additional $16,000 in cash each year more, in “benefits”!!!
Wow.
and again, “Why work when I can get $64,000 in benefits a year AND drive a Mercedes, a van, and have a 42 inch TV?”
The Davey family’s $1,250 -a-week state handouts pay for a four-bedroom home, top-of-the-range mod cons and two vehicles including a Mercedes people carrier.!!!
Father-of-seven Peter gave up work because he could make more living on benefits.!
Yet he and his wife Claire are still not happy with their lot.
With an eighth child on the way, they are demanding a bigger house, courtesy of the taxpayer.
Yes, demanding! Isn’t life great in Great Britain???
I’ve decided to not venture outside the United States of America for awhile. The only exception is a vacation I’m planning to California. Other than that, I’m staying in the USA.
I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest it’s the fact that there are no jobs out there with which ot pay their tuition bills and politicians who have yet again, lied to them after making promises to ensure a secure future. Then students are seeing the future crumble and no jbs will be created until all the regulation is cut through. But politicians are doing the same stupid thing.
Lastly, in Japan, the criminal justice system ensures brutal punishment of rioters and criminals.
Good idea.
Watch the movie “Idocracy”
It is starting to appear more an dmore like a valid theory
Upgrayedd would certainly ba an Obama supporter.
If the student mobs are going ot attack anyone, they should be attacking the politicans, not the roayls and no businesses. Marching on Washington and the nieghborhoods of our political elite will be more effective in ensuring change.
Such perks should be going to the responsible, not the whores who spit out one illegitimate child after another.
They elected the politicians ... they, and adults like them, who believe that wishing will make everything free.
Too much of it leads to a whiny, petulant, irresponsible “I am owed it because I am so special” attitude. Prick the surface of the hollow shell of a self-esteem baby and he deflates quickly into rage. Jails are full of criminals with high self-esteem (I am worth it, I'll just take it or take the life of someone that 'dissed' me).
Self-respect is the solution.
Self-respect is earned and therefore appreciated. Unlike self-esteem, it is not based upon how good you “feel” about yourself. With self-resepct one’s ego is no so easily bruised.
It doesn’t stop with teens. It goes further into their lives. My daughter threw me under the bus because I thought it inadvisable for me and my wife to show up at her b’day party when her mom (my ex) was there. She’s forty, and a Lib. My son went along with her decision. He’s 38. They demand forgiveness for themselves but deny it to others. They’re still teens.
If you believe “what goes around comes around” - I’ve always felt its the Baby-boomers whose turn it is to “suffer.”
They grew up in a safe, free, and prosperous USA. As a generation, have pursued consumerism and self-fulfillment to the max. They have saved little, had fewer kids, and most are dependent on a bankrupt US Gov’t to take care of their pensions and healthcare.
Seems like a recipe for grave disappointment.
one day soon, they’ll be President of the United States!
These teens act the way they do, because they live in a world where even dire actions often have no serious or lasting consequences.
It's all very well for Mr. Folks to blame this stuff on the teens' sense of entitlement.
But if he's really honest, Mr. Folks will have to admit that they come by it honestly, because adults have made a point of picking up the tab for them. And it's nothing new, either: it's been going like that for decades now.
Actually, it is probably far simpler than that. I suspect it is simply that it is cool and fun to do. They have time on their hands. If they had to actually work (really work at something productive) to eat they would be too tired at the end of the day to engage in this kind of stuff.
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