Children Killing Children
Oh, the pain that I am feeling right now. It is like negative stuff has filled me up to where now all someone has to do is say ‘boo’ and I start crying. What is this pain you ask? What has me so upset that I am writing this piece a day ahead of my schedule at the cost of a “The Write Stuff” blog? Children and teens killing other children, other teens, and adults or just walking into a school shooting anyone in their way while we, as a society, introduce movies like “Hunger Games”.
Just this week the following has been in the news:
- 12-Year-Old Sentenced In DART Rail Death
- Upcoming U.S. Supreme Court case could impact 14-year-old murderer’s prison sentence. This is a 14 year old who killed a 16 year old.
- Teens denied bond in pizza delivery murder
- Insanity Defense Planned for Accused Murderer of Boy, Cellmate. This 19 year old boy killed his 6 year old cousin.
- Life sentence in Mississippi hate-crime case
And let’s not forget the 19 year old who killed a 17 year old in Florida. Neighbors describe watch leader at center of Florida investigation
I found 5 cases of teens murdering in less five minutes on Google. And all of these stories were posted this week! If that does not scare you or make you think about how we are training our children and what is happening in our society then I suggest you WAKE UP!
I read a review on the new movie craze “Hunger Games”, a movie which is “about a survival-of-the-fittest reality show that sends home all its teen contestants, save the victor, in body bags.” (http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/22/showbiz/movies/hunger-games-review-rs/index.html). This is a movie which opened earning an estimated $19.74 million dollars. It started as a trilogy written for young adults that has now been produced as a movie rated PG-13. It is my opinion that when we focus our attention and our entertainment on violence then we are celebrating and encouraging it. Yet, I did not find one story of outraged parents in over twenty minutes of searching.
Now, I will be totally honest, I have not read the books or watched the movie. I am considering going to watch it on Sunday just to see if there is any moral fiber in this storyline. But deep in my bones this feels wrong and I hesitate to even give the appearance of supporting a movie such as this! One of my adult daughters said that the movie is “about a revolution against the cruel people who would do that.” That may be true, but the viewer reviews I have been reading have been thrilled with the violence shown. One example: “the fight scenes were unbelievable and ruthless (woo, blood and full on scenes- no sneaky camera-work to hide the brutality. Definitely pushed the pg13 rating!). ” http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1392170/reviews.
Our society is quickly being desensitized to violence in all its forms as if Hollywood is preparing us for things to come. As this is occurring, news stories like above and worse – such as school shootings – are becoming more prevalent. It is as if the entertainment (be it a game, a movie or a book) is being extended into real life. Have we forgotten our history? Rome was in to violence like this and we all know what happened to it.
We, as a society, cannot continue to neglect our children’s education, sit our children in front of violent computer games and television shows, or allow our children to watch movies like the Hunger Game without there being some consequences. The above five stories, I believe, are the consequences of this increasingly growing love of violence.
Hello folks! Are you listening? Are you watching what is happening to our society? Is this where you want our society to go?
I’m just ill, America!
Thank you very much for your piece. It says it all. You have entirely expressed my feelings about this movie or story. I hope you don’t mind me posting a link on my facebook wall.
My 11 year old daughter just told me she’s invited to a birthday party of a classmate on Saturday 24th; and instead of a birthday party (how old-fashioned!) the birthday kid’s parents are taking them all out to watch the Hunger Games.
Wow.
Apparently she’s read all three book already…she’s psyched; and the peer pressure seems immense, I can sense that.
Having heard about the movie on NPR a couple of days ago on my way to work, I wondered why one would want to watch children killing children, for entertainment.
Isn’t there enough violence in this country, committed by ever younger people?
I almost seems too obvious and superfluous to me to make that statement in the first place.
Little did I realize that day that by that time my daughter had already been scheduled to see that movie.
Now I am finding myself frantically scouring the web to find out more about this movie, in the middle of the night, before time runs out, and I am realizing that no matter which positive attributes people may assign this story, it will always be a story about children forced to kill other children, a senseless violent story about a sick society.
Apparently this is for kids.
I am not happy about seeing depictions of some glorified sub-culture ritualistic greeting, either. All these kids raising their right hands, eerily reminiscent of the Nazi Hitler Jugend. Thee fingers or a full hand, does it make a difference?
Now, I believe there is a difference between reading a book and seeing a movie.
A big difference.
Best regards,
Rainer
Rainer,
Thank you so much for your kind words. Of course I do not mind you posting on your Facebook wall. I am honored and complimented.
I have written a follow-up piece to this that I will be posting very shortly (late night writing) and plan on a few more articles tracking this new ‘social norm’. It is incredibly disturbing to me and I wish to try and wake-up as many people to the direction we are heading as possible.
Each of us can make a difference if we just stand up and say “No More”.
Best,
Sherril
Thank you for calling attention to this. At least you’re not fiddling while it burns.
Looks good. Was looking on Yahoo and found your website.
Thanks,