Latest update April 19th, 2024 12:59 AM
May 20, 2016 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom
Guyanese have been stunned by the youthfulness of those who are committing or are being charged with crimes. From young boys riding around on CG motorcycles robbing and at other times shooting their victims, to those allegedly plotting murder, young people are involved in a lot of crime.
All manner of explanations are being ventured. There is the view that the unemployment situation is to blame. There is the view that parents are not exercising enough control over their children. There is the view that the criminality is due to the pervasiveness of the drug trade.
Perhaps there is some truth in each of these views. The bottom line, though, is that there must be some force that pushes an unemployed person to turn to crime. After all, there are thousands of unemployed and desperately poor people who do not steal in order to survive.
There are many parents, also, who neglect their children, but the overwhelming number of these children do not steal. So what is it about these particular deviants that cause them to become criminals and to be so violent?
Music and movies have always had a powerful influence in shaping the character and personalities of young people. This has been from the distant past. Music and movies are cultural industries that influence the behaviour and character traits of people, young and old.
In the old days, young people were not exposed to violent movies. They could not be. There was no television and movies were shown at the cinemas. Movies were rated, and movies with violence and explicit sex were restricted to audiences eighteen years and over. The young people were therefore shielded from the violence of movies. It was not until they were matured that they were allowed to see a movie with violence and explicit sex.
Today, the youngest child can see all kinds of violent movies at home, they can go on the internet and download movies about persons going to a home, tying up the occupants with duct tape and robbing them.
If you look at some of the murders and robberies taking place, they are like replays of movie scenes. The kids are watching these movies, and, because of their immaturity, they feel that they can do the same and get away with it.
The young generation is learning the art of crime from movies because of the freedom that the television and movie rentals and the internet permit. You can go on Netflix and other streaming websites and download violent movies and become obsessed with these movies.
There are pornographic websites which are being viewed by school boys and school girls. So we have to be on the guard against greater sexual permissiveness in schools.
The other major influence is music. There is a genre of music that actually gives hero status to convicts. The music videos actually project a sympathetic image of convicts. When young people actually see these images and the sympathy that is shown to convicts, it sends confusing signals to their young minds. Instead of the villains being detested, they are actually turned into heroes.
The other problem is the kind of music that is being listened to by our young people. There is a particular trend now in which a DJ is constantly interjecting into the music and really there is nothing intelligent about what these DJs are saying. The music is far from enlightening.
This is the sort of mental pollution that our young people are exposed to from a young age. The music has a huge following and therefore there is nothing to discourage the young people from listening to it and therefore being influenced by it.
The government made a good decision when it implemented the 2.00 a.m. curfew for bars and clubs. That is a long term measure to reduce crime, because it is aimed at imposing discipline on a society that has become highly undisciplined. The benefits of that measure will not be felt until four to five years from now. It will, however, never be felt if the government constantly backpedals and grants periodic waivers.
If you cannot be consistent in sustaining a curfew for bars and clubs, how are you going to enforce measures to end the mental pollution of the minds of our young people, caused by movies and music?
Please share this to every Guyanese including your house cats.
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