The violent society

I've just been doing the ironing to the "Today" programme on Radio 4. Among other things was the mention of the 2 teenage lads accused of the attack on another 2 children near Doncaster. The worthies seem to blame this attack on children growing up in more violent households these days.

Is it just me or has violence always been a feature of many children's upbringing? Wives & children have always been beaten. I certainly wouldn't have fancied going to Squeers' school in Dicken's "Nicholas Nickleby". Do you honestly think Bill Sykes would have stopped beating Nancy if he'd fathered a child with her in Dicken's "Oliver Twist"? I don't. Countless people have told of merciless beatings at schools, people like Churchill.

I can't help suspecting that the level of actual violence hasn't increased. I suspect the level of acknowledgement that such domestic violence occurs has increased. Certainly in educational terms the use of the cane has had its day. What is more students know their rights & use them to threaten their teachers, whether the latter have used violence or not. These days teachers daren't even put their arms round a crying child to comfort them without fear of prosecution.

What has changed is the level of visual portrayal of violence on TV, film, computer games. This violence is without consequence. They see people struck with great violence get up again, apparently unaffected, certainly not suffering.

Here's a heretical thought. Maybe the fact there is so little actual violence, with consequence, in children's lives is the problem. I'm sure some children don't even realise a knife stuck into someone is going to hurt the other, let alone potentially kill them.

And no, I don't think we should go back to a world in which child or wife beating is acceptable. I am not trying to encourage that. I just think the causal link between such violence & the behaviour of young people such as these on trial is a non sequitur. It's an excuse, not a cause. It's not even been established that the accused come from homes where domestic violence is a norm!