From Fox News:
GINGRICH: Yes. And we don't use the right language.The interview was brief (but much more than I clipped) and did not go into solutions. We know that blaming tools and restricting liberty is not the answer, but how do we put an end to this cycle of violence? How do we re-introduce some understanding of what is right or wrong, good or evil into communities where violence is the norm? A start to fixing the problem seems easy. Lock up the goblins, lock them up and keep them locked up. Where do we go from there?
Somebody who walks up to kill you is a predator. Somebody who kills you for the purpose of taking your money is a predator. Philadelphia, which has been the most lax city — the judges is Philadelphia are so unwilling to lock up violent — violent criminals, that the district attorney has actually said there's no point in arresting them, because the judges won't put them in jail.
Philadelphia has suffered 3,000 murders since 1988, just in that one city. And, so, we really have a problem of predatory behavior, where we tolerate levels of violence we shouldn't be tolerating.
And some of this, by the way — and then the third point I want to make is about the culture. We have created this weird adolescent culture. We saw it — I saw it last night on FOX, film of girls beating up a girl on a playground in a way that would have been unthinkable when you and I were young.
We have tolerated the growth, whether it's on MTV or it's in a variety of other sources. We have tolerated a language. We have tolerated a kind of rap music. All of these things have been a coarsening, degrading process of saying to people, it is OK to ignore authority. It's OK to be brutal. It's OK to do really bad things.
And I think we have got to really come to grips at some point that trapping children, trapping young people into those kind of cultural settings, has consequences that are very bad for the society.
3 comments:
JR, you asked where we go from the point we have the goblins locked up. I say we make prison something more than a place to get 3 squares and a bed. I say that once convicted the goblin has relinquished his membership in this club called the human race. I think we should teach them honest work ethics by giving them jobs in the prison so that they can earn a meal other than bread and water...or whatever is the minimum needed to sustain life. You want more you work for it. This set of values could be applied elsewhere but that is another thread. I say we re-institute the value of freedom and choice in the mind of the goblins. Of course this is "if" a goblin can be rehabilitated in the first place.
Philly isn't beyond redemption but close to it. It needs a no-nonsense Mayor who will shame the liberal judges into doing their jobs, but what it HAS is John Street who says the following:
"Philadelphia is no longer America’s next great city. We are, today, a great city in large measure due to the work we have all done over the past 15 years...I am proud that during my tenure as Mayor we have met the challenge in each moment of crisis. Now together, the Mayor, City Council and other elected officials and civic leaders, let’s put our shoulder to the oar on behalf of all Philadelphians and the region and claim our future."
Yes, he believes Philly to be all that and a bag of chips. And works hand in hand with the liberal courts to assure minority criminals get "a fair shake."
In other words, an enabling monster who is proud of the fact that the gangs have all but taken over certain neighborhoods in their attempts at "finding themselves."
Kevin, I agree that we need to make prison something more than just a place to put goblins for a "time out" from society. Real work details would go a long way towards that end. How do we keep them from ending up in the system in the first place? How do we rebuild the family, get men to take responsibility for their semen, and help communities develop a feeling of community? The State's responsibility is to isolate the goblins from the community, it is up to the community to take it from there and regain some semblance of decency amongst it's members.
As Fits points out, politicians such as this mayor do not help.
Post a Comment