Violence Out of Control, and the Media Is Absent

If you spend enough time on Twitter, videos like this one abound. While some of it may be anecdotal and not necessarily indicative of an epidemic of violence happening across America, the fact remains that there are simply too many videos to account for, and the frequency of this happening is something that we should all be deeply concerned about.

Where does it end? And more importantly, why isn't this violence being called out? Where are the advocates against bullying? Why are we not looking for a link between this and other violent crimes and other things that happen in our society? And where is the media to report on these things when they happen? Where are the police to call for a stop to this sort of thing? Where are our other elected officials and the leaders in our communities?

The question is, what is the culture of this, and why does it seem so important for many people to simply want to brush it under the carpet and remain silent about it?

It's not the way it is supposed to be in America. 

Granted, one can easily make the argument it's always been the way things are since our very early beginnings. From the raucous nature of the Wild, Wild West to the days of Jim Crowe and racially motivated lynchings and other crimes of violence.

But shouldn't we have moved towards more civility by now? 

And it's not just videos like this of kids running rampant stomping on each other and smashing heads against asphalt. It's adults lashing out in violent and criminal ways toward fast food workers and customer service personnel, and even strangers on the streets.

The violence is everywhere and there seems to be no end in sight.

Beyond that, there's another element here that I think is important. There aren't guns being used in much of these violent videos. It's fists flying and hair pulling and head slamming and gut kicking happening in them.

Which begs one other question. Where is the media? Because more often than not these displays of violence receive no coverage at all. But with all of the shootings we get to hear about, it seems clear that these acts of violence pose a much greater threat to all of society than even the high number of shootings does.

It seems like it is a bigger problem. But the problem is, there are no politics to be entered into the equation here. Politics on gun control. Politics on race and oppression. Politics on police violence. And because there is no agenda here to push, the media chooses to remain silent. And so do the community leaders.

The question becomes, what do we do about it? How do we stop it? How do we figure out what's causing it? And do we actually want to stop it? 

It's maddening to see these videos day in and day out, and what makes it more maddening to watch is that we also know nothing is being done about what we see happening in them. It's maddening that people are turning a blind eye to a very real problem while only focusing on things that aren't the big problems we are led to believe are.

On top of that, it's frankly disheartening. Our kids are supposed to be our future. They are supposed to be the epitome of innocence. If this is what the future of what will become our new adults look like, I can't even imagine how much worse it will get.

Because these are also our future leaders.

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