Last saturday a prearranged fight took place at Stadshagen
[wannabee Stockholm downtown but is semisuburb] subway station. (Swedish readers can read about it
here.) Apparently the two groups used new technology like the web and cell phones to set the thing up. (No - I wont say that the web is evil....) This got me and my wife talking about what make youngsters turn into irresponsible monsters living for kicks and why this seems to happen more nowadays compared to the good old days. (Based on gut feeling....) We identified 3 distinguished trends that may be part of the cause.
- Sweden has been governed by social democrats for most of the last 50 years. Sure - they are democratic - but some socialist ideas have deeply influenced the minds of modern swedes. I am thinking about the responsibility of the state regarding the welfare of the less fortunate. When it comes to raising kids the 70s and 80s saw huge resources being spent on special teachers and possibly some kids with unhealthy background turned out nice because of this effort. Reduced resources now means that parents have to take more responsibility for their kids. This is no bad thing in itself but it may be that the culture that has evolved over the years doesnt equip parents with the necessary drive and knowledge. We are not used to this and when the kids start causing trouble it is too late to do anything about it.
- Immigration and unemployment means insecure parents - insecure parents may raise insecure and rootless kids. Many immigrants are refugees with a history that makes it impossible for them to live a normal life - even less so in a foreign (cold) culture. It should be no surprise that some of these families are broken. Dont get me wrong here - I am all for immigration - it is a great diversifying enrichment of the somewhat boring swedish culture. Nevertheless - immigrants are alos people and people that are refugees may not be the greatest parents. They need our support. Unemployment behaves in much the same way. Our society is based on us being proud of our workplace and what we are doing for a living rather than who we are. Not having a job often means losing self respect, dignity and security. And - as with immigrants - insecure parents may raise insecure kids.
- There is a cultural gap between parents and kids. So much has happened the last 10 years and many parents just dont get it. If a 10-year old kid wants to play counterstrike many parents dont understand what the consequences may be. They dont understand current culture and thus dont understand the kids.
I believe the government should focus on helping parents being good parents rather than stepping in and doing the parents job. The parents will always be there but the government sadly withdraws when it runs out of money.
