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OMGWTFBBQ?

I followed that link from a forum and - from their description - figured that it was an April Fools joke that they hadn't picked up on.

As I read it I became increasingly uneasy (having noted the date as pre-April 1), and started checking to see whether I was on a spoof site. A thorough URL check and clicking on a link assured me that it wasn't.

So I googled some key words to find some other confirmation.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/crime/article/0,,2044296,00.html
http://www.metro.co.uk/news/article.html?in_article_id=42993&in_page_id=34

That I first saw it on a forum about NIN's dystopian album/ARG Year Zero that basically depicts **** like this ... just really rubs in how close we are to a full-blown Orwellian society.

And yes, I'm still checking to see whether this is some kind of weird hoax or whether I've missed something. I even did a reality check to see whether I was dreaming ... no luck.

Edit: Just found this one: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=442331&in_page_id=1770&ct=5

[ April 05, 2007, 13:02: Message edited by: Aikanaro ]

 

Lololololo...

Okay, see, this is the sort of thing that makes civic unrest a good idea.

 

I read this as a comment in the original link. It pretty much sums up my thoughts on the issue.

Combine this with the not teaching about the Holocaust as certain religions don't believe it really happened is making me sick.

 

wtf? Seriously it's just plain nuts! Profiling children , have they thought on the social consequences the profiled child will have to suffer in school and other social circle? So it's basicly another way to further seperates the line between poor and rich. Really, rich parent are less likely to fall in alcholism and hard drugs than less fortunate people, which will most certainly bear dire consequences on a child and may lead to criminal activies. And really, will a child it really help? Will the profiled young really stop doing criminal activities because of it? I somehow doubt it.

 

Can't say I am exactly happy with the idea, but I can see the reasoning behind it. THere is certainly a view in the UK that we have a problem with loutish behaviour and criminality (particularly amongst teenagers) We also have an overly full prison service at the moment.
The idea here (although it may not come out in the press) is to identify the most likely to indulge in such future behaviour and combat it at source, This should work out a lot cheaper in the long term.
Of course it is a completely naive view, but what do you expect from politicians?

@ Ofelix,
Knowing our current society it'd probably be a badge of honour, a bit like the current ASBO's.

 

Hmmm, that might have something to do with the collective mentality about it if it's called a 'prison service.'


But this is just lovely; "the more things change, the more they stay the same" is getting proven more and more. Poor, disadvantaged people are forced to resort to crime; 'need not greed' is apparently the grounds for much crime, but let's not address the causes and underlying motives (which may be as silly as "I saw that rich bugger walkin' along with a shiny new <insert expensive consumer product here>, so I went and held up that store so I could get one myself") but instead label and pigeonhole everyone for the re-establishment of the "Criminal Classes".

Any of this sound familiar; from maybe a hundred or a hundred-and-fifty years ago, on the same island we're talking about?

 

I saw this story a while ago and certainly found it disturbing. But like Carcaroth, I certainly understand the reasoning behind it. Maybe because Ireland would be a lot more similar to the UK than the US that this makes some sense. Not sure how accurate this is but in the US you normally hear of the 'gangs' as being the problem behind the majority of common crime. These stereotypically come from disfunctional homes. Over here it is families that are generally the problem. I would imagine that the intention is to have the social workers targeting those kids who are most at risk of, to be blunt, growing up like their parents. Obviously a person's surname would never officially be used as a criteria for deciding to intervene.

Again like Carcaroth I think this is being wonderfully naive on top of Orwellian. I've a lot of friends who are teachers and it's well known that there are certain families in Limerick City who you wouldn't discipline no matter what. I'm from a relatively nice country town but it's only a year or so since a teacher in a local school suffered several broken bones in his classroom after a pupil's older brother took exception to him being reprimanded. It's sad to say but I really can't see these social workers being able to do a whole lot under circumstances like this.

Sorry if this sounds like I support such a massive State repository. I just want to show that, working properly, such a system could be of great benefit. My confidence of it doing so are, however, pretty minimal.

 

As in, because if you did Daddy would come along with a baseball bat and a grudge?

 

society needs to get tougher, in my area police have now instated 'dispersion orders' allowing them to forcibly remove groups of more 3 or more teenagers if they loiter in an area. i believe that everyones DNA and finger prints should be on a state register.

violent crime in the UK is out of control, teenagers do not have an ounce of fear or respect for authority anymore, ive seen the scent too many times where police cart off a teenager into the back of a van and he's like a hero, his mates standing around cheering and he lives up to it like some kind of football star who just scored a goal.
i walked out of a wetherspoons pub on tuesday to a volley of verbal abuse from a bunch of kids who couldnt get served in there, but i have too much to lose from putting my hands on them and showing them why they should show me some respect.
society needs to get tougher. personally i think a 2 year millitary draft between the age ot 16 to 18 would work a treat, but we know that would never happen in this country.

 

I really can't stand this sort of talk about " teenagers showing more respect before" etc. No, they really did not. Teenagers have allways and will allways have a rebellious phase against all sort of authority and repressing it is the last thing that should be done. Overly destructive behaviour is another thing but it's hardly mainstream in any way. I can't speak for other countries but in Finland violent crime has stayed in the same levels for atleast ten years or so, so all this crap about youth today being more violent is complete bs in my opinion as there seem to be very little facts to prove it.

 

Hmm, seems like an easy way to start watching kids with the name of Mohamed...

 

I live here in the UK, and the problem is the parents who bring their children up poorly. The parents need to be stricter on their children, and give them more structure and love in their lives.

The papers are full with how bad the youth in london have got, I know the media exaggerates things and I know that teenagers have a tendency to cause trouble, but what we are seeing here is another level compared to my own country.

disciplining children is illegal in schools, so the children run riot, and at the same time the parents expect the schools to discipline as well as teach their children, so the children learn nothing.

the teachers union wants to change education to teach more life skills. I would normally think this is a good idea, except they want to teach them things such as how to walk, and no that isnt aimed at under 2 year olds. how to walk. seriously I'm not kidding.

 

I'm guessing you're conflating 'discipline' with 'corporal punishment'. The two are not the equivalent.

 

No, I mean discipline. Corporal punishment has been outlawed for years, but teachers arent even allowed to say no to children.

You dont have to beat your children to get them to listen - you just need to know when to say no.

Nobody ever says to these kids that they cant do something, and when they try, its too late - the kids have grown up knowing that their are no consequences for bad behaviour.

 

Wow, no freedom of assembly mixed with discrimination against a minority. I won't say I'm surprised because after the news articles I linked, I don't think I can be surprised about how ****ed up England is when it comes to ignoring personal freedom and being a hypercontrolling nanny state.

 

the dispersion orders have been implimented in areas which are renowned for gang culture and violent crime. and the public have welcomed it and more so have the local shop keepers. why should a group of hooded youths be allowed to gether ouside an indian owned corner shop? how would you feel if they gathered outside your front door?

 

the problem with england isnt a lack of freedom, its an excess of it. england is probably the most liberal country I have ever seen, with criminals being treated extremely leniently. It is from this that I think all of their problems stem.

 

I assume that your own country is South Africa as the "From" in your profile states. In that case I find it highly ironic that you find South Africa better in this regard considering that they have one of the highest violent crime rates in the world.

As I stated earlier I have a huge problem with this "society needs to get tougher" mentality. Since basically it seems that the socities that are less tough on their youth have lower crime rates. So I really must wonder what these statements are based upon? To me it seems like people should really read less tabloids.

 

yes we have extremely bad violent crime rates. But we also have probably about 50% unemployment and very bad poverty in addition to a poorly educated populace thanks to apartheid. If UK crime is getting as bad as ours, I struggle to understand why.

Besides, most of the crime in SA is not perpetrated by under 18s (gangs sometimes use them because they will get light sentences if caught). You would never hear of a girl knifing her sister, a stupid 17 year old having a party with the intention of destroying her parents house, a 22 year old father shot for standing up to a neighbourhood bully, a 15 year old youth killed by a 20 strong gang because of racial differences. all of these happened right here in the UK, and what is most appalling by them is the lack of reason for them. I can understand, if not condone, someone stealing stuff to survive. But these acts? Utterly barbaric, and mostly perpertrated by gangs of young people who havent been taught better. this is a first world country, how could you get it so wrong?

And dont tell me I dont have a right to criticize - any crime deserves to be condemned, and you neednt be a resident of the country to do it.