What can we do to minimize the daily violence here in WA?

Just returned from Europe, having travelled through different countries.
A couple of months, with one murder being commited and one brawl.

That was it, at least reading through their local papers and watching their news!

Coming back to Perth, being here for 72 hours, and one 74 year old bashed with a baseball bat, recovering in Freo hospital and a 19 year old man bashed and kicked unconscious in Northbridge.

Why are some of us so aggressive?

Any thoughts, any ideas? What can we all do to change that? How could we contribute?

I am sick of all that violence......

 

Well for starters you could protest to the government that we are not prepared to see our standard of living deteriorate any further.

When people have most essentials they tend not to be so aggressive, well in most cases.

 

I know this is going to be really counterintuitive to you. But social violence is in some ways the hallmark of a strong society.

Sheep and other herd animals are peaceful, docile and easily led, wolves not so much. Who is the stronger animal?

Lets take the ancient Romans. How did a few thousand raggedy ass barbarians conquer half the Roman empire? Because they were a violent people who hadn't lost the use of arms and they invaded a people who hadn't picked up a sword in over 100 years.

Peaceful societies are weak ones.

 

The Singapore solution.

 

One of the most consistent triggers for violence is frustration....make of that
what you will....just dont get frustrated...

 

Well here in WA I would say the main triggers are caused by alcohol, stimulant drugs and a self entitled attitude.

 

Alcohol is a given...add it to frustration...add a little lack of respect, and you
have all the ingredients for what we call today a "socio-economic problem"

Maybe if they started closing pubs and clubs at 10pm then we might see
a bit of nomality...but no...they wont do that because of the huge amount
of liquor tax the governments miss out on...so the problems of society
are here to stay, and will only get worse...schoolies week for example here
on the GC...

 

I am not understanding the frustration you are talking about. Is this frustration coming from the highest living standards in the world, unparalleled employment opportunities or increased leisure time?

 

When I talk of frustrations, I talk of the general frustrations in life that we
all experience...the frustrations of not having enough money to pay the bills, the frustrations of having a lousy job, or no job at all, having poor work conditions, an inability to cope with the stresses of life..everything from being caught in gridlock on the way to work..to arguing with your wife or children about minor issues, but having major problems below the surface...
I am not a shrink, nor do any of these problems apply to me, but I have seen
it over the years, and the general frustrations of live can be traced back to
what we loosely call "stress".
Stress, simply defined is a) doing something you dont want to do or
b) being directed to do something in a time frame which is unrealistic.
I know a bit about stress and how to handle it...the problem is that a lot of
people "mirror" their stress onto someone close...ie. a scapegoat, like
a wife, or husband, or workmate...

This could all sound like a lot of rubbish to you at first, but if you look around
you will see it in society.....

 

Over 50 percent of people in Western Australian prisons are of aboriginal descent, they dont have any of the social pressures you mention. Many of them do however have something called fetal alcohol syndrome and also come from socially disadvantaged violent backgrounds. Something else, 10 percent of offenders are responsible for 90 percent of the crime.

 

And unfortunately, when the bureacrats began attempting to "rehabilitate"
offenders, rather than "punish", crime rates escalated...this began to occur some 30 years ago, and the notion of "softly, softly" and
"rehabilitate" rather than "punish" is so firmly entrenched in the legal system that there will never
be any chance of a U turn, hence the problems of society as we see them today will never change...they will only get worse...

 

To a point, I agree. There is no one size fits all approach to rehabilitation that works however, that seems to be the most misunderstood concept by the public. Another thing, someone with a brain irrevocably damaged by fetal alcohol syndrome cannot be rehabilitated in my opinion and a solution needs to be found to deal with these non functional people outside of the one size fits all rehabilitation concept.

 

Caning, you mean to say?

 

One was saying close the pubs at 10pm, it still leaves the question why there are far less problems in other countries with opening hours until early in the morning.
Is it at the end an australian cultural problem?
It might be, that more Abos are in jail then compared to other ethnical groups, that I don't know.
I have seen plenty of fights myself, the majority commited by true blue Aussies.
Most commited under the influence of alcohol and drugs.
But then, those two incidents which gave me enough reason to start this thread where commited by non true blue offenders.
So I am not sure whether it will provide us with an answer in pointing the finger towards a certain race....
What could we do to lift the bar for self respect? I think you need to have this before you can respect and value others....

 

Yes, that would be part of it in certain cirumstances imo. I also believe that prison sentences for some crimes should be shorter and harsher. Considering the fact that the majority of prison inmates here have some form of mental illness or disability we also need a much stronger focus on that. These issues are currently poorly understood by the general public and any attempted "solution" is often just a knee jerk political reaction.

 

We dont need to point the finger at certain races but if we cant understand where the crime is coming from and who is committing it then we have a very poor chance of resolving any issues to prevent it. I am unaware of what is occurring in other states but here in WA we are losing another generation of young aboriginal people to drugs, alcohol and a culture of violence. It is not to say that these things are peculiar to aboriginal people only that they are vastly over represented in their population. Over 50 percent of our inmates are aboriginal with a population of only 3 percent, we are doing something drastically wrong.

 

What do you mean by referring violence to a strong society?
In case of some countries, they start wars for nothing.... or should I say only to their own good. Does it really makes them stronger?
Aren't the advantages of a modern society respect and a peaceful together?
All this violence on our streets can be seen as mini wars, and they certainly are not proof of a highly sophisticated nation.
Something is missing...

 

Ian,
lets assume you are right with the Abos, what do you think we could do to create a better and safer future not only for them, but at the end for all of us?

 

I am going to cop flak for saying this but I see a common thread amongst young violent offenders here and that is a strong american influence and the copying of gang culture. I perceive the american culture to be quite corrupt and violent, unfortunately these kids are being bombarded with it though the media, video games etc.

 

Please dont use ethnic slurs, it isnt necassary.

 

So, you're advocating institutionalized beatings as a punishment for public beatings? If a citizen beats someone in a bar, this is bad and he is to be arrested and... beaten himself by the wardens? Somehow that doesn't follow in my mind.

 

Your assumption leaves the question - why would life be more frustrating in downunder than compared to other countries?

 

I don't get your drift...

 

Mental health is where we start, we need to put everything we can into it. Prisons are currently de facto mental health institutions, this has to stop.

 

It works extremely well in other countries. I only advocate it for first offenders and the canings should be public.