50 Years on ABC Television
I watched the ABC tonight and they were showing a program called 50 years of Televison and being a child of the 60’s, I was moved to see stories I grew up with. From Cyclone Tracy blowing Darwin into the Timor Sea on Christmas eve of 1974 to Aboriginal Rights and the change over of pounds, shillings and pence.
Geez I feel old. I was born in the year of the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games and I have lived through the Vietnam War, Fauklands War, Desert Storm, 911, Pakistan and now the War in Iraq. What makes men justify such horror?
911 was one of the most horrific things I have ever witnessed in my life. Each and every night, news broadcasters broadcast more and more stories stained in blood and pain. But one of the most traumatic stories that shook me to the core, was aired on A Current affair a few weeks ago. I think it was called “Happy Slapping”.
Apparently, the attraction to this new sport is to attack an inocent person with as much vigour as you can and then make sure someone records the attack on video, using a mobile phone, later uploaded to the youtube for the rest of the world to witness.
We are breeding a generation of self centred, violence motivated, drug affected morons, hell bent on taking the rest of the world down with them. Modern FM radio stations promote anti social behaviour through sound bytes highlighting the pleasures of getting “shit faced” and “plasted”. Video game designers market their products at bored, unmotivated youth often with violence, impregnated with blood, horror and murder.
Is it any wonder that violence and anti social behaviour is growing in popularity. Why as afather of a 19 year old daughter do I cringe when I hear stories of young ethnic males calling young Australian girls as “skippies”. Girls that don’t deserve respect and are to be used for fun and pleasure only. My father was an imigrant and he was proud to be a “wog”, but he taught us to respect our elders and to put women and children first. Never disrepect anyone and always consider the other person first. Were are those values now?
I have just turned 50 and a lot of my views are old fashioned, but Im young at heart and I feel sorry for our young. What have we passed onto them? Nothing! They don’t work because we have made it so easy for them they don’t need to. They will never get their own home because our generation are greedy and are far happier making a 100% markup on our home purchase, when we sell, thus making the dream of owning their own home, impossible. Simple things will never entertain them because we gave them everything and never asked for anything in return.
I watched the “Happy Slapping” video and was reminded of the Roman Games, were Emporers entertained the masses with blood sports and horror in return for political support. Is this a sign of the times and what will be next? How far will society let this sort of violence go? What will we see next on “youtube”. Bash a Granny?
