Leg-iron here, with a story OH tipped over on my place. It’s not an isolated incident and to be honest it never was. All that’s changed is the reaction of the authorities.
Apologies for length…
Years ago, a town in Scotland had a little sod who was so uncontrollable they actually banned him from the town. He was beyond any redemption. He turned up briefly in Aberdeen but then he went silent. Either the local toughs were out of his league, or he moved on to Peterhead prison. I don’t know.
It happens sometimes. Once in a while someone is born who will do nothing but cause damage and pain to the community. For these people, it doesn’t matter whether their family is rich or poor. It doesn’t matter whether they are educated at Private School for Very Smart Kids or Dead-end Comprehensive Run by Beards or anything in between. It makes no difference at all because they are just plain bad.
Many kids join gangs in their youth. These can range from a group who just hang around together to a group hell-bent on getting into fights with other gangs, to drug dealing, even to killing. Some of those gang members will go on to full criminal activity. Most will grow up and become stockbrokers, window cleaners, train drivers or priests and so on.
For many of those kids kicking up trouble in the estates, there is a reason. Their parents are unemployed and see no hope of employment. Some of their parents aren’t even trying. Many of those kids don’t know who their fathers are. Too many of them were born to gain benefits for Mum, not because they were actually wanted.
In school, they are not taught real skills but social project nonsense that sounds very pretty but is worthless in the world of work. They are told that they are all winners and that they should all be going to University to study knitting, fish filleting and social work. They are not allowed to experience failure. They are not allowed to experience pain. They are not allowed to experience disappointment and they are not taught that some things are not possible for some people. School won’t tell them that they are destined to be road sweepers because they just weren’t born with a good brain. School tells them that they are entitled to be Einstein and if they don’t make it, it’s because someone else is stopping them.
That turns out some pretty twisted kids. Some of those kids see the light and get away from the nonsense they’ve been fed, but many will just sit back on the benefits system. Where’s the shame in that? It’s the family business now. They are Entitled. Teacher said so. These kids feel cheated and angry but most of them can be turned around. The trouble is, it might take a total loss of benefits to do it. Then they’ll see that they can look after themselves after all. Their first attempts will not be pretty but in the end they’ll get the idea.
Among them are those bad influences still. Those born to be bad. Sociopaths, you might call them, and they are not a product of any social or school system. They are a product of a toxic mix of genes. One of their features is an impressive ability to manipulate, and they’ll use that to control their gang of gullible, aggrieved kids. They’ll use it to fool social workers and benefits staff too. They are not stupid. They are totally lacking in conscience, but well supplied with brains. There is no social reason for their behaviour. It’s hard-wired.
One that might fit this description has come to light in Norwich. I visited Norwich once by accident when I fell asleep on a train in the seventies. I was there from about 1 am to 6 am and my enduring memory of the place was that they would not allow me to wait inside the station. I had to shiver outside. Funnily enough, I’ve never been back.
This one used to be in a gang. The other kids in the gang grew out of it and moved on to real life. This one didn’t. Now he brings in like-minded vicious thugs and those he can manipulate to form a new gang. He will continue to do this for the rest of his life because it’s what he does.
The Righteous seek homogeneity. They always have and always will. Multiculturalism means we should all celebrate the same approved festivals whether we believe in them or not. Nobody should smoke. Everyone should have the same waist size. Nobody should drink more than a glass of wine a month. We must all behave the same because the Righteous want us all the same. Much easier to control us once those pesky differences have been deleted.
This makes them blind to genetics. There are differences. Some are born to grow big and strong. Some are born to be scrawny. Some are born with bits missing. Some are born to be intelligent. Those differences are vital to society because while we do need some researchers and innovators, we need those menial jobs done too. They are just as important. Tills need someone to operate them, sewers need maintenance, streets must be swept and nobody will do it if everyone believes they should be running a multinational company. The Righteous insist that everyone is the same when it is obvious to anyone with sense that we are not.
So when one of these seriously bad kids show up, the Righteous cannot accept that this is his natural way. That discipline might help, and if not, it’s a life in and out of prison for this one. No, they say this:
… Superintendent Nick Dean, who heads up policing for the Norwich area, said although he could not comment on the exact case, rather than criminalise children in such situations they were keen to work with young offenders.
He added: “It’s easy to charge them and put them to court but we need to try to understand why they did it.
“We need to work with them.”
They need to understand. Not punish. Not discipline. Understand and work with them. Well, understand this, Righteous. The sociopath is not brain damaged. He is usually of higher than average intelligence. You say you won’t punish him and what do you think he does? You say you want to understand him and he’ll spin you a story made of exactly what he knows you want to hear. You are putty in his hands. You won’t be working with him. He’ll be pulling your strings. He will claim his victims started it and you will believe him, and he will carry on doing what he does with your support.
Stop trying to understand the incomprehensible. Whack the little bugger and give him limits, and make clear what will happen when he crosses them. That might, just might, give him a chance to develop into a useful member of society.
Otherwise, Norwich had better read up on the Kray twins and get ready to see it all again.
The Righteous are no match for sociopaths. Like the Righteous, they have no thought for others, but unlike them, they are very clever indeed.
Many thanks Dave and Leg Iron. Christ, where did half a bottle of Jamesons go?