[jesse713]

Please hurry!

[jesse713]

Money and purpose matter. That is why people join in the first place. Vermont needs jobs and an end to urbanization if it wants to combat gangs.

[GypsySoul22]

I keep saying it has a lot to do with being bored.

He's not into sports. He has trouble making friends because he's shy. He's at risk.


My son is nearly 10 and 'is special needs' (mild). How much longer is he going to be content hanging around with mommy and daddy?


Heck, there's hardly anything for me to do here(so it seems) and it's tiring being 'isolated' from everything due to distant or weather or whatever. Add to it 2 parents HAVING to work and you see why kids get into this stuff.

[68vette]

Originally Posted by GypsySoul22

I keep saying it has a lot to do with being bored.

He's not into sports. He has trouble making friends because he's shy. He's at risk.


My son is nearly 10 and 'is special needs' (mild). How much longer is he going to be content hanging around with mommy and daddy?


Heck, there's hardly anything for me to do here(so it seems) and it's tiring being 'isolated' from everything due to distant or weather or whatever. Add to it 2 parents HAVING to work and you see why kids get into this stuff.

Great points made. Also, you can't stop urbanization. You may be able to slow growth or the physical urbanization of the landscape, but with cable, satellite TV, MTV, the internet and so on kids see what is out there and often times it appeals to them. Not to pick on rap music, but it appeals to young people and often times the content deals with gang life and the violence associated with it.

[sundialstreet]

Reading these comments made me laugh so hard. There is some much ignorance, hand wringing and fear mongering. Most of the residents of this state are totally ripe for gang picking due to their embarrassing lack of education (nothing to do with MTV or Rap Music thankyouverymuch), lack of economic opportunities and the flaming tendency of vermonts towards simple-minded groupthink.

When I wrote about how crack and meth infected the North Kingdom was people were offended and tried to poo-poo it. The reality is there is tons of crack smoking and drug taking going on here and instead of blaming outsiders, which are vermonters favorite scapegoats, try accepting responsibility for the mess you've made of your state.

Stop being so obsessed with preserving the Vermont Brand which is totally a fallacy. It's so groupthink to try to silence anyone who threatens to let people know the Vermont emperor is not wearing any hemp clothes.

People need jobs, education and opportunities to make better choices. It's just that simple. Get some fresh opinions, play devil's advocate and for godssake stop with the groupthink, it's totally how you ended up in this mess.

[68vette]

Originally Posted by sundialstreet

Reading these comments made me laugh so hard. There is some much ignorance, hand wringing and fear mongering. Most of the residents of this state are totally ripe for gang picking due to their embarrassing lack of education (nothing to do with MTV or Rap Music thankyouverymuch), lack of economic opportunities and the flaming tendency of vermonts towards simple-minded groupthink.

When I wrote about how crack and meth infected the North Kingdom was people were offended and tried to poo-poo it. The reality is there is tons of crack smoking and drug taking going on here and instead of blaming outsiders, which are vermonters favorite scapegoats, try accepting responsibility for the mess you've made of your state.

Stop being so obsessed with preserving the Vermont Brand which is totally a fallacy. It's so groupthink to try to silence anyone who threatens to let people know the Vermont emperor is not wearing any hemp clothes.

People need jobs, education and opportunities to make better choices. It's just that simple. Get some fresh opinions, play devil's advocate and for godssake stop with the groupthink, it's totally how you ended up in this mess.

First I would like to say I'm not a Vermonter. I have lived in NYC and know what gang life is like(I'm not an expert, but I have seen it first hand) having worked in many inner city hospitals. You are right in stating that education, opportunities and better choices have much to do with going down the wrong path, but outside influences(like rap music) have a part in what leads kids down the wrong path when they don't get the formentioned things. I know and I would hope most know it's not the main reason, but it has it's role.

[Lilybeans]

You know what else is important? Parents. Get out there and discipline tyour child. Don't let them skip school. Make sure they have responsibilities. Makes sure they have to work if they want spending money. maake sure they graduate from high school, at least.

One thing I would never say to my parents was that I was bored. Their response would be mow the lawn, paint the house, clean the garage, something. I see a lot of hand wringing and worrying, but it is the parents that must be initially responsible. You can't expect the government to provide the answer or even entertain your kids.

If you want a job, go get one or start your own business. Kids, though, must be brought up to learn that you do not start at the top, that you do not get instant gratification, and that you need to earn what you get. That is called the work ethic and it needs to be taught from birth. Do not expect government handouts and then whine when you get them. Just my opinion.

[GregW]

I consider myself lucky to have survived my rural childhood. Parents should never leave a creative child alone in a machine shop. My specialty was rocket motors of varying degrees of safety and effectiveness.

I never wanted to join a gang and never did until I went into the military where I served as an Imperial Storm Trooper for a while. The entire country seems to be infested with gangs. I think they were always around but we just didn’t talk about it.

As far as drug use in the North Country is concerned there is drug use everywhere. Drug manufacture is just a response to lack of better things to do. With small town industry demolished by this administration and Wal-mart people have to do something to survive. Funny that they would choose bootlegging drugs to starvation.

[sundialstreet]

I think it's intellectually lazy to single out rap music and not at all indicative of someone who has given the subject any careful or nuanced consideration. There are so many aspects of our popular culture (and have always been so) that glamorize drug taking(Hello, any cheesy A-list starlet, none of which I recall being rap singers, unless Linsday and Paris changed careers???) and gangs are as old as the bible, (no rappers blinging out with Jesus last I checked). It's an easy scapegoat and frankly a totally ignorant one.

What compels a person to seek out a gang has nothing to do with their race or what kind of music they listen to, but everything to do with trying to fill a void or correct a lack. And what furthers the problem are people with really myopic views conflating cause with effect. I think rap music (and believe me I'm no fan; give me a nice bit of ex-druggie Clapton thankyouverymuch) is an effect of a particular cultural slide and not the cause.

And it does go back to parents. Everywhere I go in vermont I see rude, unruly and unsupervised children. Where are their parents? Even the basics like "Please" and "Thank you", respect for appropriate authority figures and all that good stuff from the 50s are gone!

You can't blame rap music for that!

[OhBeeHave]

And it does go back to parents. Everywhere I go in vermont I see rude, unruly and unsupervised children. Where are their parents? Even the basics like "Please" and "Thank you", respect for appropriate authority figures and all that good stuff from the 50s are gone!

You can't blame rap music for that!

You're right.

Absentee parenting, both parents having to work to make ends meet; single parent households, etc. all factor into the gang equation.

On LI, gangs are far more prevalent in impoverished areas as opposed to those which have a little more money. We are seeing a meteoric rise in the number of Latin-based gangs such as MS-13. Areas which once seemed 'safe' are starting to get tagged as territory.

Police throughout the nation have their work cut out for them. As long as families turn a blind eye on their children, they are ripe for the picking by these gangs, and youth in poor areas are very likely to become gangbangers whether they want it or not.