There was an excellent piece in the Globe last Thursday about a meeting in which 100 young people from Boston met with city councillors to discuss the rash of gun-related violence plaguing the city and endangering many teens on the street.
Read it here if you like.
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4 comments:
Interesting article. I agree that positive reinforcement of desired behavior is better than negative reinforcement of undesired behavior--that's psych 101 stuff. But I don't buy the "spend more money on us so we have something to do" argument. People need to take responsibility for themselves, and stop relying on government to provide everything for them. You would get far better employment results, with less burden on the taxpayer, by easing restrictions on business.
Also, not sure where the "rash of gun-related violence plaguing the city" comment comes from. Maybe it was inbetween the lines.... (There is a statement about "last year's rash of homicides" in the article -- were these all gun related?)
Wow! Sounds like they need a Kroc Center. God Bless You in these efforts.
I've been waiting to respond to Curtis's comments and it might be too late for anyone else to see this.
But I can't let the comment fly without responding.
Curtis, three different references are made to the rise of violence and homicides among city youth.
Secondly, it's really hard for me to take your comments about people needing "to take responsiblity for themselve,s and stop relying on government to provide everything for them" from a guy who, like me, grew up in the suburbs with all kinds of advantages. I don't think these kids are looking for a handout. They're saying to the city, "If you're going to spend money on the problem of violence in the city, why not do more to support the non-violent majority than spend disproportionately on a small number of individuals engaging in violence." I think they're trying to say focus on positive possiblities rather than eliminating negative elements, because the latter strategy has not worked.
Have you ever had to consider your route to school based on where the latest shooting took place? Did you ever doubt whether you'd be able to get a college education? Have you ever been denied any major opportunity based on the actions of your peers and not fairly based on your own approach or achievement?
That's the kind of fear and frustration these good kids are living with daily. What they're asking for is wiser spending of dollars already allocated in my opinion, not a handout
Thanks for responding Drew.
Not denying the references to increasing violence, just questioning if it is all _gun_ violence. Maybe it's not a relevant distinction.
Regarding my suburbanite upbringing -- if you want to dismiss my viewpoint because of a stereotype rather than choosing to believe that I have a coherent, rational political philosophy, that's certainly your choice.
I understand the point of the meeting was to convince the local government to provide funding to positive programs and stop providing it to negative ones. But let's not euphemise the action by calling it "reallocation of existing funds" -- it's still the government taking from some people and giving it to others. Actually, it's probably even worse, since the people who are being helped by these programs probably wouldn't need the help (or need as much of it) if the government wasn't taking their money in the first place. But I guess that's a larger issue.
Frankly, government -- at any level -- never has been good at spending money, and I doubt it ever will be. Which is why people need to take responsibility for themselves and stop relying on government.
Thanks,
Curtis.
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