What can we expect of our children and youth – when the adults …

If I had to have a mandatory book for school students to read it would be the Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy series by Douglas Adams. E.g.

“A huge young Vogon guard stepped forward and yanked them out of their straps with his huge blubbery arms. “You can't throw us into space,” yelled Ford, “we're trying to write a book.” “Resistance is useless!” shouted the Vogon guard back at him. It was the first phrase he'd learned when he joined the Vogon Guard Corps.

When Ford enquired as to whether the guard enjoyed his job, he told him that the hours were good, but that most of the actual minutes were “pretty lousy”. According to his aunt, being a spaceship guard was a “good career for a young Vogon”, as it included a uniform, a low-slung stun ray holster, and mindless tedium. Although the guard didn't seem to know why exactly he was doing his job, he couldn't think of any alternative, and thought he'd better stick to what he knew, hoping to eventually be promoted to Senior Shouting Officer.”

Or

“The major problem—one of the major problems, for there are several—one of the many major problems with governing people is that of whom you get to do it; or rather of who manages to get people to let them do it to them.
To summarize: it is a well-known fact that those people who must want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it.
To summarize the summary: anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.”

When you wonder why this is the case: “Almost a quarter of young Kiwis struggling with mental health – report.” And add in international reports that show NZ is the OECD country with the highest incidence of .

Who do kids look up to? (And you may think children don't notice the adult world but they actually watch in intensely).

  • A Prime Minister that lied about women travelling to Northland during the government's covid-response: The women were publicly vilified for crossing the border with then Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins accusing them of using “false information to travel across the border”.

The Richie Cunningham to impress the older folk of NZ does not stand up to the record of poor behavior from Prime Minister Hipkins.

  • Or a Minister of Minister for Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence who states: “I am the prevention violence Minister, and I know who causes violence in the world, and it's white cis men'. Then doubling-down by offering no public apology (although – apparently apologized to the Prime Minister).
  • Or teachers who are not getting what they want so put kids on the street (or cost parents a day of their 4 weeks annual leave) march on Parliament, presumably to hear from politicians, and then shout down the Minister of Education will bull-horns yelling “Do your job!”
  • Or the closest thing we have seen in recent NZ to a lynch mob, preventing , assaulting a NZ guest, thumping people, and yelling in the face of grand-mothers.” Then the justification that it is okay to assault someone as long as you have a sad back-story.
  • Or venues being shut-down through threat of violence and speakers being shouted down.

It has all been profoundly embarrassing globally. To see how debate should take place see the most recent interview of Piers Morgan and Richard Dawkins. Or look up the debate of the late Christopher Hichens with his brother Peter. Or David Lange at Oxford.

With all of this from leaders and adults; why do we wonder about reasons for why young people go feral on social media and become violent in public and at our schools. The next time one of them abuses someone online, thumps them at school or throws a substance on them – they can simply say: “I did it because they disagree with my opinion.”

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