I'd say that while medication definitely is a factor, it's not the only one, and the phenomena is likely being generated by a multiplicity of factors.
We, all of us, harbor a monster within. Most of us are either taught or otherwise develop a certain amount of discipline, and are able to keep it under control. Some folks manage to bury it so deep that even they don't know it's there... but it is. When I was 7 0r 8, I had a cousin that tormented me constantly. When enough is enough, you'll snap, I guarantee it. One day I snapped, hustled to the kitchen and got me an 8" butcher knife for to gore HIS ass with. Enough is enough, and I'd had just about enough. Dear Old Dad intercepted me, disarmed me, and then proceeded to bust a plastic dust pan all over my ass. Nothing left but shards of the dustpan (and my ass, too) when he was done.
I got the message. I started acquiring some goddamned discipline in my life. Otherwise, I'd have probably been just another one of those tragic headlines at some point.
But acquiring "discipline" doesn't mean simply wussing out and always doing nothing. It means knowing WHEN, and HOW, to wag and when to bite. A year or two after that, the little bastard bit the crap out of me, on the shoulder. Instead of reacting, I went and sat at the dining room table in tears of rage and frustration over the latest incident, when Dear Old Dad caught me again. He asked me what was the matter, and I told him. I'll never forget what he said - "Do you recall when I wore out that dust pan on your ass? If you don't get back in there, and I mean right now, and wear his ass out with your fists, then I'm gonna wear out ANOTHER dustpan on your ass. You ain't gotta kill a fella to get your point cross, but some times you might have to mark him up a bit."
Now that was decades ago, way back in the 1900's, but from that day to this, that cousin has never offered me a speck of violence. I got my point across.
But in this day and age, Momma's Little Angels are not being disciplined enough, nor are they learning discipline. They are, mostly, on or off, all or none. Part of that is to do with the increasing chemicalization of American kids, but part of it too can be put down to the permissive society they are living in, one that no longer teaches them discipline or any of the other skills of adult living. When anything goes, well, anything goes. The stops are pulled out, and people will act on impulses that they would otherwise have learned to evaluate, categorize, and act upon properly.
If, as Killary once said, "it takes a village to raise a child", then the village is letting our youth down just as much as the irresponsible miscreants who brought them into the world to begin with are. As it gets worse over time, society itself, as well as all the individuals making up that society, will suffer for that inattention to properly raising citizens, and instead raising mere animals who have no impulse control.
It all started with Dr. Spock, I think. That bastard ruined not just a generation, but generations to come with his useless and damaging "parenting advice". The first generation he ruined now does not have the skills to raise further generations...
.. and, as a result, we are seeing an increase in undomesticated humans whom society thinks we can control with chemical shortcuts. We can't. that won't work. It's only going to get worse until folks figure that out, and start installing discipline in their children once again. Some parents still do, but as time marches onward, there are fewer and fewer parents who even know how... and we are seeing the results of that.
Another factor, I'm sure, is the Electronic Age. Kids these days get more screen time than face time, and as a result of the lack of face-to-face interaction, their socialization is suffering. Without the face time, they are not learning how to properly cope with others in the real world, and are living in a fantasy world of attack and retreat. The only way they are learning to interact is what they are seeing online, on their screens, and that is usually vastly different from real-world interactions. "Anonymous" posters a thousand miles away can let their inner monster out to play without any real world repercussions,and that is the kind of interactions kids these days are getting used to... but when that's done in the real world, all hell often breaks loose. they are not prepared for it.
We, all of us, have a monster within. Until we teach our kids how to control that monster, society is going to get what it gets when the monsters are unleashed.
.That's my opinion, and I'm stickin' to it!
.
We, all of us, harbor a monster within. Most of us are either taught or otherwise develop a certain amount of discipline, and are able to keep it under control. Some folks manage to bury it so deep that even they don't know it's there... but it is. When I was 7 0r 8, I had a cousin that tormented me constantly. When enough is enough, you'll snap, I guarantee it. One day I snapped, hustled to the kitchen and got me an 8" butcher knife for to gore HIS ass with. Enough is enough, and I'd had just about enough. Dear Old Dad intercepted me, disarmed me, and then proceeded to bust a plastic dust pan all over my ass. Nothing left but shards of the dustpan (and my ass, too) when he was done.
I got the message. I started acquiring some goddamned discipline in my life. Otherwise, I'd have probably been just another one of those tragic headlines at some point.
But acquiring "discipline" doesn't mean simply wussing out and always doing nothing. It means knowing WHEN, and HOW, to wag and when to bite. A year or two after that, the little bastard bit the crap out of me, on the shoulder. Instead of reacting, I went and sat at the dining room table in tears of rage and frustration over the latest incident, when Dear Old Dad caught me again. He asked me what was the matter, and I told him. I'll never forget what he said - "Do you recall when I wore out that dust pan on your ass? If you don't get back in there, and I mean right now, and wear his ass out with your fists, then I'm gonna wear out ANOTHER dustpan on your ass. You ain't gotta kill a fella to get your point cross, but some times you might have to mark him up a bit."
Now that was decades ago, way back in the 1900's, but from that day to this, that cousin has never offered me a speck of violence. I got my point across.
But in this day and age, Momma's Little Angels are not being disciplined enough, nor are they learning discipline. They are, mostly, on or off, all or none. Part of that is to do with the increasing chemicalization of American kids, but part of it too can be put down to the permissive society they are living in, one that no longer teaches them discipline or any of the other skills of adult living. When anything goes, well, anything goes. The stops are pulled out, and people will act on impulses that they would otherwise have learned to evaluate, categorize, and act upon properly.
If, as Killary once said, "it takes a village to raise a child", then the village is letting our youth down just as much as the irresponsible miscreants who brought them into the world to begin with are. As it gets worse over time, society itself, as well as all the individuals making up that society, will suffer for that inattention to properly raising citizens, and instead raising mere animals who have no impulse control.
It all started with Dr. Spock, I think. That bastard ruined not just a generation, but generations to come with his useless and damaging "parenting advice". The first generation he ruined now does not have the skills to raise further generations...
.. and, as a result, we are seeing an increase in undomesticated humans whom society thinks we can control with chemical shortcuts. We can't. that won't work. It's only going to get worse until folks figure that out, and start installing discipline in their children once again. Some parents still do, but as time marches onward, there are fewer and fewer parents who even know how... and we are seeing the results of that.
Another factor, I'm sure, is the Electronic Age. Kids these days get more screen time than face time, and as a result of the lack of face-to-face interaction, their socialization is suffering. Without the face time, they are not learning how to properly cope with others in the real world, and are living in a fantasy world of attack and retreat. The only way they are learning to interact is what they are seeing online, on their screens, and that is usually vastly different from real-world interactions. "Anonymous" posters a thousand miles away can let their inner monster out to play without any real world repercussions,and that is the kind of interactions kids these days are getting used to... but when that's done in the real world, all hell often breaks loose. they are not prepared for it.
We, all of us, have a monster within. Until we teach our kids how to control that monster, society is going to get what it gets when the monsters are unleashed.
.That's my opinion, and I'm stickin' to it!
.