Savagery growing among young adults

By William Brown

A young woman commits suicide after being unable to withstand any further abuse at the hands of tormentors.

Another young woman is brutally stomped with steel-toed boots.

A young man is forced to leave his school when he is harassed because he is gay.

Are these horrifying images from Nazi Germany?

No.

They are events from the last four months that happened right here in America.

While much of the public focuses on the turmoil in Washington over reform bills and how unruly politics has gotten, many ignore the fact that young people are turning on each other like rabid wolves.

Phoebe Prince, a new girl in a new school, reportedly drew displeasure because she was dating the wrong guy.

Josie Lou Ratley made a disparaging remark about someone’s deceased brother, and so was beaten into unconsciousness.

A young man known only as Jacob was considered offensive simply because he was gay.

The people deemed responsible for Prince’s suicide and the attack on Ratley have been arrested, and that is good.

Due to the treatment of Jacob, a school district in New York reached a settlement in which it pledged to do more to protect students from harassment. That is good as well.

But it isn’t enough.

In all three cases, while behavior may have occurred that wasn’t acceptable to some, the explosions of violence and ill-treatment were disproportionate.

Such narrow thinking is sadly not limited to young people.

In Washington, death threats and epithets have been flying—largely in response to legislation most don’t understand and probably haven’t even read.

Americans, we need to take a long look at regulating our own conduct and the conduct of our children. As a nation of laws, we have measures we can take to settle things we don’t like without resorting to violence. We need everyone to remember that.