Peter Richardson has been a journalist on the Sunshine Coast for 50 years and is the former editor of the Nambour Chronicle. Last year he published Chapter and Verse, a collection of short fiction and verse inspired by the people and places of the Coast. Peter is now writing a memoir of a half-century of journalism in South-East Queensland. Why so violent? It's the alcohol, stupid!
| Peter Richardson
Corporal punishment has again being promoted in the letters columns and blogs. Does that mean we now have to call it sergeant punishment?
Talking of sergeants, it seems that the old kick up the backside by a beefy policeman still has its advocates as the best behaviour management for wayward youth.
I suspect that some of the “in my day” stories are apocryphal, but I do remember seeing heavy-handed police breaking up the groups of bodgies and widgies at their meeting place of choice …. the local milk bar.
Just what harm they were doing, other than raising the ire of the staid burghers of Toowoomba by wearing strange clothes, has always escaped me.
From this distance in time, it all seems so innocent, and in fact, it was. Violent crime in Toowoomba was rare, except for the beery brawls in which fists were the only weapons.
To pull a knife was seen as the lowest of low actions, even worse than kicking someone when he was down. Not any more, it seems.
Theories abound as to how the level of violence, particularly among young people, is so high.
My own unscientific and unresearched one: It’s the alcohol, stupid.
And how did this come about? Through glamorisation and glorification of grog in the media, the social acceptability of heavy drinking by adults and the resulting peer pressure.
Maybe we should all take a pull and not just blame the kids.
rich.29@bigpond.net.au
Have your say
Not Registered? Quick registration and comment.
Already Registered? Login and comment.
Super sub : PGA predictions
Bill Hoffman : Without adaption our financial futures are limited
Girl Talk : The only cycle I want to hear about has two wheels
Mark My Words : Carers for elderly need more support
Police Patrol : Last alcoholic drink was 10 hours prior?
More RSS feeds
Install the news toolbar
Set up an email news alert 
Recent Comments
One wonders whether journalists actually get their heads together on this subject or just write to express their own individuality. Yes, more police; don't use tasers; concentrate on the skatebowl; sit them down and talk to the dears...
Every year we glorify our sports team and watch them pouring grog over themselves and down their throats. They are our heroes. They are even made Australian of the Year. Its only when we see them fall from grace by their involvement in drugs or unwanted mobile calls that they are put into check, hounded by the media and come crawling back via apologies in Womens Weekly.
You say Peter that we should not just blame the kids. That being accepted, do we blame every prior generation for the failings of the next group? Do we hit back at Gen X for the freedom and weed of the 60s? Do we blame Gen Y for the craziness of the 70s with the introduction of heroin and cocaine? Do we crucify Gen Z for the speed explosion of the nineties and later?
Time's gonna come when you can't blame anyone but yourself. When despite all your damn control you look down into the eyes of your 14 year old son who is rocking with 'I love you dad, help me' and rolling with 'f*** you old man, I hate you.'
And whether you get to that day, or society beats you to it, then it may be time for armeggeddon.
Alcohol is an easy answer. Bloody self control is the real ticket.