When discussing demonisation it is important to point out that 'youths behaving badly' isn't a new phenomenon and moral outrage about it is nothing new. Here's a few of quotes from way back in the day:
Here's one from Plato (428-348 BC)“The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers.”
Swap the word 'dainties' for 'Rustlers microwavable burgers' and he could be talking about today's youth.
Here's a report on the hooligan riots from 1898
'They wore peaked caps, neck scarves, bell-bottom trousers and a hairstyle cropped close to the scalp. There were pitched battles between rival gangs, armed with iron bars, knives, powerful catapults and even guns. They patrolled their neighbourhoods shouting obscenities and pushing people down.'
Compare that with the 2010 film Shank's vision of London 2015
It's quite similar just with less parkour.
‘Lack of parental control, lack of discipline in schools, base literature (such as the sensationalist 'penny dreadful' novels about pirates and highwaymen) and the monotony of life in Manchester's slums were to blame for the urban guerilla warfare.' And finally a quote from a 1939 report titled Needs of Youth:
‘Relaxation of parental control, decline of religious influence and the movemnt of masses of young people to housing estates where there is little scope for recreation and plenty for trouble… the problem is a serious challenge, the difficulty of which is intensified by the extension of freedom which, for better or worse, has been given to youth in the last generation.’
And here's a few up to date ones - firstly an exert from an article in the Sun focusing on 'Broken Britain' from Oct 2009:
'Outside two track-suited youths with a pit bull terrier straining at the leash are smirking as they roll what looks like a cannabis joint. Others in hoodies swill cider under signs banning public drinking. My attempts to chat with the youngsters are met with twisted snarls and revolting four-letter abuse. The scourge of feral youths was put in sharp focus earlier this month after suicide mum Fiona Pilkington was hounded to death by bad kids'
And from Gordon Brown from 2008:
'Kids are out of control... They're roaming the streets. They're out late at night.'
So this demonisation of youth is nothing particularly new. Also neither are the supposed causes of the bad behaviour - poor education, poverty, violence in the media, lack of opportunities, absence of parental guidance.
It is perhaps possible to argue, however, that the level of the demonisation is at a new high if you consider that it's remarkable to have Time magazine covering on the problems with UK youth as they did in March 2008
