America Behind Bars

[depakid]

Has America become a "prison nation"?

Check our culture.

We wink an eye as our youth are exposed to such films or television offerings as "Slam," "Prison Break," HBO's "Oz" and "Get Rich or Die Tryin'." Or such highly violent video games as "Grand Theft Auto." The constant message: If you're angry, strike out violently; if you're crossed, seek revenge. Prison images are spreading across society. Example: baggy trousers. The "fashion" started in prisons, where belts are forbidden because they can be used as weapons. Result? Trousers fall. Now the dropping-pants, underwear-exposing trend can be seen on almost any street, in almost any mall.

Go to schools and ask youngsters for a show of hands whether they have a father, mother, brother, uncle or anyone close to them in prison. In many cities and suburbs, most kids' hands go up. And small wonder: More than 2 million Americans are behind bars, the most — in absolute numbers, and share of the population — of any nation on Earth.

Or ask school kids: "What's a sentence?" Ideally, they'd reply it's a group of words with a subject and predicate. But no, in many schools the reply is quite different: "Five to 10 years."

More: http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0522-31.htm

[wordpix]

1. answer is yes & this war isn't helping: we're in debt up to eyeballs

and that means no money for social programs to help the poor and better the environment in their neighborhoods and elsewhere. And the middle class is gradually going under with not enough money to pay for everything---the bills for daily living, college, helping elderly parents and putting money away for retirement as gas and heating costs rise, as well as other necessities like food, health care and insurance. There is stress, stress, stress, not enough time to spend with the kids having fun and with the spouse=divorce and stressed, unruly kids, drug use and eventually, crime. Meanwhile, corporations get richer building jails, Hollywood gets richer making inane violent movies and a whole violent gaming industry has arisen in the past decade or two that impacts young minds in horrible ways. :grr: :scared: :nuke: :hide:

This is a bad mix and it's up to US to turn it around and we really need to, badly. :grouphug: