The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #96092 Message #1891041
Posted By: GUEST,memyself
22-Nov-06 - 04:01 PM
Thread Name: BS: Britain tops the yobs league
Subject: RE: BS: Britain tops the yobs league
"Maybe the difference between their young people and ours is in the different standards their adults set and conform to?"
You might want to ask yourself - never having been to the UK, I don't have an opinion on this; just a suggestion - what are the interactions of these kids with the adult world like when the kids are not in yob mode, when they're going about their rightful business in the course of a day? In general, are they being granted a modicum of respect by the adults they encounter or are they more likely to face contempt or antipathy? Personally, I've come to be a great believer in the elevating power of respect ... especially for those who've never gotten much of it.
Flattered to hear the favorable observations of Canada. In case anyone's wondering, we do have our fair share of violent criminals and assorted hard cases, but it sounds like casual social interactions are a little more civil here than in some places. For instance, re: "pleased to give assistance and directions to us lost tourists", my brother told me that when in Edinburgh a few years back, he got a hard time from a group of young toughs when he asked them something about how to use a payphone - in Canada, you figure that a thug may cut your throat in the line of business, but that doesn't mean under normal circumstances he won't be happy to give you directions or to help push your car out of a snowbank ...