Every country in the world deals with crime and murder. Robberies, carjacking, hooligans roaming the streets in their "clans" occupying and taking over territory.
Sometimes it is hard to imagine such horrible acts taking place in beautiful countries with hills, valleys, mountains, beaches and a population of just over 4 million. So when I heard that Middle Earth, err, I mean New Zealand, was suffering from a teen crime epidemic, I just couldn’t believe it.
Ron Mark, Middle Earth’s law and order spokesman, says that "the force and frequency of violent offending by teenagers had increased and was worrying youth justice agencies. There are now large numbers of teenage gang members roaming the streets of the main centres and there is a subculture of violence and criminal offending. These teenagers are thriving on a diet of alcohol and drugs and their main entertainment is playing violent video games before they head on to the streets looking for trouble."
Here is how I figure a regular conversation would go down between two of these teenagers:
Teenager #1: Hey man, ready to roam the streets tonight? There is a clan meeting, then we are raiding the local grocery store for supplies to bring back to our base.
Teenager #2: Yeah! You know I’m ready!
Teenager #1: Are you drunk enough yet? Did you take your drugs?
Teenager #2: Of course I did…hic! Who do you think I am?
Teenager #1: I know you’re the kid who didn’t play his daily dose of GTA:VC today! Your memory card wasn’t even in the PS2 when I last checked. Don’t even think about coming to the meeting until you played that game!
Teenager #2: Yes….hic!…sir
You know, thriving on a diet of alchohol and drugs alone isn’t very healthy, and adding that they play video games just made me realize how bad the situation is down there. What would their parents think if all they were eating and drinking was alchohol and drugs?
Don’t the parents know that a good diet needs extra nutrition from fruits and vegetables? And don’t the parents know how to read the rating on their kids’ video games? As a matter of fact, are there any parents in New Zealand at all?
