Reams of newsprint and their equivalent in cyber space have been used by social commentators and experts to try and analyse and understand what have been dubbed the ‘London riots’ (even though they eventually spread throughout Britain). From everything I’ve read, the one recurring theme is that there seems to have been a breakdown in the moral framework of the country. Both Toby Young and Allison Pearson, who write for The Telegraph, used The Lord of the Rings analogy to demonstrate how, lacking proper guidance and the mores of civilized behaviour, British teenagers easily slipped into lawlessness.
When I was growing up there was a Public Service Announcement which said, “It’s 11pm... do you know where your children are?” and as a child safe at home with my parents I remember being incredulous that children like myself could be out so late at night.
It was this slogan that kept running through my head as I saw those young teenagers whose faces were masked by baklavas and hoodies running through the night as they torched buildings and looted shops.
Many in the UK felt that the extensive media coverage simply encouraged copycat riots which had nothing at all to do with the shooting of Mike Duggan by the police, but which were simply a good excuse for bored youngsters to do something thrilling and daring and get themselves on the evening news.
Inevitably, while watching those scenes unfold all this week, many wondered whether such a thing could happen in Malta. While I hope that I am wrong, I feel that this possibility is not that remote. Look at all the fights, violence, and even fatal stabbings, which break out in Paceville, a once great place to go on a Saturday night, but which has now turned into an area filled with restless under-age kids, looking for excitement and trouble as they get drunk, get high and get wasted. The lack of an adequate police presence has even led parents to take matters into their own hands by forming the group GASP (Group Acting for a Safe Paceville). Echoing their concerns, a police inspector testifying in court this week said, “It has become almost fashionable to go to Paceville and fight.”
But apart from the almost daily reports of violence ranging from a 16-year-old who stabbed an 18-year-old, to a man who decided it would be fun to give his wife a black eye and knock out some of her teeth, where I see the most striking parallels between the UK and Malta is in the degeneration of moral behaviour.
I sometimes wonder whether − despite the plethora of crucifixes and churches, the litany of prayers which have to be learnt by heart, the obligatory muzew lessons, and the emphasis on Holy Communion and Confirmation – children are being taught the very basics of the difference between right and wrong. This goes beyond religion. Much as it might pain the holier-than-thou types, people of other nationalities who do not profess to any particular faith, still teach their children that it is wrong to steal, to lie and to cheat, because morality is not exclusive to being born Maltese and Catholic. Gasp, indeed.
It really isn’t rocket science, and yet all around me I see evidence of the complete disintegration of this crucial concept; a blurring of the lines and the habit of justifying one’s own transgressions by pointing to what others have done (which are always worse). So what if I cheat on my taxes, that politician over there was involved in corruption! So what if parts of my thesis were plagiarized, that lecturer over there never shows up for his lectures! So what if I don’t give people receipts and never pay VAT, I went to the mechanic and he did exactly the same thing to me!
It’s a ceaseless game of ping-pong and one-upmanship in reverse – if you accuse me of doing something wrong, I become all indignant and self-righteous and claim discrimination: “Why are you pointing at me? Can’t you see what the others are doing?”
If people in the public eye had the strength of character to swallow their pride, take responsibility and admit they were wrong, without pointing accusing fingers at others, this country might have some hope. Unfortunately, as Nikita Alamango has shown through her plagiarizing (she called it paraphrasing) of a Financial Times article, which she subsequently tried to justify by pointing to the David Agius case when he cheated in his exams, even the new generation is following the same pattern and downward spiral. If something is wrong, it’s wrong, period.
Meanwhile, if parents point to the wrongdoing of politicians to rationalize their own misconduct, what they are forgetting is that children are observing all this with watchful eyes. This is not to absolve politicians who must be made more accountable, but parents’ first duty is towards their offspring. You can lecture until you’re blue in the face, but if a child notices that you have not yourself followed the moral code you are trying to impose on them, you’ve had it. The message they are getting is: I may be telling you that this is wrong, but if I do it’s OK. The child will shrug inwardly, conclude that all adults are liars and hypocrites, then turn around and justify their own bad behaviour in the same way.
What parent hasn’t had his/her own misbehaviour flung back in his/her face by a growing teenager, who has suddenly morphed from a cute and obedient 10-year-old into a snarling monster who hates everyone? All parents have to grapple with this difficult phase at one point but it is made a million times worse if the father or mother has long lost the respect of their child as a figure of authority. The erosion of authority is often gradual, chipped away by small, almost meaningless episodes which then culminate into a situation where the teenager simply does not take their parent seriously any more. The parent, shocked, confused and hurt by the venom which often comes out of a teenager’s mouth, will try and impose some limp-wrested discipline and is taken aback when their 16-year-old gives them a withering look and talks back in scathing tones: “You have got to be kidding.”
Gone, it seems, are the days when teenage rebellion was met by a solid father figure who kept you on the straight and narrow through the sheer fear of the terrible consequences. Gone too are many of the dependable mothers who kept a sharp eye on what their teenagers were doing, nipping any potential trouble in the bud. Some have said that it is not fair to blame the parents for the London riots, but I beg to differ. The first place where we learn to respect authority is in the home, and from what I have learned, it is the laissez-faire attitude of many homes which made it possible for those teenagers to do what they did, brazenly defying the police as they carted away their loot.
What has happened to today’s parents and why aren’t they doing their job? Are they too busy working and throwing money at the ‘problem’ (for which read, demanding children) in the belief that buying them the latest iPad will buy them some peace and quiet, as well as their love? Ultimately, there are no substitutes for parental guidance that teach you correct codes of conduct and the much needed boundaries which children not only need, but secretly want. In the absence of such parameters, as we have seen, children will run loose like wild, uncivilised savages, stealing the latest expensive technology and the trendiest trainers, while destroying the property of their neighbours in the process, because things have become more important than people.
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