The only time we react to acts of crime, is when it gets coverage on TV, be it nationally or internationally. Then suddenly we are all up in arms and posting comments etc and then it dies down until the next horrible act of violence. When people do voice their opinions, they get labeled for behaving like the “moral police”. There was a time when wrong was WRONG! It was condemned, and people took some action to stop it.
Do we remain silent because we believe that nothing can be done to fight crime?
Do we remain silent because our government is not taking a firm stance?
Do we remain silent because there is only so much the citizens can do?
Do we remain silent even though deep down we know certain behaviors are wrong, and needs to stop, but HOW?
Janine Rowley of the organisation Women against Rape or WAR says "that a woman in South Africa gets raped every 9 to 23 seconds?
World Press Review says that "South Africa in the year 2011 alone had 1.2 million people that got raped each and every day, of that number more 60 children got raped in a single day and that's only the cases that got reported on or that we know off.
South Africa has the highest number of rape incidents in the world...more than 12 times that of the United States of America which came in second on the list...even though South Africa has a population of only 50million compared to America's 310million...In other countries people will either rape you, rob you, or kill you, but in South Africa they'll rape you before they kill you, just because you happen to be there. Rape occurs automatically in connection with all other criminal acts in South Africa."
I read an interesting comment yesterday; about how we have gone past “desensitisation” and are at the “disassociation” point, we do this to protect ourselves from the trauma of crime and acts of violence.
It’s sad to see the moral decay and how our moral fibres have been stripped away. We witness violence in media; movies, the Internet, on television and now the brazen distribution of violence via social media. We are bombarded with gruesome images day in and day out. Today, more people have become afraid to leave their homes and fear their safety.
Has violence escalated because we have more technology?
Has the information/visual age made us more psychotic and violent?
Has violence increased because people are more angry or feel powerless economically, therefore they act on it out to gain that power elsewhere?
Violence and abuse is a global epidemic. Government, parents, teachers, religious leaders, every one of us share a responsibility to educate the children about violence. We should not allow ourselves to become numb to a problem that is destroying and taking lives.
Or are we simply demotivated and are choosing to turn a blind eye to most of it now?
With the global eyes on South Africa, due to the high crime rate, won’t this adversely affect the economy thus creating more issues, which contribute to crime?
Shouldn’t our government be doing more to curb this onslaught?
The age of innocence for adults is lost ..... we have witnessed to much! Why can’t we as a nation fight for our children to have theirs for as long as I can?
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