Small Town

Well, things have pretty much settled in the aftermath of Thursday morning's insanity. The story so far:

From what I've gathered, Jessie has been wandering about for some time saying he was going to kill his mother. While I haven't pinpointed a reason yet, it looks like no one took him seriously, with the possible exception of Kacey. In the end, WTAJ (CBS10, Altoona) reported it that evening as Jessie acting alone, with no mention of Kacey's involvement. That was a bit of a relief, seeing as how I'm obviously very worried about someone I consider a good friend.

Cause of death is likely to be blood loss from slash wounds to the throat and wrists, but I've heard some reports of possible blunt force trauma as well, which wasn't reported by WTAJ during their 5pm newscast. If that's the case, then Cindy suffered a very frightening death at the hands of her own son.

But what would possess a child to kill his own mother, let alone do it in such a violent and nasty way? One possible scenario is that, mad at his mother for some reason and sent over his breaking point by something, he beat the ever-loving tar out of her and, scared of the consequences of that, killed her to silence her. If that's the case, wrong move, just made things worse.

What makes a kid rage against his mom like that? Any number of things, really, could - either on their own or, more likely, in tandem with more - contribute to a child's anger. Jessie is a part of a very selfish and spoiled generation, the grandchildren of the Boomers and children of TV Generation parents. With doting grandparents desperate to stay young by living through their grandkids, and parents who are either unwilling or unable to connect with them on much of any level, its really no surprise how these kids fall off the boat.

Most adopt a "Fuck The World" mentality, refusing to care about this or that or the other thing and only focusing on their narrow view of the world around them. They feel trapped by their surroundings, with a fear of inability to escape their mundane existence in their tiny niche of the world. They assault their ears with the overly-aggressive, testosterone-fueled anthems of Hardcore music, and at the same time feed their depression with the whiny crybaby sounds of Emo. The "fuck it all" attitude leads to indifference to school, work, life, and pretty much anything that isn't branded PlayStation or Aeropostale.

In effect, they've desensitized themselves to sympathy, empathy, and have failed to find outlets for the wellspring of emotions swimming around inside of them. Social interaction, even among family, is retarded, and bridges (rather than being burned) aren't even built in the first place.

With a parent who, while trying their best but still falling short, can't make a connection with their kid, the other side of the bridge doesn't even get past the foundation phase. With neither side making any effort, any emotional bond is all but erased.

The kids end up reacting negatively to any parental "intrusion," distrusting and coming to resent any effort by their parents for anything, over time becoming a conditioned response. Kid will run off, do what he/she pleases while they're out, consequences be damed because the parents lack the skills to enforce any punishments. Grounded or no, kids are right back out doing lord knows what.

But what drove Jessie to kill his mother, and in such a violent manner, is something that needs to be looked at in order to understand the true nature of the generation gap kids and parents these days have to deal with. If I were to go any further with this subject, though, I'd never get any sleep.

And yes, I know, it's Caturday. I'm going to try my best this time around...

UPDATE: 6:43am - Whoopsie. Eric too tired, forget to check teh Googles. Here's a Centre Daily Times blurb, although it's fairly limited at this time. Looks like I'm the only one releasing names other than perp and vic. Can that get me in trouble? Eh, fuck em.

Get Off My Lawn

Wow. It has been forever since I've culled any content to talk about from BoingBoing. I don't know why, really. For the past two years, BB just hasn't been the major destination it once was for me. I still visit it on occasion (obviously), but I dunno. I think there might be an underlying snark vibe going on there that kinda puts me off...

At any rate, BB links to a list from Beloit College's Department of Public Affairs on the Mindset List for the Class of 2011, or those four-year college graduates born in 1990, quite the year for those of us who have memories of it (aka the "old folks.").

Some of the things on the list really stood out for me, given my perception of this particular generation, especially #55: MTV has never featured music videos. To that generation, the M has always been about "Material." Kinda makes Madonna's Material Girl oddly prophetic in a way.

See, I DO remember videos on MTV. Hell, I was nearly four years old when MTV launched on August 1st, 1981. I lived in a world without it at all, though I have little to no memory of that time, other than the arrival of my baby brother CJ that December. No different these days, really. Videos have been relegated to insomniac fare, amid the craptastic programming line-up that has polluted what was supposed to be Music Television since the first Real World.

They live in a world without true MTV.

Another one that was nifty for me was #41: The “Blue Man Group” has always been everywhere. I suppose it marks me as old that my first memory of BMG was when they were simply "The Blue Men," a performance art group that made news when they "Buried The 80s" in 1988 or '89. Struck me as odd, given the fact that the 80s still had a year and change to go, and that these guys were walking around painted blue. Years later, when they showed up in their current form, I was taken right back to that news report.

They've never seen a world without a cellphone smaller than a brick. To them, Distrubed did Land of Confusion (originally Genesis), Dope did Spin Me Round (Like a Record) (originally Dead or Alive), and "rapcore" has always been a genre of music.

As the spoiled brats known as the Class of 2011 graduate from High School this year and get slapped with the real world, I offer them this advice: It's a cold place, kids. It's not going to give you what you want, when you want it. Bundle up, add layers, and don't even think for a second that you're just going to "cruise through life." Your generation needs to learn how to not take things for granted. Only then will you be able to function in our modern society, fucked up though it may be...