Can you imagine the thoughts of people abroad when they see scenes on TV of children in the UK as young as 8 years old fighting in a cage? One of the fathers defended himself by saying the practice is not illegal. This makes it okay, does it?
The fights take place in a social club where alcohol is served to adults.
These boys aren’t boxing and they aren’t using martial arts which involve discipline and training.
What kind of parent allows a child to do this? We’re supposed to protect our children and help them to grow up into responsible adults. Everyone knows what happens when children of that age are recruited into armies. They become ruthless killers because they are too young to have learnt the difference between good and bad.
I’m putting a poll up in the side bar for a week. I hope you’ll give me some feedback on this in the comments too- or am I just a soppy mother hen?
8 comments:
I hunted down the video on youtube- it wasn't hard- it was a little distasteful, but, for me, no more so than watching children aping their parents in other ways. After a quick Google, I found pictures of small children wearing orange sashes and marching with a King Billy banners, and meticulously-groomed girls at gymkhanas. I suppose we all hope that our children adopt our values... I guess you know Larkin's 'This Be The Verse'...
When I saw this on TV the other day I stood there dumbfounded it was happening here in our lovely United Kingdom. What civilisation. I feel it is the sort of thing that is morally wrong and people should know better - rather than having a law to outlaw something that should never have been conceived.
Otherwise we should be devising laws for things that are unthinkable just in case.
I haven't seen it, and I don't want to.
Sadly, the abuse of children, in all sorts of forms, is a worldwide issue. Josef Fritzl was Austrian, there was that horrendous Belgian paedophile gang, ghastly things happen in the US, whilst in Rio kids live in the sewers and are killed with impunity by the police. In Africa they are enlisted into groups like The Lord's Resistance Army. The list goes on and on.
It really is what they call "grappling" or wrestling. They aren't hitting each other. Boys fight this way all the time in uncontrolled situations.
I think what makes me feel weird is that they're not doing it in a schoolyard but in a cage in front of adults. Something feels off about that.
Jamie: i couldn't delete your email address without deleting the comment. I've kept the email copy for myself. I don't think I'll be writing anything at this moment in time.
Any type of fighting makes me sick to watch. It is just wrong.
When I was about 12 and in the Boy Scouts the Scoutmaster organised 'no-holds barred' fights between us. We sometimes got hurt, but generally we enjoyed it. It toughened us up and made us stand up for ourselves aginst bullies, and we learned that life was not just a bed of roses all the time. We certainly had the rough with the smooth, and my parents approved of it!
I don't really know what to think of it nowadays. It seems that boys now are wrapped in cotton wool and protected from the unsavoury side of life, and when they do come up against an aggresive situation they cant handle it.
Sorry Anji, I know this is not the type of answer you hoped to get.
Dru: Someone was writing about little girls dressed as beauty queens too. I didn't know 'This be the verse' - sums it up perfectly.We all try to do our best.
Doris: We seem to need to have laws to protect people from themselves.
Jo: You are right. I speak from the land where dwarf throwing had to be banned.
Véronique: yes, it's the audience that is the upsetting part.
Connie: I was horrified and upset when I saw it on TV
Keith: I see what you are saying. i know that boys fight each other, but in front of a bunch of drunken adults, that's what got to me.
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