YOB TUBE

The front page of today’s Shields Gazette creates a pretty depressing spectacle. A couple of days ago I posted on the use of mobile phone images and crime prevention, especially with regard to the recent terrorist attacks in London and Glasgow. I qualified their use by warning that such practises could also lead to a more disreputable use of this form of technology. Low and behold, David MacLean of the Gazette has unearthed one of the most disgusting examples of the practise of creating instant “fame”. With the headline “Knuckle Heads”, his article describes how two men have been filmed having a bare knuckle fight, egged on by a crowd of up to 20 people, many of them teenagers and children. Seven minutes of the phone footage have been placed on you’ve guessed it, “You Tube”. With 200 hits so far, you can bet that the two fighters shown are now local heroes, adored by easily impressed youths who now think that this is an acceptable way to behave. As most young people have mobile phones with camera and video facilities, further examples of this type of behaviour will be forthcoming. However, once they become immune to this level of violence, what will be next? I fear that it will not be long before someone films and publicizes an actual murder or a beating that leads to death. Whilst I do use You Tube myself (what an archive of sixties music clips!) it is in danger of turning into “Yob Tube”, with more extreme footage being posted every week.

The danger with this type of news item is that it can make you pretty pessimistic when it comes to young people and teenagers in general. The two fighters shown are clearly either in their late teens or very early twenty’s. Those watching are younger, some children. However, stick with the paper and read about the Young Firefighters Association, whose Hebburn Branch put on a display for South Tyneside Councillors. Instead of wandering around back streets setting fire to people’s wheelie bins and cars, these youngsters, male and female, are learning how to put them out! Up and down this Borough, kids like these whether they be in sports clubs, community associations or school run programmes, are bucking the trend and showing us that despite the idiots with the phones who want instant fame through the glorification of violence, some young people do have dignity and respect. Here lies the regions future, and here lies its prosperity!