Drunken violence

[david51058]

It does seem that this country is getting more violent. When I was young and on the town drinking and there was a scrap between two lads, that's all it was, a few punches thrown then that was it. They may even bump into each other later on and have a drink together, no hard feelings.
Now if some poor unfortunate so much as looks at someone the wrong way, then a gang decends upon them and proceeds to stamp on their head and kick it like a football until they are in a coma or dead. Why? Where has all this anger and hate come from?

[ummmm]

It never happened in the 80's or anything.

[Sqad]

david.......please no..........JTH will come along with Hogarth´s engraving of Gin Lane and I cannot stand another dose of that just before the weekend.

[Old_Geezer]

It's a good question. Maybe it the things we eat, maybe chemicals in the environment, or polution. Maybe it's deteriorating discipline whilst growing up. Maybe life is more stressful although it is difficult to believe. I blame Margaret Thatcher, it's usually her.

[ummmm]

Drink is not cheap now....

[karenmac60]

I have a very long boring theory on this about the emasculation of men (particularly young, unemployed men). When men were doing hard physical jobs they had a sense of pride and were physically worn out - now they have low self esteem and a lot of pent up energy and aggression at the world. Add a few drinks to that and someone who says something that confirms their low opinion of themselves and it adds up to drunken violence. Never having been either a man or unemployed I am probably talking utter mince however :)

[jackthehat]

For you, sqad..............enjoy.............

http://upload.wikimed...reet-and-Gin-lane.jpg

[Sqad]

JTH....LOL

[ummmm]

I blame TV.

[Postdog]

I agree, but even though Denis liked a drink you never saw him squaring up to anyone

[andy-hughes]

It's no one effect, it's a combination of some obvious and some subtle changes in society.

The more obvious ones are the availability of cheap alcohol, coupled with the cultural perception that to give oneself alcohol poisoning (trolleyed / hammered / mullered ... ad nauseum) is the definition of a good time.

That combined with an overall lack of self-discipline in society in general, and an increasingly inflated feeling of self-importance means that tolerence levels are very llow, and violence is accordingly higher.

[ummmm]

(trolleyed / hammered / mullered ... ad nauseum)

That happened years and years back Andy....

My Grandads first pub in Northampton was The Queens on the market Square....on his very first day he had to get the guard dogs out 3 times to split up fights...this was in the 60's.

[david51058]

I cant agree that cheap drink is to blame, people have always got drunk. One difference i have noticed is that young people go out just to get absolutely plastered and fall over, that is their sole aim, nothing else. Lads in my day used to have a few drinks to give them a bit of dutch courage to 'pull', that was the number one priority. They dont seem bothered about that now, i find it strange.

[ummmm]

'Some' young people David....some!

[steg]

when i was young there was gangs of mods, punks, skinheads, rockers etc. Getting from one end of town to the other at night without getting into a scrap was virtually impossible. Nowadays it is no problem, most are to fecked to fight

[ummmm]

I think people can only look back with rose tinted specs....

I think I watched a fight more or less every weekend. Jackthehat lived opposite me....I think she remembers it as well..

[Sqad]

The situation is quite simply explained..........ask your GP if the Casualty Dept was the same as it was in the 50´s and 60´s and you will get your answer. Weekends in Casualty Depts throughout the UK is a total nightmare and an unsustainable burden on the NHS, compared to the activities in Casualty in the 50´s and 60´s.

As Andy has said, the reasons are multi factorial.

[DEN53]

I don't think its got worse, its just reported more in the media. The only difference now, is, fights seem to escalate into using knives or guns. I think there has always been nutters about who will start a fight from nothing and there always will be.