The Knockout Game

"I have looked at this from many angles, and each time it makes no sense to me..."

In case you have missed it, our country has recently taken another huge step backwards on the evolutionary scale. We continue to devolve. We are becoming worse than we were in the "wild west" - at least then there was honor. No, the Knockout Game has shown us an entirely new class of thuggery which is now stalking our land.

So what exactly is the Knockout Game? It is simply this - try and "sucker punch" someone so hard, they will be knocked out with that single punch. Sounds like good entertainment. That is, unless you are on the receiving end. Who is getting punched? Young, old, male and female. In some cases it has been deadly where the victim has suffered a severe head injury and died. Oh well - it is just part of the game.

Some think this could be stopped by a few conceal carry permit holders taking a few game players down. Others say they understand the "rage" in the community, and you can't really blame the "game players". Still others think this is the start of the insurrection we have been warned about. I have a slightly different take on this.

I believe it to be three factors - boredom, hopelessness, and most of all, a lack of moral compass. First boredom. Years ago they caught some young butt head who was driving up on people's lawns doing all kinds of damage. When interviewed and asked why he did it, the response was "I dunno - something to do I guess." In other words, he was bored and could not figure something out POSITIVE to do with himself. So he turned to vandalism.

Hopelessness. One of the statistics which the media has done an excellent job of hiding is the unemployment amongst our youth. The U3 unemployment rate for youths ages 16 - 24 is almost 17%.  The July 2013 labor force participation rate for 16- to 24-year-old men was 62.7 percent. What does that mean? In the 1980's, the labor participation rate for young men that age group was in the mid-eighties. And it is getting worse every year. We are getting closer to Europe, where some countries have youth unemployment of 50%. However according to the BLS in August of this year, if you are a black youth in that age group, the unemployment rate is almost 55%. No hope often times yields hopelessness.

Lack of moral compass. This is the toughest one. Many of these youth come from broken or dysfunctional homes. What was once rare in our country, is now all too common. I am talking about out of wedlock births. This is high for all races in our country, but for blacks it is devastating. In 2010, the birthrate for young single black woman was 72%. That is three times higher than it was when MLK was alive - and it was considered a huge problem back then. Many of these young women end up raising young children while trying to be mother and father at the same time. Poverty often goes hand in hand with the family. The result is often times tragic for the young family with the streets being the only victor.

As President Obama's former pastor has said "America's chickens have come home to roost". By lack of courage, we have allowed this problem to fester and grow. I am afraid the Knockout Game is not the net result of this neglect, but only the first symptom. Where we go from here, I don't know. However, I think it is going to be a rough ride for most of us.