I watched a show last night that features a Colorado detective, Lt. Joe Kenda, who solved 400 homicides in his career. The story was about a 17 year old boy who had a dream to be a boxer. He was a health nut, worked out constantly, didn't drink and didn't do drugs. But he wanted to go to college, and the only way he knew (he thought) to get the money was sell drugs. He sold about $800 worth of drugs (cocaine) a week which, according to Lt. Kenda, was "definitely small time". (Yes, it was an incredibly foolish thing to do.)K.Mooneyham wrote:I've agreed with you much of the time, baldeagle. However, with this stuff, I disagree with two caveats. The first is that IMHO, drugs are gang-related. Not saying there aren't individuals who grow weed and sell it, or cook up the occasional batch of something in the garage, but most drugs are pushed by gangs of one sort or another. The second caveat is that Hollywood and their pals manipulate almost everything seen on television. No matter how realistic (even something that actually happened) is shown on TV, you can bet it was edited to get a specific effect or to prove a specific point. Even the angle of a camera can dramatically change how people see an event. Yes, Hollywood likes money, and yes, they need ratings to get it...but they also have an agenda, and that agenda usually runs counter to the daily life of the average American citizen. If the gangs in this nation could somehow be broken, violent crimes would plummet overnight, I am convinced of that. Not be eliminated, but reduced substantially.
One night he was partying with friends, at their house, and they all fell asleep. While he was sleeping his friends tried to take some of his cocaine, because they wanted more. He woke up, a fight started, and they beat and stabbed him to death.
Stories like that are told on the First 48 time after time after time. No gangs involved - in the homicide. They never revealed where he got the drugs, and I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if it was from a gang, but the gang is only tangentially related to the homicide.
So your point is correct in that gangs are the genesis of a lot of crime. However, the idea that we get from tv that they are driving around doing drive-bys and constantly shooting each other and other people isn't as true as the reporters want you to think it is. After all, if you watch tv you'd think crime is epidemic in America today. Yet the truth is that homicides are down about 45% from 20 years ago, and our population has exploded. Violent crime in general is down. Reality is not journalists' strong point. Sensationalism is.