The following article is written by Beth Stein, a member of the Ethical Culture Society of Bergen County. It is presented as part of our Members Forum series. We welcome all comments and hope that this article and other articles in this series will stimulate a lively dialog among members and friends.
Although I am not a big fan of TV, I always look forward to sitting down for “60 Minutes” every Sunday night. Last night however, I saw something truly appalling and it wasn’t the war in Iraq, terrorism or global warming, but something much more insidious. I am referring to the segment about a new trend in crime – beating up on the homeless.
In this shocking piece, which I am sure many of you saw, Ed Bradley interviews one of three teenage boys, now in prison, responsible for the beating and killing of a homeless man, whom they discovered living in the woods near their homes.
When asked why they did this, the teen replied, “I don’t know …it was exciting …it was fun”.
More disturbing, according to this story, has been the recent rise in this type of crime against the homeless, who are often attacked when they are asleep and at their most vulnerable.
According to “60 Minutes,” one of the possible causes for the increase in these crimes has been linked to a series of DVDs called “Bumfights,” produced by a 23-year old “entrepreneur” with a video camera who persuades homeless people to do all sorts of harmful and humiliating things on camera for five dollars or a six-pack of beer. When interviewed by Ed Bradley, this young film-maker, who shockingly has earned over $1 million in profits from this series, seemed to have little regret. Yes, he agreed, it is degrading to homeless people, but he said he did not put a gun to anyone’s head to be in the film. The “bums” are plentiful and willing to do just about anything for a little alcohol and people think it’s pretty entertaining, so what’s wrong with that?, he argued. But no, he denied that his films were responsible for the recent outbreak of attacks on homeless people by young men across the country.
After my initial repugnance settled a bit, I kept replaying in my mind all that I had just viewed and came to the conclusion that perhaps I agreed with the film-maker in that “Bumfights” was not the cause of these crimes but only a symptom of the very sick society in which we live today. While I am sure that these films may have provided the impetus in some cases, it is the fact that so many copies of them were sold in the first place that speaks volumes to me.
Because Mr. Bradley did not give us any insight into the backgrounds of the teenagers who committed the crime shown, one can only make suppositions as to the kind of family environments in which they were raised. Furthermore, in a world where war and terrorism and the killing of innocent people are daily fare, it is not a huge leap to see where a random act of violence against an “insignificant bum” fits onto the plate.
All of this made me keep thinking about Ethical Culture, our Sunday school and how our children are being raised. How I can feel good about knowing that these children are being raised to value human life. How a sense of connectedness and community is encouraged in a world where kids spend so much time on the computer or in front of a TV that they don’t know even know how to play together much less talk to each other. How extra-curricular activities include feeding the homeless, not beating them.
In short, I can only say that our Sunday School students give me some comfort and hope for the future of a society that is in great need of more humanists.
It reaffirms my belief that joining our Society was the best gift I could give to my child — and the world — and hope that we will be successful in getting others to join us as we strive to make this a better place for all of us.
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