Fear on the streets of Long Branch
The outpouring of grief and outrage in our Internet forums over the fatal shooting in Long Branch last week of a former star athlete at Long Branch High was gut-wrenching. I was also surprised by how many people said they were fearful of walking the streets in Long Branch at night.
The murder in Long Branch was the first in at least two years there. And the overall crime rate in the city, though relatively high, doesn't rank in the top 10 in Monmouth County. Towns like Allenhurst, Deal and Loch Arbour actually had higher crime rates than Long Branch last year.
But Long Branch does have far more than its fair share of violent crime. Last year, it had the fourth-highest rate, behind only Asbury Park, Neptune Township and Belmar. And it trailed only behind Asbury Park in the number of aggravated assaults.
Click here for the Forum's thread on the shooting. http://forums.app.com/viewtopic.php?t=677
The murder in Long Branch was the first in at least two years there. And the overall crime rate in the city, though relatively high, doesn't rank in the top 10 in Monmouth County. Towns like Allenhurst, Deal and Loch Arbour actually had higher crime rates than Long Branch last year.
But Long Branch does have far more than its fair share of violent crime. Last year, it had the fourth-highest rate, behind only Asbury Park, Neptune Township and Belmar. And it trailed only behind Asbury Park in the number of aggravated assaults.
Click here for the Forum's thread on the shooting. http://forums.app.com/viewtopic.php?t=677
posted by Randy Bergmann at 12:48 PM
2 Comments:
There hasn't been a murder in at least two years?
What about the gang murder outside the bar on Division St. this past summer?
Do your research.
After reading the forum comments, the real tragedy is shown in the mentality of the populace.
Death, for most, is horrifying, as it calls into question the individual mortality. So much more when the death is a.)"violent" and b.) the deceased is known by numbers of individuals.
The hominid, no matter how much policy or legislation is enacted, is an animal. The problem with the animal in this perspective, is cognition. The hominid can plot and conspire, beyond any other lifeform, and continually arrive at erroneous conclusions, in the process.
"Violence" is a natural act, it occurs, it will continue to occur. It may be possible to limit it to a certain extent, but not abolish it entirely.
Looking at the comments in the forum tells you why this is unlikely to change. No individual takes responsibility, personally, for any of this, in any fashion. Summarily, none. It is the "system", "the media", "the music", "the policy makers", ad infinitum, ad nauseum.
As always, the American animal woefully forgets, as in a number of other imperative perspectives, the system does not exist outside of them; they are the system.
Until this highly unlikely realisation occurs, no change will be effected, and this loss, of this type, will continue, unabated.
Absolving oneself of responsibility, delusionally, does not make the "system" responsible.
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