I was having a conversation with a friend and the topic of the assault and rape at Richmond High School came up; it's been all over the news and its gone national too. http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/10/27/california.gang.rape.investigation/index.html

There's something so wrong about it that extends way beyond the fact that a 15-year old girl was raped and assaulted. I realize that I'm not as old or as experienced with the workings of the world as some others are, and I can't really put a finger on what the central cause is, but there are so many things that don't seem to make sense.

First off, she was peer pressured into drinking alcohol. Ok, maybe she agreed to drink, but my issue is this, why is it socially acceptable teenage behavior to drink and get wasted? From what I can tell from watching my friends while their inebriated, there are no significant advantages to being piss-drunk; they just act like dumbasses and do stupid crap. There's something wrong when teenagers can get away with messing up each others lives by saying "Oh I was drunk." As mature as we think we may be, I don't believe that drinking to get drunk is very responsible, especially at our age.

Secondly, why didn't anyone do anything? My economics teacher brought up this psychological phenomenon as the "bystander effect." The more people there are around during an emergency situation, the less likely someone is to do something about it. I feel like its true, but seriously? Ok, the more people there are, the more likely you're going to think that someone else is going to call 911, but why not just do it yourself? If someone there thought that it was wrong, then why didn't they call for help? I really would hope that someone there thought it was wrong, because if everyone there was enjoying it then that would be even worse.

Snitchers. No one likes a snitcher, "snitches get stitches." as most people I know say. I would have to say that I don't like snitchers either, but during a lot of the discussions in class about the event, everyone always brought up the topic about snitching. "No one wanted to be deemed a snitcher." That is the most bullshit argument, even if it may have been the case, along with a lot of the other scenarios. But really? Since when was telling the truth wrong? Morally, what happened to that girl was in negative infinity territory on the morality scale, but it would seem that reputation and self-protection trump morals.

My friend told me the story about a party where alcohol (of course) was involved. A guy asks another young man to drink a drink with a pill in it. The young man dies. What happens next? The party continues, the basic attitude of the people there: "Oh shit a guy died? That sucks....party on!" My friend heard about who offered the young man the drink and who wanted him to experiment using the pill in the drink. She heard the name of who killed the dude, so obviously people who were there knew. But was it reported? Nope, people were too busy getting shitfaced that they couldn't acknowledge that someone there had killed another person in their attempt to see what could get them more shitfaced.

I know I'm a hypocrite. I speak critically of those people who watched a crime being committed and failed to act while I am one of those people who go to parties and watch people underage drink, smoke illegal drugs- and then do nothing about it. What then allows me to look at them and not call them out on it. I think its because I see it as a part of high school culture now. As apathetic as it seems, its true. I've become so accustomed to it that seeing people get drunk doesn't evoke that feeling of "this is a crime." However, I still get that feeling that something is wrong but I can't seem to put my finger on what it is exactly.

There's something wrong with the generation I'm a part of. We're so "go with the flow" when it comes to so many things. A lot of the activities people participate in, both legal and illegal are because "it's fun" or "it would be hella funny" or something that is on the line of hedonism. I hate to admit it, but we are a "me" generation. What matters most is what satisfies ourselves rather than what is right or proper or better for everyone.

At this point, I question where this is going. I have this inner feeling of disappointment in what my generation is, but I'm having trouble verbalizing it. It simply comes out as a stream of feelings, ideas and sentiments about a world where it takes the rape and assault of 15 year old girl to bring to light the issues that are hidden in the shadows of peoples' lives.