What I Think Is Wrong with America...(or some of what is wrong with America)

Unless you were living under a rock this past week, you had to see all over social media, the TV news and other media outlets that Justin Bieber was arrested for drag racing, DUI, resisting arrest without violence, and driving with an expired driver's license. There's also other reports of stuff going on with him. A few months ago, your Facebook feed was filled with cracks (no pun intended) at Miley Cyrus, memes depicting her "twerking" on Beetlejuice, etc. When she performed on the Rockin' New Year's Eve show I was afraid to let my children watch but she was a "good girl" and kept it clean. Over the past few years celebrities like Justin, Miley, Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, (and I could go on and on) and their law breaking antics have filled newsfeeds, gotten millions of Tweets and memes, only to be forgotten within a months time. In two years we won't even remember who they were much less what they did.

So what's wrong with America, you ask? Media is over sensationalizing these celebrities. Have you noticed that these people drop down a bit in popularity and then the next thing you know they show back up in handcuffs. Why? Because they know that's going to get their names out there again and whether it's good or bad publicity, their names are on the lips of every person in America, if not the world.

What I think we need to do about this is just stop giving them that attention. Stop clicking on the news stories about these negative icons that are influencing the next generation. Let them just do what they do and not give two $hits about it.

AND what we should do is start drawing more attention to stuff like the California teen, Audrie Pott, who was raped by 3 teens, had pictures of the assault passed around to classmates through text, and then committed suicide because she said "My life is over, I have a reputation for a night I don't even remember, and the whole school knows."  

How sad is it that this beautiful young lady, who had so much going for her before this horrific night, felt that she had to end her life because of what those monsters did to her.

I also feel that the world is a lot different than when you and I were growing up that you literally have to tell kids that this (insert heinous crime here) is wrong. You can't just expect them to know. I'm not sure what it is that has changed so much with the human mind over the years but it has. I know that things like what happened to Audrie are wrong. You know it too. Most people of our and earlier generations know this. The only people who (and I'm not saying it's right) don't clearly know this have a mental illness (and I'll get to that in a moment too) People (not all of them) of younger generations for some reason do not have that app installed in their brains that tells them "hey, I shouldn't do it that. It's wrong!" Could it be that is caused by parents being afraid to discipline their kids? I'm not sure but something has changed.

Mental Illness. It's out there. According to the NAMI-GC, globally, 1 in 4 people have some form of mental disorder. Mental illness is not prejudiced. It affects men, women, children, and all races. There's not enough funding, government or private, to take care of these people. It's like one of those things where the powers that be think that if they ignore it long enough, it will go away. It's not going away and these people need help. So many times you hear on the news when something bad happens, "they had a history of mental illness". Oh yeah? Then why hasn't someone bothered to help this person? Why don't the family care enough to make sure this person gets help or at least isn't on the streets doing bad things? Because people don't care about other people. People are too self absorbed. Seriously.

I could go on and on about what's wrong with America...or actually the world but does anyone really care? Probably not but I hope you do.

Happy Sunday!