SimonF Posted January 29, 2013 Posted January 29, 2013 A charity which aims to turn off-the-rails youths into law-abiding men is on a £500,000 funding quest. A Band of Brothers has won praise from police and probation services for its impact on prolific offenders in Brighton and Hove. Now it wants to build a permanent centre to offer the rites-of-passage mentoring which underpins its approach. A Band of Brothers is made up of adult volunteers who aim to provide offenders who have no male role models, stable family background or role in society with a sense of admission into adult life. http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/10188453.Band_of_Brothers_want_a_home_after_changing_Brighton_men_s_lives/
Magnus Posted January 29, 2013 Posted January 29, 2013 I remember seeing a nature show on TV many years ago about elephants, which are remarkably intelligent, social and sophisticated herd animals. It showed how the older males were removed from a group, and how the younger males essentially went insane -- ripping up trees for no reason, attacking other members of their families, and eventually being so aggressive and violent and destructive that they had to be put down, or made to live apart from the (now female-dominant) herd. It was amazing to see, because when we're talking about elephants, and you strip away all the expectations and bullshit that clouds the issue when dealing with human society, it was obvious to expert elephant-caretakers that the older males were controlling the younger males. The adults would suppress the adolescents when they got too violent. It was how the herd was regulated -- adolescents that constantly pushed the limits of aggression, and the older males that were there to inhibit that behavior and keep a lid on it.
Dave Bockman Posted January 29, 2013 Posted January 29, 2013 Respectfully, couldn't they have just missed the connection with their male parent?
SimonF Posted January 29, 2013 Author Posted January 29, 2013 Respectfully, couldn't they have just missed the connection with their male parent? Yes, the boys they deal with have lacked a positive father figure.
MysterionMuffles Posted March 11, 2013 Posted March 11, 2013 That elephant story kind of wine something in me. Maybe it's true that we are all born violent, but perhaps it's the caretakers job to reason that aggression out... All until of course future generations naturally evolve to be less aggressive as the last. Not more so as some cultures tend to create. But yeah I would love to know more about examples taken from animals and how role model dynamics between them parallel that of the dynamics of humans.
Recommended Posts