Crime in the age of the selfie
It is becoming increasingly common for sex offenders to film their crimes and post them on social media. Back in 2017, criminologists Sveinung Sandberg and Thomas Ugelwick published an article “Why do criminals write down their crimes? Crime and Punishment in the Age of the Selfie,” in which they wrote: “At first glance, a criminal recording his crimes seems illogical and counterproductive. After all, when criminals use their video cameras, they may inadvertently contribute to their own capture and conviction. ... Nevertheless, ... despite the apparent lack of logic, it is becoming more and more common .
Since then, the phenomenon has worsened. Trying to understand its causes, Sandberg and Ugelwick write: “When criminals reach for their cells, it is a socially and culturally ingrained choice. In short, …these offenses must be understood in the context of (1) the sexualization and pornography of society, (2) the new culture of online humiliation, and (3) the culture of snapshots fueled by new technologies.”
These reasons may motivate offenders to document sexual crimes.
The problem of the education system
There is a deeper and more pernicious reason: the offenders do not view these acts as crimes at all. They don't see anything wrong with what they do.
To make matters worse, even the older generation doesn't consider sex crimes as horrific as society usually perceives them to be. For the most part, the attitude is: “It happens, they are children, what do you want?” Of course, no one says this, but this is a hidden trend.
So the problem is not the criminals, but the society. When the education system is completely focused on remembering information and does not devote any time to building healthy social relationships, the current situation is the only possible outcome.
We need to rethink how we look at education. We need to put human relationships - the ability to function as constructive, positive elements in society - at the top of the ladder. If this issue is left unaddressed, the situation will worsen to such an extent that we will not dare to leave the threshold of our own house.
The problem of selfishness
Human selfishness destroys all the good that remains on this planet, and we worry about everything except our own behavior. Even if there were some benefit in solving environmental problems, our ego would not allow us to implement any solution if it required the slightest unpleasant change in selfish behavior. In fact, that is exactly what is happening today.
It is not air pollution that poisons us and it is not covid or hunger that kills us. All the blame lies with what is behind all of them, what causes all these disasters. Our only enemy is selfishness, and the only way to fix it is to teach the society of mutual responsibility and mutual care for every person on the planet.
The world has dealt with each problem in turn, and none of them has been solved. None. Some problems may have subsided a little, but they will soon return with a vengeance.
It's time to deal with the root cause of all these problems, our own ego , and solve it once and for all. Until we admit that we are our own worst enemies, that we ourselves create all the problems with which we are trying to fight, our civilization will not be cured. If we understand what the problem is and agree to work together, we will have a chance to fight and win in it.
