I don't think that educating people about crime will prevent ALL CRIME. Just as educating people about drunk driving won't prevent idiots from getting behind the wheel three sheets to the wind, telling somebody "stealing is wrong" won't prevent ALL episodes of theft. Telling a potential rapist "rape is wrong" might not keep them from hunting victims.
What I think it would do, however, is shift focus in society--and social responsibility--onto the people who actually have the power to change. If you have power of any sort--be it the power to commit a crime or the power to decide the schedule for your workplace--and you abuse that power, you should face the concequences. A wallet left on a bus station, a woman encountered in a dark alley, these are not invitations. They are temptations to make a big mistake, and the temptation is not, I repeat, not the object's responsibility. It is yours. Your reaction. Your internal drives. Your choice.
And also? Nasty as it might sound, I suspect a lot of crime is the result of entitled ignorance. They want it, and they were never told, firmly, that taking advantage of the opportunity to have it is wrong. It is wrong. It will always be wrong. But as long as culture says taking it is okay under certain circumstances, people will continue to take advantage of those circumstances.
I also don't think that this...whatever it is I'm advocating (look, I don't even know, okay?) would happen right away. It'd be a generational thing, if it worked at all. Not us, maybe not our kids, but our grandkids.
At any rate...I survived the weekend. Hopefully I will not get called in to work tonight, and I will be done with this whole "work" thing for the duration.
Also...as per yesterday's great posting, Starbleached will be released TOMORROW, and the free coupon thing will go into play this weekend. Next Saturday. Next Sunday. FREE BOOKS! Remember this. It is the plan.
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