The Golden Mile: are we attracted to the thug life?

We’ve all seen some, if not all of the Underbelly series which gave a glimpse into life in Kings Cross in the late 80’s to the late 90’s. We watched as big name gangsters came to life on the TV screen and we were transfixed by the drama that unfolded. But is all of this completely damaging the the Cross’s reputation. As we understand it, the media paints a rather tainted image of the cross and the drug and alcohol fuelled violence which occurs week in and week out, but is this constant media presence and the glorification of the gangster/thug life making it hard for the Cross to turn the long overdue corner?

Perhaps the media and the glamourous life of television is standing in the way of Kings Cross moving away from the thug lifestyle. After watching the video above I was blown away by the type of comments young YouTube users were posting and I couldn’t help but think that this television drama made the Cross appealing for all the wrong reasons and is the main standstill for change when it comes to cleaning up the streets of Kings Cross.

YouTube user comments on the Underbelly 3 fight scene with Danny

Are we enticing our youth into the Kings Cross strip with drugs and alcohol? ‘Monkey see as Monkey do’ – This is a continuous ripple effect throughout the generations and will continue to be a drug and alcohol hub unless we can change that train of thought. The above comments showcase that thug mentality – where the youth are in awe of gangsters and thugs thinking that they are ‘cool’ and that drinking and fighting in bars and clubs shows just how tough they really are. “Wata maad cunttt” – aside from grammar and spelling being uncool, it seems that our impressionable youth are more and more eager to jump on the alcohol and violence band wagon and run riot through Kings Cross. It’s time for change people!!! Let’s clean up Kings Cross.

La Ramblas, Barcelona and Kings Cross (Part Two)

After many long-winded conversations with friends about the places that should inspire change within Kings Cross I have come up with a list.

Below are the top 4 places that should enlist change within Kings Cross to diversify cultural activities and to reduce the risks of drug and alcohol fuelled violence within the area.

Number One:

Union Street, San Francisco!

Union Street, San Francisco

Union Street is notorious for its nightlife in San Francisco. It is not only  hot spot at night, but also during the day much unlike Kings Cross. The need for cultural diversity in terms of mixed-use neighborhoods is dire. Union Street features a large range of cafes, restaurants, street markets and shopping as well as night clubs and other nightlife venues – a must for Kings Cross to disperse the drunk and disorderly crowds.

Number Two:

Carnaby Street, Soho, London

Carnaby Street, London

The shopping hot spot for London has expanded into the ‘it’ place for drinks and dinner. Although the street itself is packed with shops and boutiques, there are a large amount of pubs, clubs and restaurants and bars that sit in the streets which run off the main drag. Carnaby Street has a large nightlife but the culture within the area is vastly different to the drinking culture within the Cross. Another example of how the strip can be changed due to infiltration of alternative activities into a binge-drinking hub.

Number Three:

La Ramblas, Barcelona

La Ramblas, Barcelona

As mentioned in my previous post, La Ramblas Barcelona is an all pedestrian area filled to the brim with nightlife, street markets, restaurants, shopping districts and masses of other activities. You’d think the council would get the picture by now? Kings Cross needs a change in lifestyle!

Number Four:

Manly Corso, Manly

Manly Corso, Manly

A local favourite. Not too few years ago the Corso encountered it’s problems. Manly, although similar to other examples of lively daytime activities, does present itself in a similar fashion to Kings Cross Nightlife. Recently an influx of small bars and restaurants have managed to keep the raucous activities of the drunk and disorderly to a minimum and assault and violent acts have drastically reduced due to this shift, as well as due to an increased police presence.

Should band-aid solutions be tossed out the door? We need to focus on long term solutions like a cultural shift and we need to start acting now! What are your thoughts?

Making It Stop? (Part Two)

The issue of alcohol-fuelled violence has been saturating the media as of late. SBS had an amazing episode of Insight at the end of August called Punch Drunk where they interviewed not only parents of people who had been attacked but husbands and wives whose partners had been attacked, and the victims themselves. It was a powerful albeit hard to watch episode. A member of the audience John Crozier who is a trauma surgeon summed up the problem using the analogy of fire:

“To start a fire you need fuel, oxygen and something to ignite it. Common to what we’ve heard here, it’s been a pretty minor trigger. You have to ask, well, what has fuelled all of this? And as Chris was describing, drinking 12 stubies of beer, I was thinking there is no way I could still be standing if I drank that amount of beer. That’s 36 standard drinks of alcohol. And we know, we know that 12 to 17-year-old boys in Victoria are drinking on average a 20-standard drink session at least once a month”.

Andrew Macready-Bryan, whose son was needlessly bashed on his 20^th birthday, gave a chilling account of the ordeal his family go through on a daily basis. When asked what his son’s quality of life is like today this is how he answered:

“He has none. He is fed through a tube. He has got no control. He can’t speak. He is blind. Limited hearing. Can’t move a muscle in his body. He is constantly in pain. He is incontinent. No life.”

 Maybe we need to look to the parents or maybe we need to look to their parents’ parents. Or maybe, as Macready-Bryan said we need to look at the society as a whole that has bred this type of culture. Macready-Bryan bravely spoke about his feelings towards his son’s attacker saying that

“He was the victim of violence himself and so I can’t really blame him as a person. But I really do blame our society for creating people like that. I just hope that Daniel – if you’re listening that you can turn your life around and realise that it’s not too late. You can make a fresh start to try and make up for some of this”.

It was a simply heartbreaking episode and I encourage all who are interested in this topic to try and watch it if you can.

What we are arguing for here is social change. On Friday and Saturday nights there isn’t really anything open except venues that advocate drinking and a lot of the time it’s heavy drinking. We want to see more constructive night spaces that give people more options for late night activities. These include later opening hours for galleries, cafes and restaurants, late night film and play viewings, late night shopping, creative workshops and night markets to name but a few. Obviously, change wont happen over night but eventually people, especially youth, wont see drinking alcohol as their only option for weekend entertainment and maybe, just maybe we will see social change.

Are we being too optimistic? Let us know what you think.

Making It Stop? (Part One)

I’m not so sure about the name of the Sunday Telegraph’s article in Sunday’s paper addressing the News Ltd. Campaign against senseless violence. Are they really making it stop? It sounds all too similar to the ridiculous Stop The Trolls campaign the Telegraph launched some time last week.

The article made these young men out to be ‘monsters and violent thugs who hide in dark corners like trapdoor spiders, striking out and killing innocent people for no reason’. Really? Really?! I’m in NO way saying that these young men (and occasionally women) who incite violence are misunderstood angels, but as the article contradictorily states earlier in the piece, these young men and women a lot of the time don’t mean to cause the devastation they do. Sure, there is no denying that a small percentage of these violent attacks are caused by cruel, sick individuals but the majority of these attacks are caused by young men between the ages of 18-23 between the hours of midnight and 4am on Saturday and Sunday mornings (LINK). Must I spell it out? It’s A.L.C.O.H.O.L. These young men are still rapidly developing their neural pathways and by consuming copious amounts of alcohol their moral compasses go right out the window and their testosterone and fists unfortunately do most of the talking.

We need to take a closer look at the society that is breeding this type of violet culture. I agree with the former attorney general of Western Australia, Jim McGinty in saying that we need to “educate a whole generation”. We need to work together to change this culture of drinking and drinking to dangerous levels. We need to stop the culture of heavy alcohol consumption in and around sporting clubs. I know from first hand experience that a lot of sporting clubs in country areas of Australia reward good efforts form players with slabs of alcohol. ‘ Mate, if you play a good game the slab’s yours’.

The Morning Show on channel 7 had Luke McIlveen , web editor of News.com.au  to talk about the Real Heroes Walk Away campaign and he linked the sharp rise in violent attacks among young men in Australia to football. I find this hard to swallow. I believe that if you take away football the violence will still exist. With contact sport comes a culture of drinking and with this culture of drinking comes a culture of violence but there is a big difference between correlation and causation and I think we need to be very careful not to confuse the two, as I believe McIlveen has.

We are not alone in this battle. Every state in Australia has this problem as does many other countries around the world like the UK and South Korea. As an article from the Daily Mail shows how alcohol around the world turns our young, innocent and even ‘high flying students’ into ‘barbarians’.

To be continued… but as always leave your thoughts about the Real Heroes Walk Away campaign or join the discussion on Twitter– #heroeswalkaway #kingsxchange