What would you have?

This blog is ultimately a forum of written spaces to encourage thoughts and judgements about the precinct called Kings Cross.

Hopefully there has been enough critical appraisal, personal statements and theoretical issues to wade through and contribute the forming of your personal opinion on the potential for change in Kings Cross.

The first result for the Google Image Search of Kings Cross. NB: The paddy wagon, the strip, the McDonalds. Institutional versus Cultural change.

Like all ‘problem’ or issue bedded areas across the globe that have a somewhat infamous tag, nickname or stigma, the Cross, for Sydney will no doubt carry its share of the burden and yet for that, we respect it. We respect its publicity, its opening hours, its strip. We are bombarded by the folklore around its criminality, its serious hotbed for violence, the alcohol fueled violence and drug use it incites, the state governments posterboy for political action, and interests groups from all social spectrums lobbying for something. I would really like to say ‘change’ however I use it in a very specific mode – calling for change and the potential of cultural and social shifts in planning and attitudes towards Kings Cross. Unfortunately, ‘change’ is usurped by the large interests groups of owners, clubs and other fiscal stakeholders, where ‘change’ presents a larger slice of the late night dollar and encroachments on what constitutes a ‘night out’.

I can’t argue with the place, but I can argue for the place, for the potential it possess and the iconography it so propagates.

Just because we respect it, doesn’t mean we have to like it.

 

Alcohol in the home

Paul Stanley has been on a campaign to stop binge drinking and residual violence associated with the act. Paul Stanley was faced with the terrible reality of losing his 18 year old son to a drunken assault at a party. A fatal punch was all it took for Paul’s son’s life to be cut short at the tender age of 18.

Since then, Paul has visited over 150,000 school students to educate them on the dangers of drinking and aggressive behaviour associated with binging on alcohol.

“I ask everybody in the room to close their eyes and to think about the person they know and love the most in their life,

“And it finishes with: ‘Think of that beautiful look on their face when you walked around the corner the other day and they were there, the look of happiness and the big hug you got. Now, open your eyes and just imagine that was the last time you ever saw them.'”

Stepping away from statistics and police scare tactics, emotional conditioning is perhaps a way to get through to our youth and to encourage them to drink responsibly. Kings Cross is a hotspot for binge drinking and it is time that more educational methods are in place to make sure the youth of Australia are not so thrilled at the idea of drinking in excess.

A flood of raging 18year olds into Kings Cross is hardly what is needed.

The French culture, for example, introduces alcohol to their youth at ages of 12 or even younger. This, although it might seem ludicrous at first, is allowing children to become used to the effects of alcohol. Due to age restrictions on alcohol consumption and strict rules about supplying alcohol to minors, it seems Australian laws dictate that until the day you turn 18, no alcohol should be consumed. Perhaps this is the wrong way to go about it.

If we allow our youth to experience alcohol in their homes prior to turning 18, perhaps we are reducing the risk of binge drinking and we are taking away the excitement of alcohol. This ‘off-limits’ attitude is doing more damage than good, as 18year olds are flooded the streets of Kings Cross and drinking past their limits, resulting in unnecessary violence and even leading to drug abuse.

Do you think minors should be introduced to alcohol in the home before they reach the legal drinking age?

To read more on Paul Stanley’s campaign, follow this link –> http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/national/dads-education-campaign-against-alcohol-fuelled-violence-dedicated-to-son-matthew-stanley-who-died-after-being-punched-at-18th-party-walk-away-chill-out-and-matthew-stanley-foundation/story-fndo45r1-1226435070823