‘Roast Busters’ is a name for a group of young men in New Zealand who have shocked a nation. It should not have come as a surprise for New Zealanders that this group was operating in such a manner. They are sexual predators, plain and simple and their actions re enticing under-age girls for sex, then putting videos online; boasting of their activities is despicable. What should come as no surprise is that this ‘boasting’ after the event has gone on for many years. It seems that the only thing that has changed about ‘young and not so young) men’s’ behaviours is that it is so much easier now to reach a wider audience. This in turn encourages others to ‘copycat’ the actions of this ill-informed and criminal behaviour.
That one of the young men has been fired from his job, is just the beginning of the public back-lash. Before people go too far in their responses, I would say, ‘take a bigger look at what is happening’ in society in general. All the work of the last few decades feels like it has come to naught, when we consider how people behave towards those less powerful and more vulnerable.
It is right that we all take a look at ourselves and check to see if we are missing something in the way we bring up our boys. What sort of examples do we give when it comes to bullying of all types? How much time do we put in to monitoring the behaviours of our children online and how they behave, when we are not around? These boys are the product of the failings of us all, including the images that portray some of their activities as normal and in the examples that movies, games and other media versions of how we ‘can’ behave, are continually thrust in front of impressionable young people.
We must care more about the way we bring up our kids. The most important gifts we can give our young people are time and love.
Now, we need to look at this group, stop their activities and engage with them. We do not want to have a round of retribution that makes for another group of ‘victims, but they must be held accountable for their actions, in an appropriate manner, not in some vigilante actions that the NZ Herald reported as a possibility this morning, in the form of revenge from ‘gangs.’ ‘They’ hardly hold the high moral ground!
