Rebels without a cause: National Day chaos

Rebel without a cause was a 1955 American movie, starring James Dean, about a group of emotionally confused teenagers full of angst, and who did not find the right kind of love and support from their families and society. This led them to rebel and do dangerous deeds that got them into deep trouble with the law and their parents.
I was reminded by that movie while watching pictures and videos of the recent riots and chaotic celebrations caused by young Saudi youths on the 82nd National Day holiday, which was supposed to be a time for innocent joy and peaceful expression of patriotism.
Numerous car accidents; long traffic jams, road blockage; acts of petty theft and vandalism, deliberate sabotage of public property; and worst of all, are the many young children and teens who were seriously injured by totally reckless and dangerous drivers. All that mayhem occurred during that one night by people who are supposed to be celebrating their country’s National Day.
The most convenient thing to do while observing this horrible and disturbing behavior was to condemn the youth who performed these mindless acts, and blame the authorities for neglecting to provide more security and better traffic control on the streets.
Some people even went as far as to blame the National Day as a direct cause for these incidents and have asked that the National Day celebrations be totally banned from now on.
What we really need is a deeper understanding of the root causes that lead to such unacceptable behavior. It is not enough to just put the blame on young people’s violent and chaotic behavioral traits. We should take a closer look at our educational system that should provide our youth with the basic behavioral principles of conduct in public.
The real question is, does society provide enough support for young people, who represent two thirds of its population, in ways that facilitate good use of their free time? And are there suitable facilities available where Saudi youth can utilize and let loose their repressed energy in a healthy way?
It is blatantly clear that neglecting and overlooking the basic needs of youth would only result in a chaotic and disordered scenario as the one we had witnessed during this year’s National Day holiday. The belief that youth’s violence would be controlled by simply applying more forceful security measures, would just stifle the youth even more, and delay confronting the real problems facing the younger generations of our society.

— msalsaif@hotmail.com 
A tweet: “There is a subconscious way of taking violence as a way of expression, as a normality, and it has a lot of effects in the youth in the way they absorb education and what they hope to get out of life.” — Salma Hayek