In a development that would have made Gibbon revise his thesis on imperial decay, a Serbian court has sentenced the parents of last year’s school shooter to lengthy prison terms. The mother and father of the 14-year-old who murdered nine at his Belgrade school were found guilty of child neglect and illegal weapons possession. Their son, too young to face criminal charges, has been institutionalised.
The verdict is a rare moment of accountability in a continent that has become remarkably skilled at absolving itself of collective responsibility. But let us not mistake this for justice. This is a theatrical performance designed to reassure the public that the state is in control, even as the foundations of Western civilisation continue to erode.
The tragedy in Serbia is not an anomaly; it is a symptom of a broader cultural sickness that has been festering since the 1960s. We have traded the authority of the family for the tyranny of the self, and the result is a generation of adolescents who have never been told ‘no.’ The parents in this case are merely the scapegoats for a society that has abandoned its duty to instil discipline.
Europe now looks on with horror as its youth turn to violence, but this horror is self-indulgent. We ought to be asking not why these children are killing, but why we ever expected them to refrain. The answer, of course, lies in the collapse of every traditional institution: the church, the school, and above all, the family.
Until we restore those, the body count will only rise.
