The tragic tale of Vincent, a young man groomed by a middle-aged couple who systematically undermined his self-worth, is more than a crime story. It is a parable of our times. Vincent’s parents, we are told, ‘never say he’s good enough.’ This is the rot at the heart of modernity: the relentless pressure to achieve, to conform, to be ‘excellent’ in every measurable way. We have replaced the stiff upper lip with the anxious frown of perpetual inadequacy.
Consider the Victorians. They raised children with a blend of discipline and neglect that, while harsh, at least left room for authentic character to form. A boy who failed at classics was sent to the church; a girl who could not sew was married off to a farmer. There was no endless treadmill of self-improvement, no online gallery of curated perfection. Instead, there was a stark, unvarnished reality. And yes, it produced its own pathologies, but it also produced resilience.
Today, we have created a world where parents, terrified of their children’s failure, become the first groomers. They teach the child that love is contingent on performance. Enter the predators: the middle-aged couple who offered Vincent the unconditional acceptance his parents denied him. They exploited a vacuum created by a culture that worships achievement but starves the soul. This is not an isolated incident; it is the logical endpoint of a society that has traded character for credentials.
We must ask: what kind of civilisation produces parents who cannot say ‘well done’? A civilisation that has lost its moral compass, that confuses high achievement with human worth. The Fall of Rome was not caused by barbarians at the gate but by a decadent elite that forgot how to praise simple virtue. We are there now. Vincent’s story is a warning: fix the family, or prepare for more such tragedies.
