Ignorant and Oblivious

Today is not a very fantastic day for me amidst of chaotic spreadsheets and workings on my laptop. So, I ended my day with a migraine caused by stress because apprently the migraine quickly dissolved after 1 bowl of Laksa from Toast Box made its way from my throat down to my stomach.
So there I was on the MRT going home and the migraine ticked off again. In front of me, there were 2 teenagers (from now on, let's call them Kutu A and Kutu B) sitting. Kutu A was playing with his cellphone and Kutu B was with her PSP. In front of them standing a 6-month-old pregnant lady with a bulging stomach. Both Kutus raised their head up every now and then but yet, decided that their a$$ was more important than the pregnant lady and Kutu B was sitting on the 'PRIORITY' seat! The pregnant lady was too nice for not scolding them and there I was, ticked by migraine, tried my best not to explode at the Kutus' ignorance and act blur attitude. Did occur to me to smack the Kutu B's head for laughing and smirking with Kutu A. Come on, if you want to be bloody ignorant, don't sit on the 'PRIORITY' seat!!! There's a purpose why SMRT spent money plastering the word PRIORITY on those seats.
I wonder what kind of generation they will grow up into. No courtesy, no compassion, and certainly no kindness. For me, I would give way to those wrinkly aunties and uncles because I've seen and been grateful for those people who gave their seats to my dad. A simple gesture, yet for those who need it, it's a big help. And yet, those Kutus (now in general) usually either pretend busy with their PSP, Ipod, cellphone or whatever other gadgets they have in their over-sized bag, or simply pretend to sleep to ignore other people around them. And those who end up giving their seats are the similarly elderly people who might be easier to get tired from standing at the MRT than those Kutus. Off course, I also have seen those nice Kutus who vigilantly aware of those who need the seats more than them, but the ratio is just too small!
The question now goes down to: Why the Kutus act like that? This morning I read an article that its main message was we should not spanking our children, just a gentle spank on the hand will do. Spanking leave bad memories (Off course it leaves bad memory, that's what it supposed to do, to remind you that doing wrong and hurtful things hurts you back!!!) and it makes kids become rebellious and resentful in the future (I've seen the kids got battered during their childhood simply grew up to be much better than their parents, so those who had gone wrong lays with the kid itself, not in the teaching method). The more I read the article, my mind bubble of 'WTF??!!!' gets bigger and bigger. No wonder kids nowadays act more and more annoying, ignorant and oblivious. Their parents don't even do anything to tame them. So if, they don't even respect their own parents, how do we expect them to respect other people?
Excessive spanking definitely is a no-no as the other name for it is child abuse. But just a 'gentle spank' on the hand? It's the same as to tell them, go ahead do what you want, Mommy will just 'pad' your hand! As a parent, you also must be pretty ignorant to not knowing your kids laugh back at you for being too linient. And you see the kids in US and other Western countries act so wild and hysterical without the parents not being able to control them because spanking is illegal in those countries.
I don't have a kid yet and I may be wrong but I strongly believe in hitting the kid hard at least once in their life if she/he has done something really bad. Life outside home is tough and it's getting tougher. If we spoil them, how they'll survive out there?