Quote:
Originally posted by stevepaa
No, we are each responsible for our actions.
So the only answer is prosecute the kid? So you think we should apply capital punishment to him?
It is pretty far fetched to consider some kid, dragging 10 5 gallon gas jugs along to burn the bus?
So if he had used sarin, you would still say it is only his fault and not take means to preclude others from doing the same?
So how would you reach these wacko kids and teach them responsibility?
|
We as a society really
can't reach these kids. Their parents have to do this. Many parents have abrogated their responsibilities in this area and now expect day care or schools to do the job of socializing their kids for them. I rarely had a babysitter growing up and I turned out... Well maybe that's not a good example.
They say there are no bad dogs, just bad owners and I think that applies to kids to a large extent as well. Sure there will always be a certain small percentage of kids that are truly bad (defective?) but in general I think the number is about the same as it's always been. The rest of the "bad" kids are made as a the result (IMO) of insufficient parenting.
I detect a natural and commendable desire to solve this problem. This is going to sound like I'm being condescending, an old fart or both but as I've gotten older, experience has taught me that many human problems are much subtler and more difficult to understand and fix than I would have thought when I was younger. I think child violence (and violence in general) is one of the problems that is going to resist simple solutions that are applied after the formative years.
-Chris