Mom lets 5-year-old drive

[Peikko 1,575]

As for your assertion that 'everything has failed', that's just plain wrong. You are never going to ensure everyone makes sensible choices 100% of the time but what we have now is a long way from anarchy, which is what 'everything has failed' implies.

[Peikko 1,575]

Guess who has to bear the burden be it for the kids who survived or paying for the mothers prison term..

and when you want to stop paying the price of the stupidity of others (ie you don't want to pay for prisons, police etc) then I guess it's time you moved to an unhihabited island. The price you pay for being a member of society is jointly paying for services that protect the majority against the failings of the few.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Corporal punishment as a form of judicial punishment is a dumb, barbaric idea.

However, for those that like a good beating now and again. Well... I'm sure there are adult services for that kind of thing...

[Caladan 19]

Jamie Bulger was murdered in 1993. Doesn't that mean that his killers, as children of the eighties, would have been able to watch... the Cosby Show, Growing Pains, and Mary Poppins? By the logic in this thread, Cosby murdered those children!

By logic anywhere else, it was a horrific crime caused by any number of things, including abuse and neglect, but probably not the movie Hostel.

I am quite certain one could dig up headlines from the 1960s about negligent parents letting their kids run wild. You might even be able to find evidence of it in the 1930s and 1890s. (You know, when they started eugenics projects for all of those negligent parents.)

Wait! The mom in the article..... a child of the eighties! Cosby, you cur!

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Didn't they used to blame Elvis Presley and rock music in general for juvenile delinquency in the 1950's? Seems to me the only thing that has really changed is the inordinate media focus on strange and outlandish people.

Given that its rather easy to see why someone might reach that perception. But its pretty wrong IMO. Not unusual for people to look back on times past as a golden age, the difference is that its usually the elderly and they usually lived through the times they remember fondly (with rose-tinted hindsight of course). Boo-Yah did neither, so its hard to see how he can make much of a comparison that way.

Like saying "the grass is always greener on the other side". I think Most people are clued up enough to know that that frequently isn't the case.

[Caladan 19]

I'm not sure if the media attention is greater or just more accessible via Google. So now some mom in Indiana lets her kid drive and while it's not national news, it gets picked up by news feeders. 50 years ago I wouldn't have heard about it.

[Marilyn. 340]

yeah, that is the only difference nowadays... news coverage...

back in the day , things like this would probably have been kept hush-hush ...

[Peikko 1,575]

50 years ago a lot less people had access to a car B) ...mind you, doesn't make your point any less valid. As I said, to me, this kind of story isn't 'newsworthy' but then again, 95% of the current 'news' isn't newsworthy. The news is just another branch of 'entertainment', and pretty cheap, not very interesting entertainment at that...

[Caladan 19]

50 years ago a lot less people had access to a car B) ...mind you, doesn't make your point any less valid. As I said, to me, this kind of story isn't 'newsworthy' but then again, 95% of the current 'news' isn't newsworthy. The news is just another branch of 'entertainment', and pretty cheap, not very interesting entertainment at that...

Hehe, good point, but substitute whatever you want and I'm sure it wouldn't have been a feature on the national radio or television program, just in the local paper, which I wouldn't get from 1000 miles away.

[Peikko 1,575]

Indeed, and true. Actually, if I didn't read VJ, I probably wouldn't hear of any of these kind of stories...

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Totally O/T but I saw the original Robocop the other day (I'd only seen it previously in the UK), and the satirical take on US network news is spot on.

[Heracles 417]

What an excellent argument for the re-introduction of that very successful strategy, corporal punishment. I am sure once all kids are beaten to a pulp by strong, masculine father figures, the kids will see sense and tow the line and there will be no further incidents of irresponsible parenting.

Yes we have tried appeasement, harsh sentencing, lenient sentencing, get out of jail for free like your Lohans and all of these have failed.

PS Where did you see a proposal of beating up kids?

You're the one who brought up the Jamie Bulger murderers in close relation to your advocating corporal punishment. Not a huge leap to see the implication being made there...

No I brought that up in general. Referring to the pathetic court system in the UK.

Edited September 3, 2007 by Boo-Yah!

[Heracles 417]

I am quite sure that you witness bad/irresponsible parenting from time to time, maybe even often. However, corporal punishment is definitely not good parenting and will not miraculously solve behavioural problems.

I am not at all certain that there is a 'crisis' with regards parenting either. Yes, I have seen kids that are allowed to 'run amok' from time to time but most don't because they are being brought up by responsible parents. The media loves this kind of story, personally, I don't see it as newsworthy at all.

PS Where did you see a proposal of beating up kids?

Corporal punishment is?????

Where do you see the word kids in corporal punishment??? Corporal punishment is great for adult repeat offenders.

[Heracles 417]

Jamie Bulger was murdered in 1993. Doesn't that mean that his killers, as children of the eighties, would have been able to watch... the Cosby Show, Growing Pains, and Mary Poppins? By the logic in this thread, Cosby murdered those children!

By logic anywhere else, it was a horrific crime caused by any number of things, including abuse and neglect, but probably not the movie Hostel.

I am quite certain one could dig up headlines from the 1960s about negligent parents letting their kids run wild. You might even be able to find evidence of it in the 1930s and 1890s. (You know, when they started eugenics projects for all of those negligent parents.)

Wait! The mom in the article..... a child of the eighties! Cosby, you cur!

You have no proof she was raised watching that stuff. I find most people I went to high school with who are in trouble had a very poor upbringing and where allowed to do and watch whatever they pleased. Whereas the kids who had good honest parents now have successful careers.

PS have any of you watched MTV lately. Does the stuff on it look like the same stuff kids where exposed to in the 50's???

Edited September 3, 2007 by Boo-Yah!

[Heracles 417]

Exposure to Media Violence May Alter Brain Activity in Nonviolent Children

Watching violent television programs or video games may affect children's minds even if they don't have a history of aggressive behavior, a new study shows.

Researchers found nonaggressive children who had been exposed to high levels of media violence had similar patterns of activity in an area of the brain linked to self-control and attention as aggressive children who had been diagnosed with disruptive behavior disorder.

Edited September 3, 2007 by Boo-Yah!