Now I know why some animals eat their young.

P.S. My "thanks" to Aaron was directed to his last comment.

Thanks, Aaron! (And no, I'm not being facetious.)

uh...this isn't my site, remember...

Nothing to add, Aaron.

Thank you Aaron.

Nicely put Aaron. The first post, I mean. Mind you the second one, was pretty sharp too!

I'm with you Rev9, Aaron is pretty darn loveable right now. :)

I spend 95% of my time being one, I may as well say it once in a while.

:)

Heh heh heh...

Aaron said ass...

Aaron, I think I love you. That was beautifully put.

There are two levels at which people view life, and the situations we find ourselves in. The emotional level, and the intellectual level.

The emotional part of all of us wants to see revenge. It wants to see these kids pay for the life they took. It wants to have some sort of finality - or see a definitive punishment handed out, and then it will acheive closure.

The intellectual part of all of us wants to get to the root of the problem, to figure out WHY this happened, how it could possibly happen again, and take steps to ensure that it doesn't, through education.

The problem with the first, is that it is not a solution to the problem, because the violence problem is much, much deeper than this one instance. The problem with the second is that it could take decades before we saw any real results, and it would not be terribly emotionally satisfying to any of the people who have been hurt by the problem.

The only real solution is some sort of balance between the two.

We have a system of laws set up in this country to protect the innocent and those who cannot protect themselves. These same laws are there to protect innocent children from contracting cancer as a result of their parents' filthy addictions, AND to protect men like Charlie Young from being killed by a mob, AND YES, to protect the children who took the life of this man from having equally brutal acts performed on them (unless ordered by the court, that is.) Unfortunately, we also have a system of "education" in our country - and in our culture, in which people of all ages are bombarded with violence, and are constatnly exposed to violent, hateful acts being portrayed as the ultimate answer.

Thomas, the reason nobody's political ideology was called into question is because it was clear to everyone that the people suggesting that these kids be killed were speaking from a purely emotional reaction to this story. I'm ordinarily an extremely non-violent person, but you bet your bippy on September 12th of last year, I wanted the US to go kick some ass. (I quickly came to my senses and realized that while it may be emotionally gratifying, this would not SOLVE the problem, and a violent attidude may actually do more to perpetuate the problem.) This was a natural reaction, based on my emotion at the time, and YES, partly based on the pervading national sentiment at the time, and the culture in which I was raised

This is not a question of political ideologies, this has never been a question of political ideologies, and we certainly shouldn't turn it into one. This is simply one human's (Jodi) natural, valid, emotional reaction to news of what is unquestionably a horrible act, and all of our reactions to the act, to her statements, and to the statements of each other. To think of it as anything else would be silly, and to turn it into anything else would be ridiculous.

I'm not sure that it's because of a leagacy of violence in the home, or perhaps a lack of discipline in the home.

Either way, it's clear that bad parenting is at the root of this.

I don't think Thomas' points about anti-smokers are relevant here. There's a heck of a difference between being annoyed at someone for smoking in a non-smoking zone, and the savage ending of a human life. I think people are allowed to have contradictory opinions on the two issues.

how about these kids?
http://www.sanmateocountytimes.com/Stories/0,1413,87%257E11268%257E887397,00.html

what is this world coming to?

it's mob mentality...young kids have bad judgement to begin with, and when you get them together in a mob, all hell breaks loose. Very unfortunate.

Fine, I cannot stay and leave my tongue unsheathed...

It's ironic that the same masses that would see these miscreants maimed, wounded, crippled and otherwise assaulted would be the same bleeding heart liberals who would throw themselves on a smoldering cigarette just to avoid it's smoke from touching one hair on their mewling head.

Perhaps they find it more pleasant to feel these children's skulls caved in than to be forced to see one waft of smoke encircle those self same cranial structures; I must only assume that they prefer a 100% chance of debilitation than the 20% chance of respiratory illness/disease.

And how very, very gratifying is to see no one else's political ideology attacked for stating their desires to cause grave physical harm. Perhaps it was only because no one requested the legal right to "bash a few heads".

I'm running out right now to eliminate the "non-child skull bashing" sections from restaurants because I can see how clearly it's supported here.

The thing that sucks the most? I agree with killing the little bastards. But I can't help notice the irony of the situation.

Could not have said it better myself. I second every thing that you have written.

I could say something, but it would be mean and only would fuel a bad fire. Also, seeing as there's nothing to make a pun about, I'm...

I'm...

speechless.

I'm all for putting the parents and the kids to death. Harsh? Having that kind of scum raising more of the same only hurt us all. When it comes to people who attack life like this, I say it's time to separate the humans from the obvious animals.

I am myself of the opinion that parents should be held responsible, at least in part, for crimes committed by children under the age of 18.

There is a high statistical correlation between children who are victims of violence and children who are perpetrators of violence. That is to say that kids who are beaten black and blue by their relatives and neighbors or who witness their siblings and mothers being beaten black and blue will then tend to go on and do the same thing to someone else. It isn't a short circuit in the gene pool. It's the ongoing legacy of violence, aggravated by the stress induced by poverty and discrimination. And it has to stop.

the parents in this case are also to blame. may be a controversial notion but if you bring up good kids your kids don't do this crap. this is a great example why i'm considered the most strict mom in the neighborhood and i'm proud of it.

these kids should be put away. and when they are rest assured that they will encounter the same if not worse treatment they delivered to their victim. there won't be any place to hide.

Agh...try-*ing*. Trying. I hate spotting that typo after I've hit "post".

I just stumbled across this story in the paper. What the hell is going on? What causes this mob mentality? Why are so many babies try to kill someone before they're able to shave? Is there a short circuit in the gene pool somewhere?

Amen to that. I second those sentiments Jodi.