What you say is true, and I don't deny it.
Well good, I'm glad we got that cleared up...
Wait, what's this? There's more? Well that shouldn't be...
But what is our other choice? Pretend he hasn't done anything wrong?
I don't think we have to pretend, honestly. Who was victimized? Who was injured? Was anyone effected besides the kid (not counting wasted time on
the part of the PD and the school).
If the kid had been trying to pass Drano off as blow, I can see a clear public health concern. The kid endangered people, in that scenario. In THIS
scenario, he exposed them to a substance that, while dangerous, is ubiquitous in the modern Western diet.
Do you honestly expect that his parents are going to do anything about this? Most of the time (as in say, 9 times out of 10), the parents will scream
about how their little angel has been framed, and then pull all their strings with the country club set to have you brought up for an "unscheduled
performance review" in front of your captain.
No, I don't expect his parents are going to do anything, but I think we should be able to expect at least that much, in a modern civilized society.
The problem, and there definitely is a problem, comes back to the severe shortage of responsible parents.
Why is it that most kids can't read and write and speak properly by the time they make it to school? Why don't these kids have any sense of
responsiblity for their own behavior? Why are they so violent and selfish, so petulant and cruel towards their peers and their teachers?
I think it's pretty clear that our permissive, self-obsessed society is to blame, along with the parents who think having a child means changing
diapers and changing channels and little else. :shk:
There's clearly a problem, and the sooner we deal with it as a nation, the better.
But the problem is not that little Johnny brought a bag of sugar to school...
If I told you that I strongly suspect that this kid is already, or about to become involved in coc aine trafficking, I'm sure you'll say that
i'm a bigot, and am labeling him for life.
As long as your suspicion doesn't translate into a bogus, trumped-up, malicious prosecution of the kid, it has no relevance. I share your suspicion,
honestly I do. As I've said from the beginning, I doubt the kid is a solid citizen, and I'm almost positive his whole story was nonsense. But that
doesn't change the fact that what he did, while stupid and quite telling, was not a crime.
Not a crime by any logical definition, anyway.
If we had a time machine, we could go back and give the parents another chance at NOT screwing up their kid. But we don't have a time machine
That means we have to settle for changing attitudes and engendering responsibility and dedication in prospective parents.