Instead the child responds with 22. While the video is obviously meant as a joke and a spoof, the part that scared me is I could see it happening.
I think that society has gotten a little out of hand over the last few decades.
At what point is enough enough?
Everyone is worried that someone will be offended by something that is being said. Everyone is all too worried about being "politically correct" and we are living in such a litigious society that people are suing each other over the stupidest of reasons.
Let's take for a moment this thought:
The only person who controls my thoughts is me. The only person who controls your thoughts is you the reader.
At any point within the process of reading a person has the choice to stop reading. No one is being forced to read this blog or any other for that matter.
People want to have the freedom of speech but only as long as someone else doesn't get to say anything that is offensive to them.
While this mentality is neither fair or correct, it will eventually lead us to places where people are not likely going to want society to go.
A few weeks back there was a television special discussing the atrocities that are happening within the borders of North Korea.
I would suggest that everyone watch what is happening there and then discuss openly how bad they truly think things are in the rest of the world.
Anywhere in the rest of the world most people enjoy tremendous amounts of personal freedom. Whether it be freedom of religion, free speech or just the freedom to be an absolute prick, does not entirely matter.
The point is that with freedom comes certain concerns that should be dealt with on a person to person level while remaining civil to one another.
If someone says something that offends you, well, they have the right to free speech. You also have that same right to free speech. What you don't have the right to do is to hit or assault someone for saying something that you disagree with.
As a society we need to be willing to take responsibility for our own actions AND the actions of our ancestors.
I am sure I might catch some flak for this, but to be honest I don't really care.
I have a daughter. As a parent is is my job to make sure that she learns some very basic things about life. Here are a few of them:
- She needs to get an education - regardless if she decides to be a doctor or a street sweeper, having an education gives her the options that she can explore as she gets older. You just are not likely to find an uneducated doctor, and if you did would you let them operate on you?
- The value of hard work - Life was never meant to be easy. She needs to understand that there will always be a certain level of work that needs to get done in life. She needs to learn that life is not all play and fun and games. Doing a good job on projects can be quite rewarding and satisfying.
- How to make good choices - She is learning that her choices not only affect her, but also those around her as well as her future children and grand-children.
- Taking responsibility for herself - This goes hand in hand with making good choices. Our daughter is learning that she is responsible for her own actions, feelings and emotional state. She has been taught that other people do not control her. If she gets mad at something then she has to address that internally to her own mind, body and spirit. She has had to learn to deal with the crap that other people can push on her and rise above it.
- Taking responsibility for her Future - As a parent I already stated that it is my responsibility to see how well she is raised. It is my job to make sure she becomes a well-educated, functioning member of society. It is my job to make sure that she knows how to defend herself against the things society can throw at her. But she also has learned that she too will be responsible in turn for the generations that come after her. She will have to pass down her beliefs to her children and to her grandchildren some day.
All too often this last point seems to be missed in our society.
Parents need to take responsibility for their offspring. You brought them into this world, it is your job to teach them, take care of them and give them the tools to survive in the world.
It is not the televisions job to babysit. Children learn as they grow up. Children learn first and foremost from their family at home.
Parents need to understand that they are either being an good or a bad influence on their own children. If the parents are angry, abusive, drunks, or are displaying any number of other detrimental patterns, then their children will likely continue that pattern.
Several years ago when our daughter was only 6 a neighbors son, also only 6 attempted to "play with her" in a non-acceptable manner. The problems was that this child routinely saw extremely unpleasant and tremendously destructive behavior patterns in the home.
His mother would routinely date aggressive, abusive men. These men were often violent with her and her some. In addition to this the mother was a drug addict, whom having lost another son some years earlier, would only use drugs even more heavily to forget.
In addition to this, the mother often could not even remember the living sons name and would often refer to him by the deceased child's name. Can you imagine your mother not remembering your own name?
This child is likely a predator waiting to happen and he is only 9. While he does like to play violent video games, it is not the games fault for how he is turning out. He has learned from day one that his mother has no self-esteem, that women are for abusing, and that if you want sex just take it.
How many of you parents out there would like to have that child growing up near your young daughter? There are reasons she attends a martial arts training every week.
Problem is the parents are not taking responsibility for themselves, let alone for the child. What will his kids be like when they grow up? Will they even care enough to bother to change the cycle?
It is sad to be able to look at a 9 year old boy and already see that the life in front if him is likely going to be one of violence, jail or death.
But this is where our society is going, right?
Should I go out and sue the parents for turning their child into a potential rapist?
Should I contact social services and have the kid taken away from them?
Many foster care systems are turning out children just as bad, so would it be an effective solution?
Should a simply be offended because as parents they have the right to raise their child how they see fit?
After all, they are adults. They have their own freedoms.
However we as a society pay the prices for their actions. How many people have lost loved ones do to someone who slipped through the system?
If this post were given to the entire planet I am sure someone out there, generally some parent whose child fits this description, would likely write back and tell me they feel offended by what I wrote. Which truly sucks because I do not control their feelings about it.
However before anyone decides to write back saying how offended they are. Take this into account:
I was offended to have a 6 year old attempt to molest me 6 year old daughter.
I am offended when some 10 year old brings a knife to an Easter egg hunt and stabs another child just to get the "golden egg".
I am offended by a Police officer accusing me of abusing my dog without proof.
I am offended when a man won't be a gentleman and open a door for a lady he claims to love.
I am offended when people want everything for free, handed to them without doing any work for it.
I am offended when people can't state simple truths without causing an argument.
I am offended when people "tell me I am wrong" based on opinion not facts.
I am offended when people assume things about me.
I am offended when people stereotype me.
I am offended when people mistake a post on Facebook that has actually nothing to do with them and begin yelling at me because they felt offended.
I am offended when people can't sit down and have a civil discussion.
I am offending when people argue just to argue for arguments sake.
I am offended when people can't use proper English or grammar skills.
I am offended by people walking around with their pants around their ass crack. (I don't need to see that)
I am offended by stupidity.
I am offended by people nearly causing accidents on the roadways because they can't put down a f-ing cell phone for their 3 minute trip across town.
I am offended when people think I should like their music, movies, or just about anything because they do.
I am offended by people pushing their own ideals, religion or beliefs upon me.
I am offended by things being offensive.
I am offended by actually giving a damn enough to be offended.
I am offended when people think I should like their music, movies, or just about anything because they do.
Wait....
Ohhh, really I am not offended by any of that shit.
Because in truth I am an adult and I am emotionally stable and do not find the need to be offended by any of it.
I take responsibility for my own self. I am in control of my own beliefs, my own opinions and my own emotions.
If you don't like me or what I have to say, then get the hell off my blog and just don't come back. In truth we will both be better off.
If I offended someone with this post, then instead of looking to what it is that I did to offend you, perhaps you should look into why you feel offended in the first place. Chances are that it really has something to do with your own internal issues and not with anything I truly did.
But I digress as that statement might be offensive to someone.
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