12-05-2021, 04:55 AM
(12-04-2021, 04:45 PM)sbarrera Wrote: Ethan Crumbley, the recent Michigan school shooter, is age 15. This means the earliest he can have been born is 2005, making him Homeland generation. I think he is the first headline-making shooter from his generation. It's also noteworthy that his parents have been charged with manslaughter in the case. Could this be a Homeland generation trend : passing responsibility for their antisocial behavior on to their parents? It might just be the particulars of this case, but it could be the start of a trend. It should make red zoners happy (we shall see if it does) since they have argued that mass shootings are because of failed parenting, rather than easy access to firearms.
Laws generally recognize 15-year-old kids unready to sign contracts, join the Armed Services, drive, vote, drink, smoke, fornicate, get access to pornography, or do certain jobs. They are generally considered unready for adult responsibilities or in participation in actions that are likely to be exploitative. Using a firearm is rightly for someone with adult discretion... and as we all well know many people are unready for a responsibility involving life and death irrespective of an age well past 25, 21, 18, 16... or whatever. Just think of the fellow accused of running over a large number of people in Waukesha. (And some people get the age without a mature level of responsibility, like ... that will be another cheap political statement, of course. Right?)
I can imagine parents having easily-accessible alcohol and car keys. Would they be responsible for a DUI-related vehicle crash?
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.