Tuesday, May 31, 2005

Kids And Russia Both On A Rampage?

A kid in rural Ohio shot and killed a handful of family members and then himself on his own graduation day. A nine year old stabbed an eleven year old to death in New York City, with a steak knife. (What, she didn't have her first gun yet, you ask?) A couple kids in Florida beat a homeless guy to death because they were "bored". Why does this happen? Should we be outraged? Well, yes and no. Yes, we should certainly be upset at the loss of life, and try to figure out if it could have been more easily prevented. No, it's not any sort of cosmic evil. It's a few cases of screwed up families that clearly did not bother to teach their kids not to kill people. You can't blame that on politics or anything else besides that and be taken seriously. Take these same kids and raise them in your house, and they would be fine. This stuff happened in the 50's too. Most of my readers and I were just not around back then to remember it now.

Oh yes, Russia, at the rate your society is going, all of the other former Soviet states, the rest of Eastern Europe, and maybe even Africa and the Middle East will be modern democracies before you will. In other words, it will be centuries, if ever. You're lucky you can even get McDonald's to invest in you at this rate. Your business climate is a total mess. As soon as someone is successful and anti-Putin, whoops, you're guilty of...ummm, tax evasion, yeah that's it! See you in a couple more election cycles! *wave* Putin, you make ole' red-nose, Boris Yeltsin look like Abe Lincoln by comparison. Congratulations on setting your country back a couple decades.

Putin, barely avoiding a much-needed kick in the groin.

8 comments:

Paul Mitchell said...

Wow, a passionate rant. I think that I must be rubbing off on you. Good post, Erik, you look like you're coming over to the Dark Side.

Erik Grow said...

Ummm, thanks, I think! What can I say. I'm a quick-study! *;-)

nicnerd said...

It's a few cases of screwed up families that clearly did not bother to teach their kids not to kill people. You can't blame that on politics or anything else besides that and be taken seriously.

Why can't I put some of the blame on politics? Do social handouts not foster an environment of parental irresponsibility? Does our permissive stance on violence, agression, and sexuality in the mass media not perpetuate these negative behaviors? As you advocate this attitude of social irresponsibility (gay marriage is OK, murdering the unborn is a method of birth control, poor performance in the public schools is almost the norm), do you expect anything else as a result? If you want social change is begins by electing leaders with actual values. If you elect sex-crazed leaders who lie and cheat their way through their own repugnant existence, you should fully expect them to forward their unethical agenda. The Democratic hero is a man who stood firm in his "right" to have sex with subordinates, coerce them into lying on his behalf, commit adultery, and cover it up by lying under oath. We are reaping what we have sown.

Erik Grow said...

Oh, it's the fault of the Democrats! Silly me. I forgot for a moment there what the root of all evil was.

Be serious. First, what does gay marriage have to do with this? Second, I never said abortion is a preferred method of birth control. Third, Clinton is not my personal hero. I liked his policies, and you forget (purposely no doubt), that a majority of Americans did too. Fourth, you are assuming that all public schools are failures, which is not the truth. There are many good ones, and many bad, as I tell you all the time. As for handouts, the welfare rolls are not up as far as I know. We had welfare reform that many Republicans and some Democrats created, Clinton signed, and it seems to be working.

I figured you'd try to make this the fault of Democrats somehow, like every other ill in the world. So predictable. Murder happens everywhere and in every age of civilization. It's hard for me to buy that Democrats are the reason for this most recent run.

nicnerd said...

I point it out as a general statment, our values have decayed. Honestly, I think that Republicans are only very slightly better. If you want a stable social society, we must elect leaders who we can look up to. I don't look up to George Bush, Hillary Clinton, John McCain, Feinstein, Kennedy (pick one), etc. Is there a politician that you really look up to? One that really holds your values. I don't have one, the only one I ever did look up to passed away last year.

Erik Grow said...

Interestingly though, Reagan actually paid little more than lip service to the theocons, and did less for them than W has actually don't you think? You'll get no argument from me that Reagan was a lot more astute than W though. More likeable too.

Paul Mitchell said...

Reagan was an extremely likable guy. I met him as a whacked-out, pot-smoking Lefty back in 1979 and I was duly impressed. My wife had the same impression of W. He came to speak at an area high school on the campaign trail and she had coffee with him. She gave him the two thumbs up and said he was cute. I respected her opinions.

nicnerd said...

I respected her opinions

Too funny, 'nuff said. Blech GW Bush.