aidan wrote:Yeah - I saw that. Very disturbing...I mean on one level I guess it's just that whole pack mentality phenomena very graphically illustrated in this little microcosm of society (a third grade classroom). What makes it kind of chilling to me is the "project" aspect of it. I mean these kids had to really get together and talk about this thing together.
What were they thinking as they were plotting to hurt this woman?
According to the story, as circumstances were described,
thay were thinking of
VENGEANCE for a perceived offense to the dignity.
Quote:It makes me wonder how much they are exposed to media -
in terms of stories like this - either fictionalized for tv and movies or
fed to them as they sit mesmerized in front of the news everyday.
Somewhere or other they learned that when someone crosses you - you get back at them.
The concept of revenge, of vindicating the dignity
of the offended party, has been around for
A WHILE.
By saying that thay
LEARNED it, u seem to imply that because of their age,
thay were not capable of original thought ( in THIS case,
EVIL original thought ).
In your later posts, u recognize that this is not necessarily the case,
but I think that expressing this point of vu implies that young people
cannot think originally, and can only entertain concepts that r handed
to them by their elders. I do not believe that observation bears that out.
I am reminded of an incident that occurred some 50 odd years ago,
when a substitute high school teacher shouted at a student, denouncing
him or her ( I don 't remember which ) for signed his or her name
on the blackboard with " a FLOURISH ". This was in a public hi school.
It occurred to me to stand up and repremand the teacher,
pointing out that this was a public school, that we were the public,
that she was a public servant, that we owned the place and she was OUR
servant, that she was there to serve US; we were not there to serve HER,
and to demand that our employee treat her employers with proper RESPECT.
However, I did not know the victim -- a stranger-- and I was too lazy
to do what I thought was the morally right thing to do.
The *
Y bother ?* filosofy, combined with inertia, won me over and I did nothing.
Who was it that said that for evil to succeed,
all that is necessary is for good men to do nothing ?
( Obviously, it was nonsense to do anything with a knife, etc,
in addressing these circumstances, and a proper matter for the police,
thinking of criminal conspiracy;
I have no idea what the criminal liability of people of that age is in that state. )
David
