Another person arrested for defending himself
I have linked to a tragic story of road rage. Apparently a teenage boy cut off a 53 year old man who got so angry he followed the teen home and tried to run him down with his car. The man actually struck the teenager with his car. The boy was fortunately not injured badly, but angry and not knowing what else to expect from the raging man, went to the drivers side of the car and punched him twice through the open window. He apparently got in some good hits because tragically the man lost consciousness and later died.
Two things jumped out at me when I read this tragic story. First, given the circumstances of defending himself why was this boy arrested? It is a sickening trend in our society that those who defend themselves are arrested first and (hopefully) freed later when the facts come out. After being chased and shouted at for three miles and run down by the car, how did the boy know if the man had a weapon or not? The best action was to immobilize the man which he did. Perhaps the medical examiner will shed light onto why 2 punches to the head killed the man, but it was not reasonable to think they would. It is not reasonable to assume the boy was trying to kill the man.
Our society, however, increasingly frowns on people who defend themselves. Whether it is with fists or weapon, self defense is becoming taboo. This is the nonsensical thinking that lead to much of the tragedy in New Orleans, where people no longer think of looking to their own safety. Instead they only look to the government and many paid for it with their lives. Forget poverty and color - most had two healthy feet and could have walked if nothing else to safer ground. While looking to your own safety may be a last resort, it is often the only "resort" you may have or you will die.
The second thing in the story is how this faulty thinking is exhibited in our education system; which is in turn being propigated to the students and making it even more prevelent in our society. At the end of the story there is a quote from the boy's school superintendent: ' "The boy, she said, is an "excellent student, which is why this is very uncharacteristic." ' Uncharacteristic??? As if a good student would not choose to defend himself! We continuously see ridiculous statements like these from our educators. Is it any wonder that more and more are sending their kids to private schools or home schooling.
If the boy and witnesses are telling an accurate story of what happened here, the boy should be out of jail NOW.
Two things jumped out at me when I read this tragic story. First, given the circumstances of defending himself why was this boy arrested? It is a sickening trend in our society that those who defend themselves are arrested first and (hopefully) freed later when the facts come out. After being chased and shouted at for three miles and run down by the car, how did the boy know if the man had a weapon or not? The best action was to immobilize the man which he did. Perhaps the medical examiner will shed light onto why 2 punches to the head killed the man, but it was not reasonable to think they would. It is not reasonable to assume the boy was trying to kill the man.
Our society, however, increasingly frowns on people who defend themselves. Whether it is with fists or weapon, self defense is becoming taboo. This is the nonsensical thinking that lead to much of the tragedy in New Orleans, where people no longer think of looking to their own safety. Instead they only look to the government and many paid for it with their lives. Forget poverty and color - most had two healthy feet and could have walked if nothing else to safer ground. While looking to your own safety may be a last resort, it is often the only "resort" you may have or you will die.
The second thing in the story is how this faulty thinking is exhibited in our education system; which is in turn being propigated to the students and making it even more prevelent in our society. At the end of the story there is a quote from the boy's school superintendent: ' "The boy, she said, is an "excellent student, which is why this is very uncharacteristic." ' Uncharacteristic??? As if a good student would not choose to defend himself! We continuously see ridiculous statements like these from our educators. Is it any wonder that more and more are sending their kids to private schools or home schooling.
If the boy and witnesses are telling an accurate story of what happened here, the boy should be out of jail NOW.
posted by All_I_Can_Stands @ 8:35 AM
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