tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6931353.post1652199419931976687..comments2023-10-28T09:25:39.790-04:00Comments on The Atavist: The Depth and Breadth of Human StupidityThe Atavisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12529157597486952484noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6931353.post-37336992740940862602007-10-07T09:44:00.000-04:002007-10-07T09:44:00.000-04:00So right, lin. I don't know that I will ever get ...So right, lin. I don't know that I will ever get used to the fact that increasingly people don't follow the edict that we were taught years ago: "Engage brain before speaking or doing."The Atavisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12529157597486952484noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6931353.post-82520430379756616522007-10-05T22:49:00.000-04:002007-10-05T22:49:00.000-04:00So by what mischief did society convince us that w...So by what mischief did society convince us that we are no longer expected to think for ourselves, especially when it comes to the welfare of others? Bloody pathetic performance of late in the developed mind, let alone the immature mind.Linhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09100999113439449482noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6931353.post-41258866171918462002007-10-05T11:32:00.000-04:002007-10-05T11:32:00.000-04:00I've conducted my own, admittedly unscientific, ex...I've conducted my own, admittedly unscientific, experiments with my own son to try to establish the action/consequence connection. If I tell him that he has to clean his room or he won't be allowed to go out with his buddies, he can connect the dots. He also knows that if he doesn't succeed in life, it will be his own fault, that he won't have tried hard enough, and he governs himself accordingly, mostly. Between those two extremes is where things tend to fall apart. I think that nuanced situations are the ones where associations between actions and consequences are fuzzier with teenagers. I also think that not enough parents simply say to their kids: "Don't do anything stupid, because it may just turn around and bite you in the ass." They should, naturally, spend the time to explain what is right and responsible behaviour and what isn't. However... many parents themselves can't make that distinction, so we are basically screwed, aren't we?The Atavisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12529157597486952484noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6931353.post-5041646760156691312007-10-05T08:29:00.000-04:002007-10-05T08:29:00.000-04:00The latest in brain research shows that teenagers ...The latest in brain research shows that teenagers can't extrapolate the consequences of their actions. The brain isn't fully developed to do this until about 25. <BR/><BR/>Stupid, maybe. Acting in the moment, probably. Not realizing what might happen, most likely.<BR/><BR/>I had written about this today. As parents, these lessons are important to share. Unfortunately some kids learn by the school of hard knocks, even when they have "good" parents...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6931353.post-33589665832083634892007-10-05T03:29:00.000-04:002007-10-05T03:29:00.000-04:00Could not agree with you more.Could not agree with you more.Jeanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02099808690177823190noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6931353.post-34430181609235462382007-10-04T22:26:00.000-04:002007-10-04T22:26:00.000-04:00That whole business of blaming the victim and goin...That whole business of blaming the victim and going round the bend to keep from blaming the responsible party is a very worrying trend. Sick!phlegmfatalehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08636803080525003892noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6931353.post-21949199838668619352007-10-03T19:20:00.000-04:002007-10-03T19:20:00.000-04:00They probably videotaped that shit and sent it in ...They probably videotaped that shit and sent it in to see if <I>America's Funniest Home Videos</I> or <I>Jackass</I> or some other Airhead Productions series would run it, filed under Stupid Human Tricks.<BR/>Your diagnosis is excellent. People are not taught the simple principle of "Truth, or consequences" anymore: Learn, love and live truth, or suffer the consequences of error.<BR/>It's not rocket-science, if you'll pardon the pun!TheWayfarerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15074292938877766871noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6931353.post-25790248688445666612007-10-03T15:07:00.000-04:002007-10-03T15:07:00.000-04:00Wow. You're right, Don Ray.The teenage years are ...Wow. You're right, Don Ray.The teenage years are tough for everyone, kids and parents alike, but it is so easy to do something very foolish, and very permanent that kids are lost or injured every day. They don't realize that no matter how bad they think things are, the situation usually improves. Some things that I thought were horrible at age fifteen don't seem all that important now.The Atavisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12529157597486952484noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6931353.post-51925329263672602092007-10-03T15:02:00.000-04:002007-10-03T15:02:00.000-04:00In my highschool, the year after I graduated, ther...In my highschool, the year after I graduated, there was what got to be known as the "Kiss and Kill murder". <BR/><BR/>A highschool girl was continually telling other students that she wanted someone to kill her. She said she just didn't want to live anymore. No one took her serious, except for this one boy. He talked to her and agreed to do as she wanted.<BR/><BR/>One night, she crawled out of her bedroom window and met him in the alley behind her house.<BR/><BR/>He drove her to an abandoned sludge pit for a capped oil well. There they kissed and he put a shotgun up to her head and pulled the trigger.<BR/><BR/>He then waded out into the sludge pit and dropped the body. A friend of mine's father had the funeral home that retrieved the body after the boy confessed to what he had done.<BR/><BR/>It just goes to show that you have to be careful for what you ask.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com