Kids sure grow up fast nowadays, don't they?

[markw]

http://www6.comcast.net/news/articles/national/2007/11/19/Boys.Rape/?cvqh=itn_boys

I'm waiting for more details on this one but it sure raises questions. I'm not sure what they are charged with is even biologically possible. At that age I didn't have any interest in girls much less I doubt I had the ability to rise to the occasion if I were.

[L.J.]

Wow! That's pretty sad.

[Rock&Roll Ninja]

My sister-in-law walked in on her 7 year old flogging the bishop. Not quite sure if he's moved onto rape yet, I think melting action figures in the microwave is still his passtime.

[Groundbeef]

My sister-in-law walked in on her 7 year old flogging the bishop. .

Just be thankful she didn't walk in and find the local Bishop flogging her 7 year old.:nonod:

[ForeverAutumn]

That story is sad on so many different levels. Of course my heart goes out to that poor girl and her family. But I also have to wonder what an eight or nine year old might have witnessed to even think of threatening to hit someone with a rock or commiting rape. The eight and nine year olds that I know...that thought would never even enter their heads.

It's completely mind boggling to me that a child that young could have the knowledge needed to commit that crime.

[Groundbeef]

That story is sad on so many different levels. Of course my heart goes out to that poor girl and her family. But I also have to wonder what an eight or nine year old might have witnessed to even think of threatening to hit someone with a rock or commiting rape. The eight and nine year olds that I know...that thought would never even enter their heads.

It's completely mind boggling to me that a child that young could have the knowledge needed to commit that crime.

I'm not suggesting it either DID or DIDN'T happen however, I think that we need to wait for more of the facts to come out. Kids play all kinds of games, and its not 100% clear that events happened as they are being suggested by the family of the girl.

Lets step back and remember the Duke case. Lots of people were ready to hang those young men (including myself) long before the "facts" were known. Lives were ruined, careers destroyed, and a university tarnished because of a media firestorm.

Quite possibly things are not as they seem.

[ForeverAutumn]

I'm not suggesting it either DID or DIDN'T happen however, I think that we need to wait for more of the facts to come out. Kids play all kinds of games, and its not 100% clear that events happened as they are being suggested by the family of the girl.

Lets step back and remember the Duke case. Lots of people were ready to hang those young men (including myself) long before the "facts" were known. Lives were ruined, careers destroyed, and a university tarnished because of a media firestorm.

Quite possibly things are not as they seem.

You know, that would almost be worse. Imagine those kids sitting in court with shackles on their legs for something that they didn't do.

Why would they shackle an eight year old anyway?! That pisses me off. Really, where's he gonna go?

Groundbeef, on another note, tell me about your guinea pig. Is he trained to spin the wheel that keeps all your compenents running? We have two of the little critters ourselves. Echo and Ginger (named after Ginger Baker).

[markw]

Well, it was my ex-wifes actually. AFAIWC, all it did was take in brown pellets in one end and put out green ones at the other.

In either case and for whatever reason, these kids point to a serious rending of our moral fibre and it doesn't bode well for the future. It doesn't seem to be getting better, only worse.

[Groundbeef]

Well, it was my ex-wifes actually. AFAIWC, all it did was take in brown pellets in one end and put out green ones at the other.

In either case and for whatever reason, these kids point to a serious rending of our moral fibre and it doesn't bode well for the future. It doesn't seem to be getting better, only worse.

Really, is it that things are getting worse or just more reported? Take pedophila for example. 50 years ago it was hush hush, and priests were shifted to different churches. The Church stonewalled the police, and kids that had been abused. Only now, its darn near impossible to hide that activity.

50 years ago it was socially acceptable in some states to segregate people according to the color of their skin, sometimes even kill them with just a wink and a nod from law enforcement.

100 years ago women were subservient to men, without much recourse. Wife beating was to be settled at home, without intervention of the courts, or police.

I will admit that it seems as though things are worse, but are they really? Or is it just being reported more?

[markw]

Really, is it that things are getting worse or just more reported? I don't think I've ever heard of children this young ganging up and raping another child. Heck, at their ages I didn't even have an interest in girls or even knew how to do what they did. That was still a few years away.

Likewise, I don't think kids shooting kids was even a reality when I was growing up. that's only within the last generation or two that it's started. FWIW, I consider a generation as 15 - 20 years,

And, we're making it worse. By free access to the internet, porn, violence on TV and games and the like, we just provide impressionable young minds with ideas that shouldn't even enter their realm of thought at such an age. You can blame the parents but when society does all it can to take away their rights to control and discipline their kids, we're fighting a losing battle.

And, when they do things like this, society looks to blame everyone except those who committed the act in the first place, who are simply innocent victims of the society that spawned them. Bull. If they picked up enough knowledge to commit the act, they dang well knew it would cause harm

And, by it's being shown on TV and such it just gives other kids more ideas. It's a self-perpetuating cycle, or should I say a downward spiral.

Our grandkids will have a rough world to live in.

[L.J.]

Well said Mark.

I watched a program not to long ago which spoke about the movie rating system. Some points that stood out were the thousands of acts of violence/sexuality children view on TV. It also spoke about how movies that are rated "PG13" today, would have been rated "R" 5 years OK. It noted that society is changing and that the rating system is changing with it.