Why giving ignorant people the freedom to screw up is bad for society

[quikchange]

I'd been thinking about putting this argument into words for several days now after discussing the issue with several people recently but this blog entry finally prompted me to actually do it. I'm a big proponent of individual freedoms, generally ranking them higher than other desirable goals like financial security, professional recognition,

Comments

Part 1

[2much_thinking]

Tony, you've opened up a can of worms and you've entered an area of many heated debates. What is the "correct" way to raise a child? There isn't one. It is situationally dependant. You can't create laws that apply to a few and make them apply to everyone.

Case and point: banning of 50Cent in Canada. I am going to sound nasty here, but clearly some PTA mother is unhappy because she actually opened the jewel case of their child's CD and read the lyrics. Now she's got her back up and has a bunch of sheep following her and it is making all the way to the government. This is ridiculous. What she deems inappropriate for her children is not necessarily inappropriate for all.

There was a huge push to remove violence from cartoons, claiming it made kids more violent. Maybe there are some studied cases that prove it. But I guarantee there are many other cases that prove otherwise. Not every child is going to think they are Wylie Coyote and can survive a fall off of a cliff. It is up to the parents to educate their kids on the differences between reality and TV.

The same with 50Cent. If she does not like it, don't let your kid listen to it. My kids will have the brain power to decipher bullshit from reality and can freely appreciate 50Cent's rhymes (not while I am around as I don't care for it) all they like. They will be raised by me, not the television and the education system.

Tony, there are far too many factors at play for raising kids. So much has changed. Psychologists claim to know so much, but in reality it seems like they are being pushed by pharmacuticles. Parents are busy as all hell trying to get money into the home, enough to buy that massive 5 bedroom home for four people, the SUV that uses a litre of gas during startup, trips to Florida each year, video games and computers and cable etc... I've heard first hand that they feel bad and that's why they buy them all that stuff.

I am still a kid and will probably never grow up, which sucks because I am almost 30 and I can still relate to a 10 yr old. But anyhow, what kids really need is more quality time.

Perhaps if:
1) There was less demand for more expensive status symbols parents could spend more time at home with the kids as a family
2) The education system gave a damn and didn't try to cram a 30/35 kids into a single room, with one stressed out teacher, and pump them all full of ridalin (sp?) so they would be quiet and listen
3) People would look after their own damn kids and not make decisions for everybody's kids when they are not even their kids. Do you have proof that MY child will turn out "bad" from listening to 50Cent? No, so shut the fuck up!
4) There were more flexible work hours so parents could arrange to have at least one at home with the kids more often.
5) Parents could take time away from the regular routine and even go for walks, with AND without the kids, ensuring they too have time to themselves.
6) Families could communicate more with one another, put aside petty differences over stupid things (and it is all stupid), and actually work things out instead of just not talking or fighting or splitting up.
7) Pharmacuticles would stop trying so hard to make insane profits (yes, to be a corporation you need a profit, but at the expense of fucking up the youth? What will you do when they realize what you've done? Can you say bye bye to your security checks and such when you are retired? Yeah, didn't think that maybe they would become the ones in power and pay you back for screwing things up and preventing them from being a normal kid did you? No of course not, think? what is that? RIIIIGGGHHHT) and stop creating bullshit needs that really are not necessary, preying on the weakness of our society.
8) The law makers would not simply do stuff to shut people up, but actually thought about it and do studies to see if this really makes sense. Not studies affiliated by pharmacuticles or their payed psychologists.