Since the early 1990s, I have maintained that the current economy is based on 'un-earned' income for the wealthy and hard work for the rest. "Un-earned" income is income that is derived, not by the sweat of one's brows or by producing tangible goods and services, but on interest, dividends and other payments based largely on other people's work.
The current world-wide movement that started out as "Occupy Wall Street" is attempting to redress that situation by blockading bridges, camping out in parks and protesting in many ways against this economy without really having any focus. This is the first mistake that the Occupy movement has made.
Without focusing their efforts on changing the credit and debt-based ecomony (which is basically what 'un-earned' income amounts to), they are missing the mark and striking out at nothing in particular, just displaying a sense of unease with no goals.
This makes the movement an easy target for ridicule. Many people see the protesters as being the 21st century equivalents of hippies; people who would rather get stoned than working for a living.
Mistake number two is found in the way that they are lobbying for change. Instead of paying attention to the past 40 years of financial market history and lobbying their elected government officials during that time, they do the "peacenik" protest dance. Protesting will not change a thing unless they serve up solutions to the problem.
Which brings us back to mistake number one. If they do not have a clear focus on what needs to be changed, they will not be able to find solutions. Its a tautology, a circle dance with no end in sight.
Here is my proposal for change.
Find something to fix within the world financial market, look at options how to make the economy more equitable for the working people, then lobby governments to change the rules along those lines. Make sure that what you want to fix is doable and will result in a better re-distribution of wealth without violent revolution.
In this way, the Occupy Wall Street movement will gain some credibility and probably effect real change.
The only big problem I see now is that most of the protesters would like to be at the top themselves in exactly the same way as the very people they are protesting against. This makes many of them hypocrites.
So here is a challenge for all you protesters: find what needs to be fixed, focus your efforts on changing those rules and then come back to us. If your solutions are viable, then your protests will have merit.
At the rate you're going now, the only people you will impress is yourselves. The rest of us will find better ways to change the way the financial system works.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Thursday, June 16, 2011
vancouver sore losers
I would like to congratulate all those parents who raised the sore losers now living in Vancouver for a job "well done". I was on the same streets which were the scene of the riots yesterday, just hours before the final game of the Stanley Cup started and I will tell you that virtually all of the people waiting in lines to enter the bars were in their twenties and thirties.
Watching the live video footage of what transpired showed that nearly all of the rioters were in the same age group. No, I will amend that. ALL of the rioters were in that age group.
I've said it before on this blog and I will say it again; the parents of MY generation generally blew it on discipline and establishing a sense of right and wrong in a sizeable majority of their kids. Too many were molly-codelled and spoiled and raised to expect that the world owed them a living, that they could take what they wanted without working for it (which amounts to the same thing), that violence solves problems.
But this was no "problem" to be solved. It was a game and in games you have winners and losers. While I feel for the fans who were not part of the riots, I do not feel at all for those who looted and rioted. They do not understand that the shop owners and owners of the vehicles which were destroyed lost far more than a game. They lost property and perhaps their livelihoods after these hooligans smashed into their stores and burned their vehicles.
The police cars will be replaced and probably the civilian vehicles which were also destroyed. But what about the lost wages for the people who cannot return to work because the stores they work at either no longer exist or were heavily looted, like the Bay? Did the rioters think about them?
No.
Like many of their generation (I call Generation "ME FIRST"), they saw an opportunity to take what they wanted and vandalise for the sake of vandalizing without regard to consequences.
So, to all those parents who raised such scum, congratulations. Your "New Age" politically-correct methods of raising kids without due regard to the well-being of others has succeeded. Your kids are now at the top of the heap for those most likely to dis-respect others in the pursuit of their own greedy little agendas of improving their self esteem and their pocketbooks.
Lets hope that the next generation of parents doesn't make the same mistakes.
Watching the live video footage of what transpired showed that nearly all of the rioters were in the same age group. No, I will amend that. ALL of the rioters were in that age group.
I've said it before on this blog and I will say it again; the parents of MY generation generally blew it on discipline and establishing a sense of right and wrong in a sizeable majority of their kids. Too many were molly-codelled and spoiled and raised to expect that the world owed them a living, that they could take what they wanted without working for it (which amounts to the same thing), that violence solves problems.
But this was no "problem" to be solved. It was a game and in games you have winners and losers. While I feel for the fans who were not part of the riots, I do not feel at all for those who looted and rioted. They do not understand that the shop owners and owners of the vehicles which were destroyed lost far more than a game. They lost property and perhaps their livelihoods after these hooligans smashed into their stores and burned their vehicles.
The police cars will be replaced and probably the civilian vehicles which were also destroyed. But what about the lost wages for the people who cannot return to work because the stores they work at either no longer exist or were heavily looted, like the Bay? Did the rioters think about them?
No.
Like many of their generation (I call Generation "ME FIRST"), they saw an opportunity to take what they wanted and vandalise for the sake of vandalizing without regard to consequences.
So, to all those parents who raised such scum, congratulations. Your "New Age" politically-correct methods of raising kids without due regard to the well-being of others has succeeded. Your kids are now at the top of the heap for those most likely to dis-respect others in the pursuit of their own greedy little agendas of improving their self esteem and their pocketbooks.
Lets hope that the next generation of parents doesn't make the same mistakes.
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Parent Induced Helplessness Syndrome
Today's post is more about helicopter parents, hyper parents and all the other types of parent induced helplessness that abounds today.
I call such things Parent Induced Helplessness Syndrome (PIHS, pronounced "piss").
Its a condition whereby children are so over-dependent on their parents, teachers or other adults to make even the simplest decisions that they are psychologically incapable of doing so, even when they become adults. And if they do make decisions, its often the wrong ones.
Here are some examples that everyone has heard of:
Kids who need their parents to canvass or sell on behalf of scouts/guides/brownies/campfire girls, etc. because they are too lazy or otherwise involved with the internet or organized activities to do it themselves.
Parents who do their kid's school projects or homework for them because they want them to get "good grades". This is self-explanatory.
Parents who schedule their kids' lives from the age of 6 months until they are 16 or 18 with constant involvement in sports, arts, music, dance and other structured activities so that they "will not miss out". Let them find out on their own what they are interested in, do not force these on them. No-one will ever mis out if they are not interested in the first place.
Parents who never let their kids run around outside with the neighborhood kids because "its too dangerous outside". The real facts are that your kids have around a .000001% chance of being snatched from your neighborhood and an 85% chance of them being abused by either a family friend of relative. Give your kids the benefit of the doubt when it comes to street smarts. Billions of kids have lived in their neighborhoods before yours have and never got snatched. Its only the rare ones who do.
Parents who accompany their kids to job interviews. If I were an employer and saw this, the kids would never get hired. I wouldn't even interview them, because their parents would answer all the questions and it shows no independence on the part of the kids.
Parents who accompany their kids to university and college orientations and the like. Like the job interviews, I would never let the kids into the schools until they showed initiative. I would always suspect that their parents were secretly doing their homework for them.
Parents who use cell phone GPS systems to track their kids movements 24/7. If you don't trust your kids, who do you trust?
Parents who refuse to set boundaries for their kids and yet never let them know right from wrong. Kids need boundaries and discipline to be shown what their physical and mental limits really are. That is the role of parents and educators. Kids are not in charge of the adult world for good reason; they can't handle it most of the time.
Parents who structure their every day around their kids' needs and activities so much that they (the parents) burn out. You do not need to spend all of your waking time with them to know where they are or what they are doing. You only need to trust them to do what is right for themselves.
Parents who force their kids to socialize at all costs, even if they really don't want to. Kids will socialize when and where they will. You cannot force introverts to become extroverts just as you cannot physically change their eye colour. They are who they are and forcing social skills on them is only going to warp them into something they are not going to be.
Parents who never have any time to educate their kids about morals and ethics, leaving these up to the ineffective school systems. Ethics and morals are taught by example, not by textbooks. If you are not demonstrating these to them every day by your own conduct and decisions, you are not doing your job as a parent.
Parents who lavish too much attention on their kids, caving in to their every need, no matter how outrageous. If you are not the parent, then who is? Are they in charge of your bank accounts?
Parents who want to be their kids' "best friend" instead of being the authority figure. Best friends do not impose discipline or boundaries like parents have to. Best friends let each other do what they want, when they want, no matter what the consequences are, even if it means jail time, physical injury or death.
Parents who let their kids call them by their first names (as well as other adults). This is a serious lack of respect being shown. Like wanting to be your kids' best friend, you are telling them that they are equals in responsibility and maturity. But that won't be the case until they grow up (if they ever can).
Parents who let professionals interfere with their natural rights as providers of discipline, order and safety in their kids' lives. The many doctors and other experts in child care do not see how they are interfering with the natural course of events. They see dollar signs when parents come to them with problems, not children doing what comes naturally to them.; testing boundaries.
Parents who never use reasonable force to discipline their kids. All criminal codes allow for parents to use reasonable force when disciplining their kids. That means they can be spanked or slapped on the wrist when young enough to know that what they are doing is not good for them. They can be given curfews or denied privileges when older. Other species of mammals always use such measures to keep their young from harm's way or to teach them the social order. People have been doing this for countless generations, so why did we stop?
Parents who buy their kids' affection with gifts all the time and for no reason. Not only does this give them a sense of entitlement far out of proportion to who they really are and what they deserve, but it doesn't teach them the value of money. They do not "need" anything more than the basic necessities of life. iPods, iPads, cell phones and other luxury gadgets are never going to be necessities, ever. The same goes for designer clothes, designer shoes, bikes and other items that cost a lot of money and are trendy.
Parents who have no boundaries or discipline themselves. Kids generally mimic what they see their parents do, if they can. Career criminals often have career criminal kids. The same goes for the generations on welfare.
Its probably not fair to single out parents in this mess all the time, but who do kids usually spend most of the time with, other than peer groups and teachers? Their families and parents.
Purely and simply, everyone knows some kids whose lives are messed up in one or more of the above ways and the current generation of twenty-somethings and teens and tweens know no other way of being. Many of them are from affluent middle or upper class families with a few from lower class families.
The constant trait among them all is an unwillingness to understand that they are not the "precious snowflakes" their parents have made them out to be and the world does not and has never owed them a living.
Nope, what the last 30 years of liberal parenting has done is create what I call Parent Induced Helplessness Syndrome, where every major and many minor decisions made by kids have to made by their parents or with so much parental involvement that they are really not making the decisions at all. It is increasingly apparent that few of these "precious snowflakes" have the critical thinking skills or decision making abilities to do much on their own. And when they do, its usually the wrong things with the wrong results.
Parent Induced Helplessness Syndrome (PIHS pronounced "piss") is a very real problem and one that the experts are not going to cure anytime soon. They are too busy making money by interfering with parent's rights to even study it.
So parents, stop doing the trendy helicopter/hyper parenting thing and ask your grandparents (unless they were hippies or New Agers) how to take control over your household and prevent this common and dangerous social disease from spreading.
Go back to a time when parents were parents and kids had few options but to obey you and knew their true boundaries. Generations upon generations did this before you did, so do it, for your children's sake.
I call such things Parent Induced Helplessness Syndrome (PIHS, pronounced "piss").
Its a condition whereby children are so over-dependent on their parents, teachers or other adults to make even the simplest decisions that they are psychologically incapable of doing so, even when they become adults. And if they do make decisions, its often the wrong ones.
Here are some examples that everyone has heard of:
Kids who need their parents to canvass or sell on behalf of scouts/guides/brownies/campfire girls, etc. because they are too lazy or otherwise involved with the internet or organized activities to do it themselves.
Parents who do their kid's school projects or homework for them because they want them to get "good grades". This is self-explanatory.
Parents who schedule their kids' lives from the age of 6 months until they are 16 or 18 with constant involvement in sports, arts, music, dance and other structured activities so that they "will not miss out". Let them find out on their own what they are interested in, do not force these on them. No-one will ever mis out if they are not interested in the first place.
Parents who never let their kids run around outside with the neighborhood kids because "its too dangerous outside". The real facts are that your kids have around a .000001% chance of being snatched from your neighborhood and an 85% chance of them being abused by either a family friend of relative. Give your kids the benefit of the doubt when it comes to street smarts. Billions of kids have lived in their neighborhoods before yours have and never got snatched. Its only the rare ones who do.
Parents who accompany their kids to job interviews. If I were an employer and saw this, the kids would never get hired. I wouldn't even interview them, because their parents would answer all the questions and it shows no independence on the part of the kids.
Parents who accompany their kids to university and college orientations and the like. Like the job interviews, I would never let the kids into the schools until they showed initiative. I would always suspect that their parents were secretly doing their homework for them.
Parents who use cell phone GPS systems to track their kids movements 24/7. If you don't trust your kids, who do you trust?
Parents who refuse to set boundaries for their kids and yet never let them know right from wrong. Kids need boundaries and discipline to be shown what their physical and mental limits really are. That is the role of parents and educators. Kids are not in charge of the adult world for good reason; they can't handle it most of the time.
Parents who structure their every day around their kids' needs and activities so much that they (the parents) burn out. You do not need to spend all of your waking time with them to know where they are or what they are doing. You only need to trust them to do what is right for themselves.
Parents who force their kids to socialize at all costs, even if they really don't want to. Kids will socialize when and where they will. You cannot force introverts to become extroverts just as you cannot physically change their eye colour. They are who they are and forcing social skills on them is only going to warp them into something they are not going to be.
Parents who never have any time to educate their kids about morals and ethics, leaving these up to the ineffective school systems. Ethics and morals are taught by example, not by textbooks. If you are not demonstrating these to them every day by your own conduct and decisions, you are not doing your job as a parent.
Parents who lavish too much attention on their kids, caving in to their every need, no matter how outrageous. If you are not the parent, then who is? Are they in charge of your bank accounts?
Parents who want to be their kids' "best friend" instead of being the authority figure. Best friends do not impose discipline or boundaries like parents have to. Best friends let each other do what they want, when they want, no matter what the consequences are, even if it means jail time, physical injury or death.
Parents who let their kids call them by their first names (as well as other adults). This is a serious lack of respect being shown. Like wanting to be your kids' best friend, you are telling them that they are equals in responsibility and maturity. But that won't be the case until they grow up (if they ever can).
Parents who let professionals interfere with their natural rights as providers of discipline, order and safety in their kids' lives. The many doctors and other experts in child care do not see how they are interfering with the natural course of events. They see dollar signs when parents come to them with problems, not children doing what comes naturally to them.; testing boundaries.
Parents who never use reasonable force to discipline their kids. All criminal codes allow for parents to use reasonable force when disciplining their kids. That means they can be spanked or slapped on the wrist when young enough to know that what they are doing is not good for them. They can be given curfews or denied privileges when older. Other species of mammals always use such measures to keep their young from harm's way or to teach them the social order. People have been doing this for countless generations, so why did we stop?
Parents who buy their kids' affection with gifts all the time and for no reason. Not only does this give them a sense of entitlement far out of proportion to who they really are and what they deserve, but it doesn't teach them the value of money. They do not "need" anything more than the basic necessities of life. iPods, iPads, cell phones and other luxury gadgets are never going to be necessities, ever. The same goes for designer clothes, designer shoes, bikes and other items that cost a lot of money and are trendy.
Parents who have no boundaries or discipline themselves. Kids generally mimic what they see their parents do, if they can. Career criminals often have career criminal kids. The same goes for the generations on welfare.
Its probably not fair to single out parents in this mess all the time, but who do kids usually spend most of the time with, other than peer groups and teachers? Their families and parents.
Purely and simply, everyone knows some kids whose lives are messed up in one or more of the above ways and the current generation of twenty-somethings and teens and tweens know no other way of being. Many of them are from affluent middle or upper class families with a few from lower class families.
The constant trait among them all is an unwillingness to understand that they are not the "precious snowflakes" their parents have made them out to be and the world does not and has never owed them a living.
Nope, what the last 30 years of liberal parenting has done is create what I call Parent Induced Helplessness Syndrome, where every major and many minor decisions made by kids have to made by their parents or with so much parental involvement that they are really not making the decisions at all. It is increasingly apparent that few of these "precious snowflakes" have the critical thinking skills or decision making abilities to do much on their own. And when they do, its usually the wrong things with the wrong results.
Parent Induced Helplessness Syndrome (PIHS pronounced "piss") is a very real problem and one that the experts are not going to cure anytime soon. They are too busy making money by interfering with parent's rights to even study it.
So parents, stop doing the trendy helicopter/hyper parenting thing and ask your grandparents (unless they were hippies or New Agers) how to take control over your household and prevent this common and dangerous social disease from spreading.
Go back to a time when parents were parents and kids had few options but to obey you and knew their true boundaries. Generations upon generations did this before you did, so do it, for your children's sake.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
the Japan Quake
I had plans to post another rant soon, but real life happened several thousand miles away and it needs addressing.
Last Friday, a massive 9.0 earthquake hit the northeast coast of Japan, nearly wiping out the region. It has left millions of people without homes. Thousands of people are dead (and the death toll could be over 20,000 when all is said and done). The entire country is running rolling blackouts to conserve energy and, most important for everyone, at least four nuclear reactors have been damaged releasing radiation into the atmosphere.
The death toll could have been worse. The government installed the world's most sophisticated early warning system for detecting earthquakes and it helped tremendously.
Which brings me to request that people give to the Red Cross's relief fund. In Canada, you can text "Asia" to 30333 to donate, courtesy of Rogers Communication.
Now on to a mini-rant.
What gives people the right to claim that the earthquake was the result of the Japanese people not embracing X, Y or Z religion/ideology. Almost as soon as the disaster happened, wingnuts from the far ends of the religious spectrum issued statements to that effect and it makes me ill. Statements suggesting this have come from the far ends of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. No doubt others, such as radical pagans and environmentalists will chime in with similar crazed statements.
Nobody, least of all villagers and townspeople just living their lives quietly, deserves anything like what happened, ever.
Its the truly small-minded, idiotic and superstitious people of the world who would insist that their way is the "right" and "true" way to live and blame people's behaviour for uncontrollable acts of nature. I'm just waiting for a fatwa to be issued, blaming Japan for not embracing Islam.
Which point brings me to another, important, point about fatwas and earthquakes and such. Iran blamed the "American-Zionist conspiracy" for their quake which happened last year. How ridiculous and hypocritical.
When a non-Muslim country gets hit by a natural disaster, its a sign that they are not living according to the koran and Islam. When a Muslim country gets hit by the same type of disaster, its not because the people themselves are bad, but because of this imaginary "American-Zionist conspiracy". How do they think that the US and Israel can control tectonic plates in exactly the same way that their deity does? This is presumptuous as they are claiming that the US and Israel have the same level of powers over the world and natural forces as their deity. Such hypocrisy. Yet for many millions of ignorant, ill-educated and illiterate people, this stupidity is believed.
Such people exist in every religion and ideology.
So, to all those who will blame the Japanese for this earthquake because they didn't embrace whatever ideology that you do, go blow. Its not your place to judge others and its utterly ridiculous to assume that nature cares on whit about who believes what. Get a grip. Natural disasters can happen to anyone, not just "the unbelievers" of the world. When something like this happens to you, will you blame yourself, or try to survive intact?
The choice is up to you, not some remote religious or ideological authority..
Last Friday, a massive 9.0 earthquake hit the northeast coast of Japan, nearly wiping out the region. It has left millions of people without homes. Thousands of people are dead (and the death toll could be over 20,000 when all is said and done). The entire country is running rolling blackouts to conserve energy and, most important for everyone, at least four nuclear reactors have been damaged releasing radiation into the atmosphere.
The death toll could have been worse. The government installed the world's most sophisticated early warning system for detecting earthquakes and it helped tremendously.
Which brings me to request that people give to the Red Cross's relief fund. In Canada, you can text "Asia" to 30333 to donate, courtesy of Rogers Communication.
Now on to a mini-rant.
What gives people the right to claim that the earthquake was the result of the Japanese people not embracing X, Y or Z religion/ideology. Almost as soon as the disaster happened, wingnuts from the far ends of the religious spectrum issued statements to that effect and it makes me ill. Statements suggesting this have come from the far ends of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. No doubt others, such as radical pagans and environmentalists will chime in with similar crazed statements.
Nobody, least of all villagers and townspeople just living their lives quietly, deserves anything like what happened, ever.
Its the truly small-minded, idiotic and superstitious people of the world who would insist that their way is the "right" and "true" way to live and blame people's behaviour for uncontrollable acts of nature. I'm just waiting for a fatwa to be issued, blaming Japan for not embracing Islam.
Which point brings me to another, important, point about fatwas and earthquakes and such. Iran blamed the "American-Zionist conspiracy" for their quake which happened last year. How ridiculous and hypocritical.
When a non-Muslim country gets hit by a natural disaster, its a sign that they are not living according to the koran and Islam. When a Muslim country gets hit by the same type of disaster, its not because the people themselves are bad, but because of this imaginary "American-Zionist conspiracy". How do they think that the US and Israel can control tectonic plates in exactly the same way that their deity does? This is presumptuous as they are claiming that the US and Israel have the same level of powers over the world and natural forces as their deity. Such hypocrisy. Yet for many millions of ignorant, ill-educated and illiterate people, this stupidity is believed.
Such people exist in every religion and ideology.
So, to all those who will blame the Japanese for this earthquake because they didn't embrace whatever ideology that you do, go blow. Its not your place to judge others and its utterly ridiculous to assume that nature cares on whit about who believes what. Get a grip. Natural disasters can happen to anyone, not just "the unbelievers" of the world. When something like this happens to you, will you blame yourself, or try to survive intact?
The choice is up to you, not some remote religious or ideological authority..
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Hyper Parents
Last night, my wife watched a CBC documentary called Hyper Parents, Coddled Kids. This documentary aired just under a year ago and it really hit the nail on the head when it demonstrated that today's hyper-vigilant, hyper-indulgent parents are doing far more damage to their kids than they suspect.
I urge people, especially parents, to watch the documentary on-line to get a rude awakening.
I may sound like a broken record, but I say that this happened as a result of the fearful 1980s when all of a sudden, parents and "experts" in child care began to interfere with the normal growth and development of children in North America. Since then, parents all over the continent, especially middle-class and upper-class parents, have taken it upon themselves to actively monitor, interfere with and damage their kids because "an expert told them so".
As the saying goes, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
My wife told me that the documentary did not point the finger at all of those who are responsible for people like "fountain girl" and her generation.
They forgot to point the finger at all child experts who run interference in childhood. From pediatricians to child psychologists and child psychiatrists, and everyone in between, these people have prevented parents from doing what is instinctive in people: being parents.
If they have to use physical punishment, then they should, within reason. If they have to let their kids fail, then let them fail. Perhaps they will learn from their mistakes.
What is increasingly apparent is that there may be a correlation between the rise in autism and the hyper parenting that is done.
Could it be possible that without free play or 'normal' growth development, kids are not longer learning proper social skills, even without really being autistic? Could it be that because their lives have been so regimented and scheduled by over-bearing parents that they cannot socialize well?
Think about it.
From pre-birth to the time they enter college and university, today's kids have had their parents schedule their lives for them, make their decisions for them and even determine what their careers are going to be. Kids have no more freedom to be who they want to be.
And without facing the consequences of free play, where kids get bullied, hurt and shamed, they have no sense of empathy or right and wrong. Everything then becomes relative, there are no more rules that apply equally to everyone. Some become "more equal" than others.
I will leave with two paragraphs from the article accompanying the documentary that illustrate how extensive the problem is:
"Many parents take it upon themselves to fill out application forms and write the admissions essay on their child's behalf. Some even follow their pampered progeny right into the workplace - attending job interviews and even trying to negotiate salary and contracts."
"As the first batch of hyper-parented kids (Generation Y) emerges into adulthood, they do not seem to be quite ready for the real world. University psychologists report today's students experience higher levels of anxiety than any generation before them. And employers are pulling their hair out as Gen Y employees show up at work with an unprecedented sense of entitlement - 'Paying your dues' is not part of their vernacular. They require a lot of supervision and they challenge everything from dress code to office hierarchy."
For those who have come before this molly-coddled generation, this is bad news. Very bad news.
Not only do these kids feel entitled to everything, they are increasingly willing to commit crimes in order to get those things.
The upshot of this entire situation is that parents and experts alike are afraid of setting boundaries for kids and they are afraid of discipline. They are the two cornerstones of raising kids to be healthy, responsible adults.
All else is pure fantasy and hyper parenting.
I urge people, especially parents, to watch the documentary on-line to get a rude awakening.
I may sound like a broken record, but I say that this happened as a result of the fearful 1980s when all of a sudden, parents and "experts" in child care began to interfere with the normal growth and development of children in North America. Since then, parents all over the continent, especially middle-class and upper-class parents, have taken it upon themselves to actively monitor, interfere with and damage their kids because "an expert told them so".
As the saying goes, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
My wife told me that the documentary did not point the finger at all of those who are responsible for people like "fountain girl" and her generation.
They forgot to point the finger at all child experts who run interference in childhood. From pediatricians to child psychologists and child psychiatrists, and everyone in between, these people have prevented parents from doing what is instinctive in people: being parents.
If they have to use physical punishment, then they should, within reason. If they have to let their kids fail, then let them fail. Perhaps they will learn from their mistakes.
What is increasingly apparent is that there may be a correlation between the rise in autism and the hyper parenting that is done.
Could it be possible that without free play or 'normal' growth development, kids are not longer learning proper social skills, even without really being autistic? Could it be that because their lives have been so regimented and scheduled by over-bearing parents that they cannot socialize well?
Think about it.
From pre-birth to the time they enter college and university, today's kids have had their parents schedule their lives for them, make their decisions for them and even determine what their careers are going to be. Kids have no more freedom to be who they want to be.
And without facing the consequences of free play, where kids get bullied, hurt and shamed, they have no sense of empathy or right and wrong. Everything then becomes relative, there are no more rules that apply equally to everyone. Some become "more equal" than others.
I will leave with two paragraphs from the article accompanying the documentary that illustrate how extensive the problem is:
"Many parents take it upon themselves to fill out application forms and write the admissions essay on their child's behalf. Some even follow their pampered progeny right into the workplace - attending job interviews and even trying to negotiate salary and contracts."
"As the first batch of hyper-parented kids (Generation Y) emerges into adulthood, they do not seem to be quite ready for the real world. University psychologists report today's students experience higher levels of anxiety than any generation before them. And employers are pulling their hair out as Gen Y employees show up at work with an unprecedented sense of entitlement - 'Paying your dues' is not part of their vernacular. They require a lot of supervision and they challenge everything from dress code to office hierarchy."
For those who have come before this molly-coddled generation, this is bad news. Very bad news.
Not only do these kids feel entitled to everything, they are increasingly willing to commit crimes in order to get those things.
The upshot of this entire situation is that parents and experts alike are afraid of setting boundaries for kids and they are afraid of discipline. They are the two cornerstones of raising kids to be healthy, responsible adults.
All else is pure fantasy and hyper parenting.
Friday, January 21, 2011
Fountain Girl is the Poster Girl of her generation
Here's a good one that happened the other day.
Cathy Cruz Marrero was walking along and texting when she didn't realize that there was a fountain right in front of her so naturally, she fell in.
This was captured on a security video, which was most likely uploaded to a phone camera and then onto the web, where it went viral with over 1 million hits before the first day of release was over.
No-one could see her face, and even though it was funny to many people, the woman stepped forward, identified herself and then proceeded to seek legal redress for something that was her fault.
Had she not gone public with her identity, this story would have lasted around a day or two, then vanished. But no, she had to make more of a fool of herself and seek a legal remedy to what should have been better left alone. Now the world knows how idiotic she was and how the legal system can reward stupidity with what may amount to a monetary settlement, if it ever gets to court.
I hope that it never does and that she and her lawyer are charged with wasting the court's time on a very trivial matter. But that may not likely happen, since there are two things in her favour.
One: the US justice system rewards greed and stupidity in force, not because these things should be rewarded, but because corporations like those that run the mall where she fell have better things to do with their time and money than fight a frivolous lawsuit. So they often will settle out of court.
Two: because she is of that generation of twenty-somethings who thinks nothing of trying to get money for nothing so that she can live on easy street. At least until the money runs out, and nine times out of ten, most people who get large sums of cash usually go bankrupt during the first five years after receiving it. At least that is what happens to most lottery winners who go from rags to riches and never learned how to save.
Because she is of that generation, she also has the backing of her parent(s) who will make it their business to see to it that she cashes in on what should never have been an issue in the first place. The fact is that even as a toddler, you are taught that you have to watch where you are going, otherwise you may trip and fall or run into things.
Its elementary knowledge that we have eyes in front of our heads for a good reason, and that reason is not so that you can text away your life on trivial matters.
I'm glad that two things that have come from this incident.
One: that she wasn't driving and hit some pedestrian. Or that she didn't get hit by a car (though that may be debatable in light of her lawsuit).
Two: "Marrero says she'll never walk and text again."
Should she get anything from the courts, it should ideally be a reprimand and a warning that the courts are not there to teach common sense.
As such, I think that she is the poster girl of all that is truly wrong with her generation.
Cathy Cruz Marrero was walking along and texting when she didn't realize that there was a fountain right in front of her so naturally, she fell in.
This was captured on a security video, which was most likely uploaded to a phone camera and then onto the web, where it went viral with over 1 million hits before the first day of release was over.
No-one could see her face, and even though it was funny to many people, the woman stepped forward, identified herself and then proceeded to seek legal redress for something that was her fault.
Had she not gone public with her identity, this story would have lasted around a day or two, then vanished. But no, she had to make more of a fool of herself and seek a legal remedy to what should have been better left alone. Now the world knows how idiotic she was and how the legal system can reward stupidity with what may amount to a monetary settlement, if it ever gets to court.
I hope that it never does and that she and her lawyer are charged with wasting the court's time on a very trivial matter. But that may not likely happen, since there are two things in her favour.
One: the US justice system rewards greed and stupidity in force, not because these things should be rewarded, but because corporations like those that run the mall where she fell have better things to do with their time and money than fight a frivolous lawsuit. So they often will settle out of court.
Two: because she is of that generation of twenty-somethings who thinks nothing of trying to get money for nothing so that she can live on easy street. At least until the money runs out, and nine times out of ten, most people who get large sums of cash usually go bankrupt during the first five years after receiving it. At least that is what happens to most lottery winners who go from rags to riches and never learned how to save.
Because she is of that generation, she also has the backing of her parent(s) who will make it their business to see to it that she cashes in on what should never have been an issue in the first place. The fact is that even as a toddler, you are taught that you have to watch where you are going, otherwise you may trip and fall or run into things.
Its elementary knowledge that we have eyes in front of our heads for a good reason, and that reason is not so that you can text away your life on trivial matters.
I'm glad that two things that have come from this incident.
One: that she wasn't driving and hit some pedestrian. Or that she didn't get hit by a car (though that may be debatable in light of her lawsuit).
Two: "Marrero says she'll never walk and text again."
Should she get anything from the courts, it should ideally be a reprimand and a warning that the courts are not there to teach common sense.
As such, I think that she is the poster girl of all that is truly wrong with her generation.
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