Are children today being taught to fear?

[Wiyld]

There is a huge difference between 'fearing' guns and 'respecting' guns.

Many of us 'crazy gun culture nut jobs' in the USA learn to respect guns at a very very young age.

What does this mean?

It means our bowels don't turn to jelly when we see a gun. We make intelligent assessments of the gun. Is it being handled responsibly and safely?

If not then we know to react the same way we would in any other potentially dangerous situation.

When I see a teenager driving his car around like an asshole, I know to stay out of his way and just avoid falling victim to his stupidity. If it is bad enough maybe I even call the cops to put a stop to it. It doesn't strike terror in me so that I run screaming for help.

However overused the old 'guns don't kill people, people kill people' might be, it is so very relevant in this particular situation. Knowing what a gun is, knowing how a gun works, understanding the power and respecting the danger inherent to a gun is healthy in a world where no matter how hard you try to eradicate them all, guns do, and will continue, to exist.


Maybe instead of immediately punishing a kid for 'shooting' his friends with his finger on the playground, supervisory adults could do what every other parent does when they want their kid to stop something....just change the subject. "Hey guys, why don't you play tag'? "Hey guys, why don't we go get the chalk out and draw on the cement?' "Hey guys why don't we do get the toy trucks out and drive em around the lot?' But no, lets keep slamming these kids with harsh penalties in order to push our own personal agendas.

[Deleted]

Everybody is being taugth to fear. Fear sells news and fear helps control populations.

And yes, we also wrap our kids too much into a pink cotton ball. We are creating a generation of complaining softies who think they get extra rigths when they feel offended or when they are unhappy with anything.



Also, this, yes. We are not created in the first place, and we are also not created equal. Tell that to somebody with a physical handicap. He will try to hit you.

Thats a pretty cruel thing to joke about, funny though.

[Yami]

*Blink*

That is one of the truest statements I have read on these forums. People are created equal. They don't remain so.

All men…are NOT created equal! Some are born smarter, or more beautiful, or with parents of greater status. Some, by contrast, are born weak of body or mind, or with few, if any, talents. All men are different!

[Templar 331]

Everybody is being taugth to fear. Fear sells news and fear helps control populations.

And yes, we also wrap our kids too much into a pink cotton ball. We are creating a generation of complaining softies who think they get extra rigths when they feel offended or when they are unhappy with anything.

Looking at past generations, I think it's always been like this. Look at the FCC and it's censoring of television and radio. When did that start? 60s-70s?

Also, this, yes. We are not created in the first place, and we are also not created equal. Tell that to somebody with a physical handicap. He will try to hit you.

If you want to get technical, the sperm hits the egg the same way every time. So we are created equal. :P

[Bakis]

Also, this, yes. We are not created in the first place, and we are also not created equal. Tell that to somebody with a physical handicap. He will try to hit you.

Why would he or she punch someone?

[Santti]

"A 6-year-old boy was suspended from his school in Silver Spring, Md., on Jan. 3 for pointing his finger at another student and saying “pow.”

/facepalm.

[Kathandira]

If we think the US is bad now...just wait for these kids to take the country over when we are older.

This terrifies me.

[Ratboy]

The problem is "zero tolerance". If there is anything to do with a gun, you are automatically punished, it doesn't matter what the context is. Kid aren't allowed to play tag any more because it's physical contact and it centers one person as being different. Parents want to protect their kids from everything that the media tells them is "bad". When I was in grade 2 (about 20 years ago) I brought a 6" pocket knife to school, it was in my coat pocket from when I was playing outside the night before (I grew up on a farm). I told my teacher and her reply was "leave it in your pocket and don't tell anyone about it" , now if that was to happen the cops would be called, I would probably be taken away and worse probably lose my the knife my dad gave me.

[Wiyld]

Before we go too far off the deep end discussing how equal we all are or are not, lets be clear about the context of the statement.

"All men are created equal..' Is a popular statement in political policy, in my mind it has less to do with details like physical prowess or personal beauty, and more to do with a foundation of rights. To me it means that we are all born into a guarantee of essential protections that allow us to grow into whatever we might be. We are born into the same social contract no matter our status or the details of our body.

I guess one could take the statement extremely literally, and to some degree then it has to be true within the constraints of a few variations. Everybody was 'created' by a bit of genetic info being injected into a human egg. Most of us were 'created' the old fashion way, or should I say our parents particular take on the old fashion way. A few might have come from a lab, but the essence is the same, although I think we can agree one of them is a lot more fun .

I think the "All men are created equal..' statement has been twisted to support too many agendas today. ( To be fair, what hasn't ) As plenty of posters have pointed out we are NOT all created as facsimile of 'human'. We come in an endless diversity of appearance, shape, capability and thought. There has been far to much 'mold stuffing' going on in society as of late.

What we really need to do is recognize the mutual strength that comes from respecting our social contract while celebrating our individualism. Do not seek to bring those better then you down, celebrate their strengths with them and they just might return the favor.

[Deleted]

They should be taught that real guns, and all weapons are dangerous, but to punish them over a toy ? That slike firing someone from work for collecting Warhammer stuff and claiming they are a danger to the workplace ; /

They should be taught how you deal with anything dangerous, be it gun, power tool, lawn mower, etc: if you don't know how to use it, learn before touching it.

I feel it is a good thing to put the fear of a firearm in a child early. But to do that through punishing them is a step in the wrong direction. Maybe make a "Firearms Awareness" week. Teach them about the risks and dangers of guns. Teach them about the deaths that come from people using them. Not to the point of them hating guns, just enough to give them fear of using them at an age where they don't know the consequences.

Fear is irrational, respect would be better.

[Templar 331]

They should be taught how you deal with anything dangerous, be it gun, power tool, lawn mower, etc: if you don't know how to use it, learn before touching it.


Fear is irrational, respect would be better.

Being afraid of something that can kill you is rational. You are less likely to respect something that you are not afraid of. I'm not saying you won't respect it, just less likely.

[Deleted]

Being afraid of something that can kill you is rational. You are less likely to respect something that you are not afraid of. I'm not saying you won't respect it, just less likely.

Fear can cause unsafe handling.

[valliant13]

This is the big problem that is developing, people expect to be treated equally when the truth is that no one is equal, you have to fight for good opportunities in life and children are no longer being taught that lesson.

Such a good point. It really is sad that things are getting this pathetic with the children now.

[Templar 331]

Fear can cause unsafe handling.

How? If you're afraid of a gun killing you or someone else, you're not going to do something stupid with it. You aren't going to point it at anyone or anything. If your really afraid of it, you won't even touch it. Just because someone is afraid of something doesn't mean they are going to go into panic mode and go crazy.

[Deleted]

How? If you're afraid of a gun killing you or someone else, you're not going to do something stupid with it. You aren't going to point it at anyone or anything. If your really afraid of it, you won't even touch it. Just because someone is afraid of something doesn't mean they are going to go into panic mode and go crazy.

Fear can cause a child to leave the firearm alone. respect and training can let the child pick it up, unload it and make it safe before some screaming "adult" grabs it and does something daft.

[Deleted]

In any off those cases, I'd either take it to the media and blow it up as a lesson to the school or remove my child from said school. Since in the future it will be hard as fuck to find a school for children I'l probably blow it up in the media.

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Fear can cause a child to leave the firearm alone. respect and training can let the child pick it up, unload it and make it safe before some screaming "adult" grabs it and does something daft.

Why teach them anything next to hurting people is bad? I can't remember my parents or any of my friends ever being taught specificly that guns are bad...and we played the hell out of pretending to be in or be soldier, cops, zombie invasion, alien invasions.

Let kids play and let's be less of dramaqueens.

This comes from someone living in Belgium though, where close to nobody has a gun at home.

[Forgettable]

Back in my day, playgrounds were made of wood that gave nasty splinters and had annoying bars everywhere that you always bonked your head on. I learned to be careful. Learning perseverance in the face of adversity is good for you. Overcoming challenges teaches children (nay, everyone). To take away the chance of failure, how will anyone succeed? I blame all of the safety obsessed people.

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Fear is irrational, respect would be better.

There is such a thing as a healthy fear of something, which is almost synonymous with respect. I have a healthy fear of the burners on my stove. I know they can hurt me, so I take caution not to let them, but that doesn't stop me from using them properly.

[DSRilk]

I think the protecting the youth of EVERYTHING in general is getting out of hand. They will have no life skills when they are older. To me one of the best things to learn life skills is sports. However nobody loses in youth sports now. My son plays soccer and its completely uncompetitive(nobody keeps score) but there was a game he played where they got eight goals and the opposing team got zero and the coach of the "losing" team asked if they could just take turns with the ball instead of actually play the sport the way its meant to be played(not like they do anyways its 3v3 with no goalies and the goals are about 2 feet tall and 2.5 feet wide. Losing is an integral part in life and these kids are being brought up like they will always be winners and get rewarded for mediocrity. If we think the US is bad now...just wait for these kids to take the country over when we are older.

Being over-protective is way too common, imo. However, it will have little impact on "life skills" as I see it.

Additionally, the type of soccer you seem to be alluding to isn't really soccer - it's a way for little kids who aren't even old enough to keep track of the score themselves to get out, run around, kick a ball, and be indoctrinated into the best religion on the planet: soccer! That said, it's not like I haven't been there myself as a parent, and find it a bit unnecessary. Like many things related to children and what they should experience, it's self regulating. When a child is 5 and "playing soccer" keeping score really is pointless as it's more about luck or which team has the most brazen child on it. As they get older, they will keep score themselves even if you won't want them too, so it's a moot point.

[Templar 331]

Fear can cause a child to leave the firearm alone. respect and training can let the child pick it up, unload it and make it safe before some screaming "adult" grabs it and does something daft.

Not really following your logic. So a kid afraid of a gun wouldn't touch it, but an adult would go crazy and mishandle it?

[Deleted]

Not really following your logic. So a kid afraid of a gun wouldn't touch it, but an adult would go crazy and mishandle it?

Adults can often be dumber than the children, this thread and the link posted prove that. An adult might pick up the weapon to keep it away from the kids, becoming a great threat himself if he is incompetent.