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| Group of children in a primary school in Paris (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
The Current Topic
Did you hear about the horrific attack on school children that occurred last Friday? No, I'm not talking about the deplorable event in Connecticut. The one I'm referring to mostly got lost in that news. This attack involved a madman in China who slashed 22 children and one adult with a knife. According to the last report I heard they all survived. Similar attacks in that country in 2010 and 2011 left 21 dead and 90 or so wounded.
Since the debate on banning guns or greatly limiting availability of these weapons has resurfaced (if it ever was silenced), I think it's worth looking at the sad events in China. For me it puts to question the fervor for banning guns. But this will be my topic for another day. Today you can make it yours.
Or, taking into consideration that we still don't know everything about Adam Lanza and the facts that might offer some kind of an explanation of why he did what he did, with what we do know, what are some other things we might want to consider banning or enforcing better?
What About These?
Should we ban violent video games? Violence in movies and TV shows?
Should we ban divorce? Or at least make it very difficult to get one?
Should we make it far more difficult to get married? To have children?
Do children need to go through more rigorous psychological assessments to make sure they aren't potentially dangerous or destructive?
Do parents need to undergo training to raise children properly and be aware of maladjustment?
Do we need "parenting police" to make sure kids are being raised right?
Should kids who act "weird" or different be reported so authorities can watch them more closely?
Should we ban certain kinds of foods and food additives that may have an adverse effect on development or behavior?
Like I said at the beginning, right now I'm just tossing out for your consideration some other things we might want to look at that may contribute to tragedies such as the Connecticut shootings. Usually the most obvious thing is what the public, the politicians, and the media focus on. Let's consider all the possible roots of the problem before we get too hasty in jumping to conclusions about what we need to do to prevent these sorts of tragedies.
What do you think? How much government control do we need? How much control do we want?
