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The day I accidentally killed a little boy

bbc.co.uk

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Re: The day I accidentally killed a little boy

#71

Post by francisofascii »

tedchs wrote: post #22
francisofascii wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right. It is interesting to read the early history of the automobile in the U.S. Many of the pedestrian deaths in the early days were children. Speed governor laws were proposed but ultimately rejected. Motordom won the day. Now it is built into our society that people have to be super vigilant whenever we walk outside. Kids have to always be careful and limited to where they can play. It is sad how much of our freed…

Well, people had to be careful before the automobile too, you know. People could by killed by horses or wagons. The introduction of the automobile didn't make it suddenly unsafe to be in the street.

The key difference is speed. One of the earliest speeding laws considered was the automobile cannot go faster than a horse and wagon which is about 10-15 mph. It is much easier to stop in time, or get out of the way, when at 15 mph rather than 30 mph.

Re: The day I accidentally killed a little boy

#72

Post by friedButter »

How do you guys feel about the sort of mob justice that happens in such cases in India? She would have been lucky to get out alive since the neighbours\police would have beaten her to a pulp, but having been punished for it, likely would not have faced so much guilt through her life right?

Re: The day I accidentally killed a little boy

#73

Post by ajeet_dhaliwal »

erik_landerholm wrote: post #46
thriftwy wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the other hand, having more of them decreases your odds that you will face losing all of them. Imagine how parents live who had just one child, who died.

Dude...not how it works. Read the story. They had two...totally ruined their lives. You can argue they didn’t “handle it well” (blaming her when it was an obvious accident, not moving on together, leaving the room, etc), but the point is every child you have feels like your only child in many ways. I’m going to have to disagree with you here.

I have two children and you're right but what he may be saying is that at least you have some comfort in your remaining child/children.

Re: The day I accidentally killed a little boy

#74

Post by ballenf »

oneeyedpigeon wrote: post #3

You have to feel terribly sad for everyone involved here. The only place the blame can rest is humanity's desire to mix very fast, solid vehicles with very slow, squishy pedestrians in the same spaces. We're way too far down that rabbit-hole to address it, but hopefully self-driving cars (and less polluting cars, too) will start to reverse the damage done by the automobile, in the not-too distant future.

No innovation can survive one-sided scrutiny of this type:

you should at least factor in the number of children saved because of the availability of fast-moving vehicles to get them timely help.

Given the steady rise of childhood life expectancies during our fall down this "rabbit hole", your logic breaks down pretty catastrophically. At least without more support than comparing the relative squishiness of these two objects.

Re: The day I accidentally killed a little boy

#75

Post by chris_7 »

If someone fires a gun randomly down the street, not aiming at anyone, but happens to hit someone, they'd certainly be arrested. Drive a multi-thousand-pound projectile down the street, kill someone, and it's just an "accident".

The default needs to move to charging every driver involved in a fatal crash with manslaughter. Currently the police won't even perform basic investigative work that would make any charge possible.

Re: The day I accidentally killed a little boy

#76

Post by ajeet_dhaliwal »

friedButter wrote: post #72

How do you guys feel about the sort of mob justice that happens in such cases in India? She would have been lucky to get out alive since the neighbours\police would have beaten her to a pulp, but having been punished for it, likely would not have faced so much guilt through her life right?

It's sad that people can be so stupid in India, they often end up killing the wrong person or don't know the full facts of what happened.

Re: The day I accidentally killed a little boy

#77

Post by phkahler »

Xeoncross wrote: post #50

Such a sad story. > "The voice said in this very biblical, Old Testament, angry way" Is this what people consider "biblical"? An angry person? I've spent years reading the Pentateuch, writings, and new testament and I don't see this voice (I assume she means "God") as angry at all. Quite the opposite actually, as the narrative is [to the Jews] about God restoring them despite their rebellion and sin and [to the Chris…

>> Is this what people consider "biblical"? An angry person? I've spent years reading the Pentateuch, writings, and new testament...

No, it's the old testament god. The one who punished Adam and Eve, the one who decided humanity was such a disgrace he flooded the world to purge them - that angry god.

Re: The day I accidentally killed a little boy

#78

Post by jamiegreen »

Myrmornis wrote: post #66
qaq wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same and this is a really good idea

Non-parent here. I’m surprised to hear calls for a Netflix “safe space” from adults on HN rather than from whiny kids at a liberal arts college. It’s obvious that you’re sincere and that becoming a parent has affected you profoundly.

They didnt say the movies should be banned from Netflix, but rather that they would like to have some filter in order to avoid such movies.

Re: The day I accidentally killed a little boy

#79

Post by saturdaysaint »

WhitneyLand wrote: post #62
corpMaverick wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is really scary to think about it. But don't focus on what you might loose. Just be grateful for what you have. Try to enjoy every moment you have with them.

The problem with that advice is that is makes too much sense. In otherwords, most people would agree with it, but then comes the hard part. Fundamentally transforming default thinking patterns that have been etched deeply through years of habit and experience. Why leave out step 2? Can advice on step 1 be helpful without a plan for step 2?

Fundamentally transforming default thinking patterns that have been etched deeply through years of habit and experience.

...and hundreds of thousands of years of evolution. We are hard wired to spend an inordinate amount of time and attention on averting losses of all kinds, often to a degree that confounds any sort of cost/benefit analysis.

Re: The day I accidentally killed a little boy

#80

Post by jwineinger »

Pigo wrote: post #7

I can barely bring myself to read stories like this now. I never really thought about it before my son was born, but there's always this dread you live with in the back of your mind. This little helpless person has your life in it's hands. The world and fate is trying to take them out, and if they succeed you'd never recover. You can learn to live with pain, but I don't believe you ever get over something like that.

I'm the same. I see previews for tv/movies about kidnappings or other atrocities involving children and I just shake my head. NOPE. Why would I want to think about that more than I already do? The fear is too real for a father.
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