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Mom gets 6-month suspended sentence for letting 5-year-old walk to the pond

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Re: Mom gets 6-month suspended sentence for letting 5-year-old walk to the pond

#181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a high trust homogenous society without lots of different groups with all kinds of grievances about the past, present and the future. And it's probably rural, where everyone knows each other. When I read the headline, I sided with the mother. But a five-year old having to cross four roads in total to and from (with vehicles going up 25 mph legally, and who knows how fast illegally) is a bit much.

>homogenous society this is a racist dogwhistle. _Homogeneous_ is code for racial or ethnic purity.

It's okay to acknowledge that diversity has some downsides, and homogeny some upsides. We can be intellectually honest enough to admit this, right?

Re: Mom gets 6-month suspended sentence for letting 5-year-old walk to the pond

#182

Here in Switzerland children start walking to school at around 5-years. Parents aren't allowed to bring them to school. If a parent escorts their children to school they'll be told not to. If they keep doing it they'll get a letter from the school and probably a police visit. And if they continue (I never heard of it getting to this stage) they may be fined. It's funny in the morning. One child walks to another child…

Parents and Adults in America are often afraid. Sometimes rightfully so, sometimes not.

There is likely too much crime in urban areas for children to walk freely, and it could be dangerous to even try to walk in areas that barely have walkable streets.

Europe can let this happen since their city planning is much better for people who either walk or bike to different areas. Some, like in Switzerland, even have extremely low crime rates as well. Still, a sentencing seems rough for letting a kid walk, in a probably safe area.

Re: Mom gets 6-month suspended sentence for letting 5-year-old walk to the pond

#183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>homogenous society this is a racist dogwhistle. _Homogeneous_ is code for racial or ethnic purity.

It's okay to acknowledge that diversity has some downsides, and homogeny some upsides. We can be intellectually honest enough to admit this, right?

are you asking if it's ok to acknowledge the upsides of racial purity?

the things i read on hn...

Re: Mom gets 6-month suspended sentence for letting 5-year-old walk to the pond

#184
post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

American here, it seems to vary by location. I walked to school as a grade school student (Midwest) and where I live now (Orange county, California) I regularly see swarms of kids biking to school. This particular situation seems ridiculous. I’d be furious if I lived there.

The average income of Orange county California is over double the national. Safe to say this kind of lifestyle is reserved for the rich and not for the people.

>The average income of Orange county California is over double the national. Safe to say this kind of lifestyle is reserved for the rich and not for the people.

The average income where I lived when I was five was not (nor was my family's) "double the national" and I walked to school (kindergarten and first grade) along this route[0][2] every school day.

In fact I tried to go to school during hurricane Agnes[1] and the strong winds actually pushed me back up the hill, so I went home -- no big deal.

In fact, I haven't even thought about that in decades. Ahh, childhood memories!

[0] https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Directions+from+5800+arlington+ave...

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Agnes

[2] https://www.ps81.org/

Re: Mom gets 6-month suspended sentence for letting 5-year-old walk to the pond

#185

It blows my mind that a bunch of adults, prosecutors, CPS employees, etc all decided the fair, reasonable and best thing to do was prosecute and punish this mother.

Sounds like there is very little crime happening in their precious gated community that they've got to trump up everything they can to justify the budget wasted on them

Re: Mom gets 6-month suspended sentence for letting 5-year-old walk to the pond

#186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's okay to acknowledge that diversity has some downsides, and homogeny some upsides. We can be intellectually honest enough to admit this, right?

are you asking if it's ok to acknowledge the upsides of racial purity? the things i read on hn...

It isn't ok to acknowledge that racial (cultural) homogeny has any benefit to a society whatsoever?

Re: Mom gets 6-month suspended sentence for letting 5-year-old walk to the pond

#187
post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US has very low standards for its lifestyle. We're told we are number ONE in everything but in fact its usually 40 or 20 when you actually go look at things that matter. We never really notice because we think filling a big house in the suburbs with garbage from Costco is living the dream.

As a naturalized American who lived in 3 other countries including two in Europe and who travels often all over the world, married to a European, etc I must say the US has its perks and it’s definitely in my top 5 countries to live. I lived mostly in the south and the east coast so I don’t have a full picture of the US as a resident. But it’s the same in Europe, living in Berlin is very different than living in Sicil…

I don't know what you mean with family roadtrips being prohibited? Maybe too expensive, that's all I can think of. Cheap motels are rare and, obviously, fuel is much more expensive. All other necessities are easily available and legal.

Re: Mom gets 6-month suspended sentence for letting 5-year-old walk to the pond

#188

Here in Switzerland children start walking to school at around 5-years. Parents aren't allowed to bring them to school. If a parent escorts their children to school they'll be told not to. If they keep doing it they'll get a letter from the school and probably a police visit. And if they continue (I never heard of it getting to this stage) they may be fined. It's funny in the morning. One child walks to another child…

Parents and Adults in America are often afraid. Sometimes rightfully so, sometimes not. There is likely too much crime in urban areas for children to walk freely, and it could be dangerous to even try to walk in areas that barely have walkable streets. Europe can let this happen since their city planning is much better for people who either walk or bike to different areas. Some, like in Switzerland, even have extreme…

> There is likely too much crime in urban areas for children to walk freely

This is very much not true. If there are any urban areas that have too much crime for kids to walk freely, it's a vanishingly small percentage, and certainly does not include gated communities in Williamsburg, VA.

GTFOH with that nonsense.

Re: Mom gets 6-month suspended sentence for letting 5-year-old walk to the pond

#189

That sounds awful. This kind of case doesn't seem like something you should let a single person decide on their own, judge or not. Is she not entitled to a jury trial because it's a misdemeanor or something? If she can find the funds/support somehow it totally seems worth appealing all the way to the supreme court.

Yeah, it's not really clear from the article. Wild that you can get on some list of abusers without a jury trial. Maybe she waived her rights? Can that even happen?

Re: Mom gets 6-month suspended sentence for letting 5-year-old walk to the pond

#190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a high trust homogenous society without lots of different groups with all kinds of grievances about the past, present and the future. And it's probably rural, where everyone knows each other. When I read the headline, I sided with the mother. But a five-year old having to cross four roads in total to and from (with vehicles going up 25 mph legally, and who knows how fast illegally) is a bit much.

True. I can let a kid ride a bicycle in Amsterdam but not London.

or worse, Dublin.
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