Comment Re:No story here (Score 1) 1324
Children are not property. Parents are not owners.
Parenting is baffling mysterious art which involves guiding the development of another human being. It is an admirable task. But the raising of children is not done in a vacuum and is not a 'right'. We are a society, each of us responsible to act in act in accordance with the social contracts that exist both naturally and that we have developed as a culture.
Under your logic the actions of someone like Josef Fritzl are perfectly acceptable, after all who are you Pudge to say what he can and can't do with his daughter. Now you may counter that those are two entirely different scenarios, but I would argue that 'educating' your children through deliberate omission is highly damaging albeit more subtle. Parenting is a very gray area where an adult is directly responsible for the raising of the child, and thus makes a great many decisions that a lifelong impact on the child, but once that child is grown there is the expectation (which I consider reasonable) that they will be able to interact as a free-thinking member of the society. It is reasonable that the community at large should place certain expectations on the education children receive and the environment in which they live. Parents may be bear the primary responsibility for child rearing, but again they are not property. Neighbors, friends, fellow citizens, even random passerbys on the street still have an obligations to look out for the child.
The adage, "It takes a whole village to raise a child," comes to mind.
Parenting is baffling mysterious art which involves guiding the development of another human being. It is an admirable task. But the raising of children is not done in a vacuum and is not a 'right'. We are a society, each of us responsible to act in act in accordance with the social contracts that exist both naturally and that we have developed as a culture.
Under your logic the actions of someone like Josef Fritzl are perfectly acceptable, after all who are you Pudge to say what he can and can't do with his daughter. Now you may counter that those are two entirely different scenarios, but I would argue that 'educating' your children through deliberate omission is highly damaging albeit more subtle. Parenting is a very gray area where an adult is directly responsible for the raising of the child, and thus makes a great many decisions that a lifelong impact on the child, but once that child is grown there is the expectation (which I consider reasonable) that they will be able to interact as a free-thinking member of the society. It is reasonable that the community at large should place certain expectations on the education children receive and the environment in which they live. Parents may be bear the primary responsibility for child rearing, but again they are not property. Neighbors, friends, fellow citizens, even random passerbys on the street still have an obligations to look out for the child.
The adage, "It takes a whole village to raise a child," comes to mind.
