Free ranged children

[Hermit]

That's the thing though. I don't buy into "the good ol' days". Kids (in modern western countries) are safer than ever, but people are still more afraid than ever. Crime goes down and fear continues to rise.

Someone will be along shortly to explain to you in no uncertain terms that kids are safer now and crime is going down because more precautions are being taken, and that one important factor for the improvements is the increasing ubiquity of guns.

[Seth]

That's the thing though. I don't buy into "the good ol' days". Kids (in modern western countries) are safer than ever, but people are still more afraid than ever. Crime goes down and fear continues to rise.

There's a reason for that, and it's connected to the Democrat agenda of, as Rahm Emmanuel said, "never let[ting] a crisis go to waste." By creating fear, the government enhances its ability to say "government will save you, if only you give up just a little bit of essential liberty."

[JimC]

That's the thing though. I don't buy into "the good ol' days". Kids (in modern western countries) are safer than ever, but people are still more afraid than ever. Crime goes down and fear continues to rise.

There's a reason for that, and it's connected to the Democrat agenda of, as Rahm Emmanuel said, "never let[ting] a crisis go to waste." By creating fear, the government enhances its ability to say "government will save you, if only you give up just a little bit of essential liberty."

When it's about the threat of a terrorist attack, there may be something in that, but it's a big stretch to apply it to increasing parental fears of letting children roam.

In any case, there are at least some rational reasons for the change, including a lot more danger from traffic compared to 50 years ago, when kids are either walking or riding bikes.

[Xamonas Chegwé]

That's the thing though. I don't buy into "the good ol' days". Kids (in modern western countries) are safer than ever, but people are still more afraid than ever. Crime goes down and fear continues to rise.

There's a reason for that, and it's connected to the Democrat agenda of, as Rahm Emmanuel said, "never let[ting] a crisis go to waste." By creating fear, the government enhances its ability to say "government will save you, if only you give up just a little bit of essential liberty."

When it's about the threat of a terrorist attack, there may be something in that, but it's a big stretch to apply it to increasing parental fears of letting children roam.

In any case, there are at least some rational reasons for the change, including a lot more danger from traffic compared to 50 years ago, when kids are either walking or riding bikes.

...and all those extra gnus in people's hands...

[JimC]

Is that a gnu in your pocket, or are you just glad to be an international wildlife smuggler?

[piscator]

Alaska-bound wolverine attempts escape at New Jersey airport

[Seth]

That's the thing though. I don't buy into "the good ol' days". Kids (in modern western countries) are safer than ever, but people are still more afraid than ever. Crime goes down and fear continues to rise.

There's a reason for that, and it's connected to the Democrat agenda of, as Rahm Emmanuel said, "never let[ting] a crisis go to waste." By creating fear, the government enhances its ability to say "government will save you, if only you give up just a little bit of essential liberty."

When it's about the threat of a terrorist attack, there may be something in that, but it's a big stretch to apply it to increasing parental fears of letting children roam.

In any case, there are at least some rational reasons for the change, including a lot more danger from traffic compared to 50 years ago, when kids are either walking or riding bikes.

Not really. It's all a perception driven by urban crime in the 'hood and a media obsession with reporting child kidnappings, of which more than 80 percent are by non-custodial parents. Stranger kidnappings are very rare, but they do happen. This "stranger danger" is fostered and supported by the government, as I said, at the national, state and local level. How else can one explain parents being arrested for not having eyeballs on their kids 24/7 today when even 20 years ago "free range children" wasn't even a thing, because most kids got home from school, dumped their books and their moms had to shout "Dinner is at 6:30" as the kids pelted out the door to do whatever kids do of an afternoon.

The rational response to traffic is to teach kids to cross at the crosswalk, with the light, look both ways before stepping out into the street, and walk facing traffic. Any reasonably intelligent eight year old can still navigate most of America safely that way.

Another problem is the penchant for society to judge parents harshly when something happens to a kid that the parents aren't actually responsible for, merely because the kid was left 'unattended" for some reason. While infants do get left in hot cars and die every year, this "not for one second" bullshit campaign on the part of nosy busybodies and the cops to hammer parents who leave children who are old enough to know what to do if it gets hot alone in a car for a few minutes, like going to the grocery store or the post office. It's far more dangerous to kids to drag them out of the car at each and every brief stop and drag them across a busy parking lot, where they are much more likely to get hit by a car, than it is to leave an eight year old in charge of a baby strapped in a car seat for five minutes.

Some parent doing the things my parents did when I was young would be clapped in prison in a heartbeat. I was a "latchkey kid" all summer long. My dad had left and my mom had activities in town literally every day during the summer, and I very often spent the entire day by myself on the ranch, doing chores, riding my horse, shooting my .22 and otherwise engaging in entertaining activities all by myself in places where it might be days before anyone could find me if something happened. That's part of living and growing up, and the sad fact that some kids don't make it to adulthood is no reason to imprison every other kid in the country. Live free or die! Even if it's a short but happy life.

[Seth]

Alaska-bound wolverine attempts escape at New Jersey airport

Geeze. What idiot thought a plastic bin would hold a wolverine? Shoulda thrown the idiot in charge into the hold nekkid and told him to recapture the beast.

[pErvinalia]

Children should free to do as they wish, lest they become enslaved later on as adults.

I think this guy might have been a sock of mine. If not, it sounds like a sock that I would create. I obviously didn't put much effort in.

[Sælir]

Is that a gnu in your pocket, or are you just glad to be an international wildlife smuggler?

Seriously, the funniest thing I have read in a long time!

[laklak]

The free range ones are a bit stringy and are best slow cooked or stewed. The cage raised ones are great on the grill, just watch for fat flare ups.