Teen brains and other folks' mental instability

"Raising the age to purchase from 18 to 21 to match our rules for handguns just makes sense. Studies show that people 18 to 21 years of age commit a disproportionate number of firearm homicides in the United States. We know from research that the brain does not fully mature until a later age, especially the part of the brain responsible for decision making, risk assessment, and impulse control."

This is from a gun grabber group in Washington State. Pay special attention to that last sentence.

Teens and younger people don't have the same brain as someone older. https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/encyclopedia/content.aspx?ContentTypeID=1&ContentID=3051

The laws of this nation are even set up with this in mind. The US Supreme Court has handed down ruling after ruling using this as the basis. https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/u-s-supreme-court-roper-v-simmons-no-03-633. For instance.

And yet, so many people are screaming, demanding and even reacting with violence to insist teens be treated exactly the same as a mentally competent adult of 25+ years of age. Except of course when it comes to other things.

I'm good with either course.

No, I'm not. Teenagers, as proven by SCIENCE!, do not have the developed brain of an older adult. Treating them as such is flat wrong and flies in the face of the SCIENCE! so many see as their god.

What I am good with is picking a direction. Either SCIENCE! is correct in this - in which case S.T.F.U. about holding teens to the exact same level of accountability across the board - or hold teens to the exact same level of accountability across the board, period.

Trying to have it both ways is cognitive dissonance, not that it will matter to people who are hypocrites on this issue.

Stick to the issue if you wanna debate. Opinions welcome, preferably backed up with SCIENCE! and laws. I've booted people in the past 14 days for personal insults, attacks and ad hominem. I don't like doing it, but I will do it again.

One of these things is exactly like the other

Why does government have any right to things I have and earn? Socialists and those otherwise on the left and most of those on the right as well come up with all kinds of excuses.

Me bud Paul makes the most concise case for this. The Social Contract.

Dictionary.com says it is "an implicit agreement among the members of a society to cooperate for social benefits, for example by sacrificing some individual freedom for state protection. Theories of a social contract became popular in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries among theorists such as Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, as a means of explaining the origin of government and the obligations of subjects."

In other words, we as a society opted to do this. Don't like it? Three choices:

• Move

• Be beaten into submission

• Die

On the far fringes is the other side that calls for anarchy. No rules. Somalia then? No, these people say, that is a failed state. Me? I ain't able to find a difference between anarchy and the "failed state" of Somalia, but that's another blawg.

WE VOTED

The Social Contract is just another way of saying the people with the most physical power make the rules. Don't believe me? Cool. Show me an instance where the people with less physical power made significant changes. For every one you give me, I will give you 10 or more instances where the powerless were crushed, often literally. Maybe even 100:1.

STRETCHING YOUR LIMITS

So let's apply this "social contract" conventions in ways that will horrify people on the right and the left. I'll even use real life examples.

1) Women cannot drive. Yeah this is changing. Why? Canya say "superior power?" I knew you could. World opinion is against the Saudi idea that women should not be able to drive. That's enough physical force to mandate a change.

2) People are property. No? Don't pay your taxes. The IRS has the ability to arrest you, take you to court and throw your non-taxpaying butt in jail where you become a ward of the state and you are told where you can be, when you must be there, what you can wear, when you have to wear it, what you can eat, when you can eat it and so on.

3) Women are property. Aghast much? Under the "social contract" of the 1%ers, this is reality. Some women want out of this kind of life, but cannot get free. Murder is illegal, but it still happens. In much of the 1%er life, a man may make the beast with two backs with any woman he chooses, including the "old lady" of another biker brother with his permission. The lady has no say in this. S'called a social contract. This is also a reality in another subculture in "western" civilization. In some cases, men are also property, literal slaves, but this is much less common than owning a woman.

THE PROBLEM

These three examples of literally thousands illustrate the problem with the "social contract" and anarchy for that matter. The people with the power make the rules.

If the "social contract" suddenly declares raping women is OK, how many of you will go along with that?

Can't happen? Proof that it can, does and will is just above. I could give you plenty more instances of the "social contract" calling for things that will give you a splodey head. If you are willing to think about this rationally, you have enough on your mental plate.

ONE OF THESE THINGS

This next is really gonna cause splodey heads. Before you judge me, make sure you have a full understanding of who I am, what I have been through and how I survived. Else, you are making unwarranted assumptions, AKA likes. I am one who says taxation is theft. It is economic rape. It takes something a person is not willing to give for the satisfaction of someone else. One of these things is exactly like another.


The "social contract" may say it is proper and appropriate. Tell that to the person who objects.

Zebony & Faith

If Zebony Davis is any indication of the about-to-graduate generation, this world is in good shape.

The crown that was supposed to go to her instead went to her friend Faith Hobbs. Faith has Down syndrome. Faith walked the football field at Turner County High School in South Georgia this year, as a senior, escorted by Zebony and Zebony’s escort Quevan Lawson. They were on the field for the annual Homecoming event, something we Southerners take just about as seriously as our football.

When Tim Hunt announced the queen, Zebony and her family were naturally very excited. When it came time to receive the crown…

– Excuse me. Allergy attack. Lemme clear my eyes. –

… Zebony said “Give it to her.” The crown went to Faith. Zebony accepted the roses, banner and the cape for being elected Homecoming Queen.

Faith got the crown.

– Will someone PLEASE stop cutting up onions in here. Thank you.–

Plenty of tears rolling down faces in Alan Hobby Stadium on Friday night after that happened.

Pictures were taken. Zebony, Quevan and Faith together.

They started off the field. Faith complained her shoes were hurting her.

Dressed in a homecoming gown …

–Y’all, I ain’t cried this much writing a column since I wrote the story of my son Jesse being born. Jesse also has Down syndrome. He and Faith were classmates for years. He called her “My Doodblebug.”–

… in that most elegant gown, Zebony knelt down in front of stadium of people and helped take Faith’s shoes off. They walked off the field hand in hand, Zebony carrying the shoes.

Waterworks again.

The photo by Deborah Priest, Faith's teacher, is well on its way to being a viral sensation, as it should be.

We’re all in this together. People like Miss Zebony Davis live it.

Zebony Davis, words are not adequate to express the thanks from so many families. It is what we have.

May we all learn from your example. You are an inspiration. You are a true leader. You are what the people of this world should be.

May your future be as bright as you shined on Friday night.

October is National Down Syndrome Awareness Month.