Six-year-old in North Carolina arrested for picking flower from lawn

[Politesse]

There's always another option. Such as growing the fuck up and not turning a picked flower into a legal case. I'd think that was pretty fucking stupid even if it was an adult who did the picking. Are people really this petty?

 

[TomC]

There's always another option. Such as growing the fuck up and not turning a picked flower into a legal case. I'd think that was pretty fucking stupid even if it was an adult who did the picking.

I agree.
The whole thing is so stupid that I can't help believing that there's more to the story than was reported by people who obviously have an agenda.

I agree with their agenda. A legal system that puts a 6y/o into a courtroom has clearly got flaws and needs to be fixed. I don't claim to understand North Carolina well enough to know what needs changed.
However, I still find it more plausible that the reporting left out information that is relevant than that they told the whole story.

Did this happen 13 years ago or last month. Reports differ.

Are people really this petty?

Well, there is a lawyer somewhere who wants to file a lawsuit over a cake.
Yes, people can be very petty.
Tom

 

[Don2 (Don1 Revised)]

There's always another option. Such as growing the fuck up and not turning a picked flower into a legal case. I'd think that was pretty fucking stupid even if it was an adult who did the picking.

I agree.
The whole thing is so stupid that I can't help believing that there's more to the story than was reported by people who obviously have an agenda.

I agree with their agenda. A legal system that puts a 6y/o into a courtroom has clearly got flaws and needs to be fixed. I don't claim to understand North Carolina well enough to know what needs changed.
However, I still find it more plausible that the reporting left out information that is relevant than that they told the whole story.

Did this happen 13 years ago or last month. Reports differ.

Are people really this petty?

Well, there is a lawyer somewhere who wants to file a lawsuit over a cake.
Yes, people can be very petty.
Tom

Oh, I see, so you just assume that people you don't like are petty but people you life aren't petty. Now, we all can observe how and why you make the assumptions you do.

 

[TomC]

I agree.
The whole thing is so stupid that I can't help believing that there's more to the story than was reported by people who obviously have an agenda.

I agree with their agenda. A legal system that puts a 6y/o into a courtroom has clearly got flaws and needs to be fixed. I don't claim to understand North Carolina well enough to know what needs changed.
However, I still find it more plausible that the reporting left out information that is relevant than that they told the whole story.

Did this happen 13 years ago or last month. Reports differ.



Well, there is a lawyer somewhere who wants to file a lawsuit over a cake.
Yes, people can be very petty.
Tom

Oh, I see, so you just assume that people you don't like are petty but people you life aren't petty. Now, we all can observe how and why you make the assumptions you do.

Now, that's one fine strawman you got there.
Tom

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Property rights do not supersede any and all other legal standards. Just because you have insufficient imagination to come up with a better cure does not justify to drag a 6 year old to court over a picked tulip. You don't get to shoot an animal of endangered species either because because it digs up your tulip bulbs, it's your job to build a better fence if you want to avoid the losses. You're arguably in better luck with the kid because the wild animal doesn't have parents capable of taking responsibility for its misdeeds, but that doesn't change the fact that a child this young doesn't or shouldn't count as a legal subject.

Standard liberal error. You are assuming there is a better solution and the side with the power simply failed to find it.

Dozens of better solutions have been presented in this thread.

I'm sorry you had lousy neighbors when you were a kid. No need to ruin the life of a 6 year old over it.

Dozens of useless "solutions" have been presented in this thread. Only one has any merit at all.

Standard liberal error. You are assuming there is a better solution and the side with the power simply failed to find it.

You are engaging the standard authoritarian error - assuming there is no better solution because the authorities are always right.

No--I'm willing to listen to other answers. Just waving your hands and pretending you have the answer doesn't cut it, though. Almost all the answers are things that have no doubt been tried and failed.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

There's always another option. Such as growing the fuck up and not turning a picked flower into a legal case. I'd think that was pretty fucking stupid even if it was an adult who did the picking. Are people really this petty?

As I said, standard liberal error.

<Throws Politesse out of an airplane, no chute>

There's always another answer, just find it.

 

[Politesse]

There's always another option. Such as growing the fuck up and not turning a picked flower into a legal case. I'd think that was pretty fucking stupid even if it was an adult who did the picking. Are people really this petty?

As I said, standard liberal error.

<Throws Politesse out of an airplane, no chute>

There's always another answer, just find it.

Yes, picking a flower is indeed exactly the same as murdering someone.

 

[laughing dog]

No--I'm willing to listen to other answers. Just waving your hands and pretending you have the answer doesn't cut it, though.

Standard authoritarian response - no other choice was possible because I said so. There have been plenty of suggestions here.

Almost all the answers are things that have no doubt been tried and failed.

Another authoritarian assumptions pulled right out of your _____.

 

[Jokodo]

Dozens of better solutions have been presented in this thread.

I'm sorry you had lousy neighbors when you were a kid. No need to ruin the life of a 6 year old over it.

Dozens of useless "solutions" have been presented in this thread. Only one has any merit at all.

Standard liberal error. You are assuming there is a better solution and the side with the power simply failed to find it.

You are engaging the standard authoritarian error - assuming there is no better solution because the authorities are always right.

No--I'm willing to listen to other answers. Just waving your hands and pretending you have the answer doesn't cut it, though. Almost all the answers are things that have no doubt been tried and failed.

Even if true (and you proclaiming "no doubt" doesn't constitute an argument that it is), a non-viable option doesn't magically become an option because your problem persists after you've tried all viable options. If an animal of an endangered species digs up your tulips, here's what you get to do: build a fence, install an infra sound deterrent system. If that fails, you don't get to shoot it to defend your tulips. If a six year old picks a tulip, here's what you get to do: build a fence, talk to them, talk to the parents, sue the parents. If none of that works, you don't get to sue the child directly (or for that matter, shoot the child)*. A child doesn't stop being a child because treating them as an adult is the only way you see to solve your tulips problem, just like a protected species doesn't loose its protected status because you suck at fence making.

* exceptions may apply in IS controlled Syria, Boko Haram controlled areas of Nigeria, and apparently parts of the USA.

 

[Rhea]

A child doesn't stop being a child because treating them as an adult is the only way you see to solve your tulips problem, just like a protected species doesn't loose its protected status because you suck at fence making.

People need to be more human.
A six year old.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

There's always another option. Such as growing the fuck up and not turning a picked flower into a legal case. I'd think that was pretty fucking stupid even if it was an adult who did the picking. Are people really this petty?

As I said, standard liberal error.

<Throws Politesse out of an airplane, no chute>

There's always another answer, just find it.

Yes, picking a flower is indeed exactly the same as murdering someone.

You said there was always another option. I provided an obvious counter-example.

 

[Jokodo]

Yes, picking a flower is indeed exactly the same as murdering someone.

You said there was always another option. I provided an obvious counter-example.

A counter example that obviously doesn't work. With a broken flower, there is always another option that doesn't exist with murder: do nothing. When (if indeed) the alternative implies that your society shows less regard for children's rights than Myanmar, Niger or Uganda, this indeed becomes the best option.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: there are, at least theoretically, situations that justify shooting a six year old in order to prevent direct, immediate harm to oneself or others. There are no situations that justify putting a six year old in court. Period.

 

[Politesse]

Yes, picking a flower is indeed exactly the same as murdering someone.

You said there was always another option. I provided an obvious counter-example.

Then let me clarify that if a six-year old child pushed me out of an airplane, as opposed to picking a tulip, I would still feel, as I plummeted to the cold embrace of the earth, that arresting that child and charging them with murder would be both pointless and morally bankrupt as a response to their almost certainly accidental action. Not only are there other options to deal with a situation like that, almost all of those options are better than pretending that a first grader is capable of understanding a legal proceeding.