Comments

1

Why do you think they call it dope?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_mC6EZ8J…

2
uh, i think i'll go ahead and blame marijuana for this one, chuckles.
3
Once again, the fundamental attribution error rears its ugly head.

People have a deep-seated need to blame the girl for what happened to the baby rather than blaming her environment or society.

Charles is absolutely right, but it's easier - and more importantly - it make people feel better about their own fragile lives, to blame the girl's behavior. She's a pot-smoking slut, that's why she has a baby she neglects. Those people have a need to believe that they would never neglect a child, because they're not pot-smoking sluts, and they absolutly cannot deal with the reality that sometimes these things happen no matter who you are and no matter what you do to prevent it. They can't handle that. So they blame the girl.

It's the same reason people blame rape victims for dressing slutty as being the cause of their being raped... they can't deal with the reality that they too could be raped at any moment, for no reason whatsoever. Reality is too difficult for them.
4
Thank you so much for commenting on this Charles. I noticed the exact same thing. Clearly marijuana may be a contributing factor in this sad incidence but there is a huge difference between an immature dumb-ass (as clearly this girl is) smoking weed and a mature person of above average intelligence smoking weed. I cannot fathom forgetting my own baby on top of a car even while stoned out of my mind (although I probably wouldn't get stoned out of my mind while caring for my baby). And I am only 20 and certainly not ready for child bearing.
5
I'm with the Chinese and forced abortion.
6
Charles,
The mother is to be held accountable. I don't believe it has anything to do with marijuana or the fact that she is 19 y/o. It isn't unusual at all for parents to forget their children ...someplace. At some fairs, carnivals, concerts or other large venues, children are "lost" or "forgotten" by parents or guardians. Some even have "lost children booths". What was unusual about this scenario was that the kid was left on the roof of the car. That posed a great mortal danger to the boy. It just so happened the tyke wasn't injured.

I once left a satchel on top of a taxi once (I was paying the driver). I did lose its contents. But, I know it was my fault. I don't much about this mother and child in this situation. However, I'm dubious that pot or the fact that she was a teen had anything to do with this near tragic accident. She might have chosen not to take birth control. Also, in the recent history of the USA (say the past 70 years or so) teen motherhood wasn't unusual. Age of consent laws were (are?) as low as 14 y/o in some states and definitely 16 y/o in many states.
7
@3: Everything you say is true, though I would add the people who mainly seem unable to handle reality are the headline writers for this story who have consistently framed it in a nice, neat anti-drug box.
8
People have a deep-seated need to blame the girl for what happened to the baby rather than blaming her environment or society.

She's a pot-smoking slut, that's why she has a baby she neglects. Those people have a need to believe that they would never neglect a child, because they're not pot-smoking sluts, and they absolutly cannot deal with the reality that sometimes these things happen no matter who you are and no matter what you do to prevent it.


So it's the fault of her environment and society, and also it's a mistake that anyone is capable of making. Care to make up your mind?
9
It's not just marijuana. My mother did this with a bottle of barbeque sauce and she was only on lithium.
10
@6 Whether or not she used birth control probably has more to do with what kind of sex ed she got than personal choice.
11
Hrdy not Hardy. Believe it or not...
12
@8,
Sorry, I didn't write that very well...

What I was trying to say is that people who follow the fundamental attribution error, people who believe that it's a person's personality that completely controls their behavior, are the ones who likely believe that girl is a slut.

It IS the environment/society that is the cause of a lot of people's actions, not necessarily the person's personality. For that reason, it IS something that could happen to anyone.

I don't know if that makes more sense?
13
Mr. Mudede, as after all it's rude to refer to someone one a first-name basis who you hardly fucking know (whatever idiots like to refer to him as Chuckles), if you had ended this post with "Do not blame marijuana. Blame instead the weakness of sex eduction," gods above, how you would have so brutally and magnificently trolled slog. God, how I would have loved to see it.

As it stands, this was an interesting read.
14
@5 Man, I hope you're joking. Forced abortion is just as appalling as forcing women to carry unwanted/dangerous pregnancies to term, or forced sterilization. The "choice" in pro-choice implies that women have the right to make their own decisions with their own bodies. Where parents make poor decisions that endanger the lives of their children, we have laws that allow the children to be removed for their own protection and many wonderful organizations like Childhaven that help kids cope with the effects of abuse and neglect.
15
The girl made an enormous number of bad decisions that ultimately led to this outcome. It's all her parents' fault.
16
And how does the young Jedi-knight factor into all of this? Obviously, Skywalker was raised in a loving home. But Mr. & Mrs. Vader would seem to have abandoned him at a relatively young age, only to try to reacquaint themselves with him at a latter date (& try to conquer the universe.)

Seriously though, interesting post. Though I really do wish all of Charles' writings would contain an embedded link to a Star Wars clip.
17
@16: Mrs. Vader died in childbirth, as I recall.
18
I vote for sterilizing her before she can forget any more. I don't blame the pot; I blame the woman so fucking oblivious she left her KID on top of her CAR. A child isn't a mug of coffee for Cthulhu's sake. Sure, sex education sucks in this country. The school and her parents could have done a better job of making sure she didn't get knocked up in the first place. But she did, and she decided to have the kid. At that point she had to grow the fuck up. She clearly hasn't, and that's just pathetic.
19
Regardless of how and why you've got into a stiuation, once in it your morally-acceptable choices are still at least partially determined by it.

In her situation I hold it morally unacceptable that she did not exercise more care, and that includes knowing what pot does to her well enough to know that (I would guess) she shouldn't be driving around,with her baby, as stoned or buzzed as she was.

(Maybe we use her THC level to help set the state limits; say, half of it.)
20
A. This post did not contain the phrase "African Ape" anywhere in it. It also failed to mention Marxism.
B. It made a suspiciously cogent argument.
Is someone else writing your posts for you, Charles?
21
Do they give Pulitzers for posts? This is the best thing Charles has written in a while.

At this point in American history, we need a Constitutional amendment prohibiting pregnancy until age 25 (both parties liable).
22
I disagree with all of this. My wife and I have raised two kids past the ages of car seats, without anything like this happening, and they're both healthy and thriving. We were both a lot older than 19 when we had kids, and neither of us smoke pot... but we both agreed, reading this story, that it could have happened to us too. It didn't, but it could have. There are a lot of mistakes out there that are really easy to make, and this is one of 'em, and all of us that it's never happened to should be glad that we've never had a bad vigilance day at the wrong time. I would like to see this woman in Arizona cut a break.

Incidentally, that point about how humans use culture to solve problems like this? I like that, and you'll notice that it applies here: our culture dictates that the babies get put in car seats, and it's because of the car seat that this baby wasn't hurt. So the system worked. Not the way it's supposed to, but it did work.
23
President Obama's mother gave birth to him at the age of 18. He seems to have turned out OK.

Just sayin.
24
Apparently there's no behavior so abhorrent, so irresponsible, so mind fuckingly stupid that a liberal can't excuse away.
25
Why do I suspect Charles comes from the 'if they can bleed they can breed' school of dating?
26
@24,
So you feel people are born evil or good, period? They're born that way, and that's the way it is, nothing can change them?

You're in favor of abortion, right?
27
Didn't something like this happen in Raising Arizona?

In a country of 300 million people some stupid shit is bound to happen, I wouldn't read too much into it.
28
The great thing about historical materialism is that you never have to take responsibility for your actions and your mistakes.
29
So you feel people are born evil or good, period? They're born that way, and that's the way it is, nothing can change them?"

A few are born that way, a few are raised that way, but most just make irresponsible decisions because there's a million fucking liberals standing behind them with an entitlement and a pat of the back ready to tell them it's someone else's fault they fucked up.

"You're in favor of abortion, right?"

Abso-fucking-lutely. In fact, I want to see Fed-a-bort clinics in every ghetto, barrio and trailer park in America offering free rims and a Playstation with every abortion.
30
I am a generally responsible adult, started having children after marriage in my late twenties, moderately educated, employed, middle class(ish). There are six adults who are actively involved in raising my children.

It is only by the grace of [god] (luck) that my kids are still alive and not on a milk carton.

We were all at a restaurant in a room to ourselves. There were three doors out of the room. My husband was facing the entries, I was turned and could see one doorway, and there was a heavy glass door over another opening. We noticed our two-year-old was missing and found her on the other end of the restaurant. There were six adults and five other children in the room and none of us saw her wander out.

Not on dope, I forgot to buckle my niece’s car seat into the car.
While I was bringing in groceries, my 14-month-old grabbed my keys and was half-way down the concrete stairs to the street before I found her.
My folks almost lost my two-year-old when they didn’t coordinate who had her and went separate ways.
I was left at home as a young child because of a lack of a head count.

I’m not saying negligence is okay, but we’ve got to cut each other a little slack and help each other out. We’re not actually competing for parent-of-the-year, but rather working together to make this a safe society for everyone.

It’s not okay that she’s a teen mom, but she’s not the only one. She’s also not the first parent to put a baby’s car seat on top of the car as they drive away. She’ll make mistakes, just like all parents do (she will likely make more because of her age and lack of development, but she’s not alone in making mistakes). She’s fortunate the baby was not hurt severely.

Also, maybe she and anyone who reads this story will remember that keys and coffee cups go on top of the car. Car seats sit on the ground, not on chairs, tables, couches, counters, cars…
31
I can only think about-how did she get the car seat on the roof? Car seat are pretty cumbersome and kinda heavy. It seems that she would put it on the ground, or maybe the trunk--but the roof? Not only was she stoned, she must be very tall or strong.
32
It's an old story, but the Washington Post had an incredible article on parents whose children died after they forgot them in cars (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/con…).

This NY Times post describes it very clearly, though it's worth reading the original piece: http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/…

Anyway, I mostly wanted to say that there are a lot of things wrong with accidental teen pregnancies, but this particular incident doesn't really touch on them.
33
It's an old story, but the Washington Post had an incredible article on parents whose children died after they forgot them in cars (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/con…).

This NY Times post describes it very clearly, though it's worth reading the original piece: http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/…

Anyway, I mostly wanted to say that there are a lot of things wrong with accidental teen pregnancies, but this particular incident doesn't really touch on them.
34
I think you mean Sarah Hrdy, not Hardy.
35
@32 I read that article long ago. It helped explain, I thought, how loving parents can forget someone so precious to them is in the car. The website kidsandcars.org is designed, it seems, to scare people (it's worked for me!!), but maybe everyone should consult it at least once.

I agree (lost way down in my comment above) that this woman having been a teen mom is not a good thing in our society, but her mistake of leaving the car seat on the car is not limited to teen moms and most stories of babies left on top (and inside) of cars contain older, otherwise responsible parents.
36
This young mother was VERY foolish to smoke pot when she was going to be 1. driving and 2. taking care of a baby. Even if we'd be better off if pot were legal, driving under the influence should still be illegal.

Yes, it would be great if sex ed and access to contraceptives were better in the U.S., but the cause of this incident was one girl's poor decisions. (Also, at 19, she'd be physically capable of conceiving a child in almost any society.)
37
And the daddy yet again is pat on the back, good job buddy, for having potent sperm.

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