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In my twice-the-size European city, kids walk twice that distance to school and back home again, alone. Every. Single. Day. If this place isn't safe enough for
by rlkf 4y ago
In my twice-the-size European city, kids walk twice that distance to school and back home again, alone. Every. Single. Day. If this place isn't safe enough for kids to walk by themselves, maybe the question should be raised whether the police and municipal government really is doing their job the way they're supposed to.
- giarc 4y agoThe irony is one of the officers claimed the boy could have been kidnapped or taken into a sex trafficking ring. And their solution is to arrest the mom, not to take care of the kidnapping or sex trafficking.
- feet 4y agoSee, with rugged individualism the consumer needs to be on the watch for the brands that might kill them and just vote with their wallet. Why would we regulate something when the free market will do the regulating? This parent was not exercising their responsibility as an individual to watch out for anything and everything that might hurt their child, in the US that is illegal because the free market ideology rules all.
- vagrantJin 4y agoWhat on earth are you going on about? Please elaborate.
- feet 4y agoIt's commentary about attacking symptoms rather than the root cause of the problem based around the flawed "choice of the individual" and "rugged American individualism" ideologies present in the US. Cops think the neighborhood is dangerous for kids because of sex trafficking? Arrest parents for allowing kids outside instead of stopping the sex trafficking. Consumers get harmed and workers get taken advantage of by corporations? Vote with your wallet instead of actually regulating companies.
- sandos 4y agoThis is kind of funny. At what age does that stop being a possibility? At least in my country kids are kids until 18... so it would just as illegal let a 17-year old walk alone? He _could_ be kidnapped. Nobody can say it's impossible, however improbable!
- warinukraine 4y agoYou can also be kidnapped as an adult.
- randomdata 4y agoAs the mother of this child found out.
- Markoff 4y agoI think the correct word for adults would be abducted. https://blog.ipleaders.in/difference-between-abduction-and-kidnapping/ https://blog.ipleaders.in/difference-between-abduction-and-k...
- warinukraine 4y agoHuh TIL.
- neuronic 4y agoThe same concern can be voiced for 16 or 20 year old women and men. All of them can be abducted with ease by 2+ trained people. Should they also be accompanied by their moms at all times? The cop just demosntrated himself that he isnt doing his job and that there is something deeply wrong with society if a child cant even walk half a mile at 8 years old.
- diydsp 4y agoRecursive problem if that parents are young: a 2 year old in public with its 20 year old father could be required to have a 50 year old present at all times.
- yunwal 4y ago50 year olds are getting on the old side. Could easily be taken down by an in-shape mid-20s person. Best solution is for everyone to just travel with their own pack of trained wolves.
- manholio 4y agoAn unsupervised pack of wolves could always be attacked by a bear or hunted down by mistake, a clear case of animal negligence. Wolves should be accompanied at all times by armed midgets.
- Spoom 4y agoOne is easier than the other and counts toward arrest / enforcement quotas.
- crooked-v 4y agoSee also the cases where children are arrested and jailed for 'child pornography' for sending nude photos of themselves to others.
- actionfromafar 4y agoWith a permanent record, can't apply for many jobs, can never live near a school or daycare center, etc etc. Maybe can't even vote.
- rootusrootus 4y ago> not to take care of the kidnapping or sex trafficking Because there was no kidnapping or sex trafficking going on, they were just making shit up.
- spoils19 4y agoThe thing is that the US has much greater freedoms than Europe, after all, we did fight for them. It's every US citizens understanding that with greater freedoms come greater responsibilities to raise children to be future leaders. This can't happen if a child is mowed down in a driveby or if they accidentally trip over while walking.
- hutzlibu 4y agoSo you have much greater freedom than we in Europe, but you do not have the freedom to have you 8 year olds walk outside? edit: yeah, it was sarcarsm.
- laputan_machine 4y ago> ... or if they accidentally trip over while walking. It's (probably) sarcasm.
- Shared404 4y agoHopefully. On an unrelated note, I'm now going to watch Castle in the Sky tonight, thanks!
- V__ 4y agoI can't tell if this is sarcasm or an actual opinion. Well done.
- jonnycomputer 4y agoIts sarcasm
- beardyw 4y ago> the US has much greater freedoms than Europe Does it? I can't see this happening in Europe. What freedoms stand out?
- 4y ago
- dsego 4y agoI walked 2km every to and from school, albeit in a small rural european town. Sometimes when the weather was bad parents would come to pick me up.
- wil421 4y agoThis article is complete nonsense and I’m glad I don’t live in Waco, Texas. Your experience was similar to mine I used to walk a mile to school or ride my bike to a friends and then walk. I pick my daughter up near a private school everyday and there are 100 or so kids walking under 13. There are 8 year olds walking around my neighborhood every weekend and nobody bats an eye.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- klyrs 4y agoEvery police interaction in the US bears the risk of death. Police will stop kids on the street with or without being called. Ergo, it is unsafe for children to walk to school in the US. Sure, that's all a bit circular, but good luck breaking the spiral with a "law and order" mentality.
- bluGill 4y agoThat is everywhere. For that matter every interaction with someone with a little martial arts training (even what you can find on the internet, though you will also find bad training) can be potential deadly. Most people have the ability to kill another human, few attempt it.
- manmal 4y agoRisk of death during interaction with the police is practically zero where I live. Whenever that happens, it’s on the media for months or years.
- bluGill 4y agoIt is practically zero almost everywhere. Iran is the only exception I can think of, and even then it is only protesters. (I'm sure there are other corrupt countries that I'm not aware of)
- klyrs 4y agoLikewise, the probability of dying from smoking a cigarette is effectively zero. This is a poor measure for evaluating harm and risk.
- NoImmatureAdHom 4y agoThis strikes me as crazy. Every interaction with any human or inanimate object bears the risk of death, it's just so low it's not worth thinking about it. U.S. police kill about ~1000 people per year, and the vast majority of those aren't at all questionable. If there are 330,000,000 people in the U.S., that's 0.000303% of the population per year. Each person has, on average, maybe 10 contentious police interactions in a lifetime of 75 years? That's 0.134 interactions per year. So, given on this Fermi estimate, you have about a 0.00226% chance of being killed per contentious police interaction if we spread it completely evenly, or 2.26 in 100,000. And spreading it evenly doesn't make any sense at all. So, if you're young, black, male, and running around Chicago dealing drugs carrying an illegal gun--yeah, maybe worry about it. For everyone here on HN, it's a stupid thing to worry about. Worry about your sedentary lifestyle. Worry about driving safely if you drive a lot. Worry about diabetes. Worry about whether your relationships with friends and family are good. Worry about your diet. Worry about exercise. Worry about falling down the stairs. The cops aren't going to kill you.
- NoImmatureAdHom 4y agoI think the point is that the place is plenty safe for the kid to walk by himself, it's just a perfect storm of officious cops and bureaucrats and a nosy neighbor.
- jghn 4y agoI just did a google maps search. In kindergarten at 5 years old I walked approximately 1/3 mile each way. I live in an urban environment now and outside of legal ramifications still would not think twice about allowing my child to do the same.
- hanoz 4y agoRight in the middle of a similar sized European city, very built up, loads of traffic - the children have to walk to school, from aged 6. Parents are actually not allowed to take them in.
- willyt 4y agoI took the bus to school in London from age 8 onwards, i.e. not a school bus a normal red double decker bus. It was only two stops, but mum thought it was safer than crossing the busy road.
- xrikcus 4y agoTo be fair, here in Menlo Park, CA, children of this age bike or walk half a mile to school all the time as well. It's not very different from when I lived in the London suburbs and walked myself 30 years ago. This isn't really a US/Europe split.
- metadat 4y agoSeconded, I'm also in MP and kids 6 years old and up play out in the street to their heart's content.
- dan_quixote 4y agoI live in Seattle. 8 year olds walk past my house to-and-from school every day without parents. I can't say I've seen this in any other major US city though.
- rootusrootus 4y agoDefinitely true in Portland as well.
- rootusrootus 4y agoIn my experience it is fairly normal in the US, too, which is why stories like this are newsworthy. Also, Reason is a libertarian political rag and they have ideological motivations for sharing this particular story.
- BirAdam 4y agoNot disagreeing, but I want to point out that every news source is typically biased and has ideological reasons for every story that they push.
- rootusrootus 4y agoTrue, which is why you should always consider the source along with their probable motivations. When a publication that is openly promoting libertarian philosophy writes a story about abuses by government, it's worth considering that this is probably the most egregious abuse they could find. It's in their best interest to focus our attention on the most convincing evidence. Most mainstream media isn't overtly political, so their motivations are usually more monetary than ideological. Following the money is always a good idea.
- Ptchd 4y agoIn most areas it is probably safe enough... but they like to keep the population scared as they are easier to control that way... and the police budgets keep increasing. On average, the cops are nuts in the US... It just take one hot head in a group to make them all act badly...
- marcus0x62 4y agoI used to walk around 1 mile to school every day along a very busy road when I was 8 years old and nobody batted an eye. I lived in Texas at the time. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯