I SAID be QUIET in the theater! (1 Viewer)

[Robert_Z]

I think that when he said so what, he meant so what if American parents are failing miserably in their responsibility to raise their children to be responsible citizens. Instead, they are contributing to the decay of Western civilization by failing to properly discipline their kids, by defending them even when they are dead wrong, and for the most part, by failing to instill any positive values whatsoever in their kids.

What business is it of mine that parents are churning out dysfunctional youth in record numbers? It's not like I have to live in the same city, state and country as they do, so it really is none of my concern.

But to avoid hijacking this thread any more than I already have, I won't comment on the topic any further.

 

[Michael Reuben]

Please! Don't go without at least responding to Holadem's post.

 

[Robert_Z]

I agree it does not justify a shooting, but it makes a shooting more likely. I find it hard to believe that during a funny part of the movie, someone would complain that someone else was laughing. It was probably teens bothering people around them by being too rowdy, but since the parents did nothing about it, someone else had to complain, and then the "parent" reacted with a condescending tone, which quickly took things downhill. I have no idea if that's how it went, but that sounds like the most likely series of events.

Yeah, about Holadem's post, I went to that theater because of lack of options. I was out of town and it was the only theater in that town. No plans to return any time soon.

 

[TravisR]

You got it.

EDIT: Robert, I have similar concerns about poor parenting but I don't see it having any bearing on this situation.

 

[Michael Reuben]

The bolded portion is the wisest thing you've said. None of us knows how it went. All we have is two news reports, which vary significantly on crucial points. To me, at least, it makes more sense to withhold judgment than to use this incident, the basic facts of which are still unclear, as a jumping-off point for deploying one's theories of what ails society.

I mean, I could read those same reports through a different lens and come up with an entirely different rant: The shooter had just returned from Iraq. He obviously felt unsafe unless armed, and before firing he was observed throwing popcorn at the family even though he was not the one who asked them to be quiet. Clearly this man is suffering from some form of PTSD, and this is yet one more illustration of how seriously underfunded and overwhelmed our veterans' services are, which is a scandal that should have been addressed long ago. (Etc. etc.)

To which someone like Travis might come along and say, "So what?" And he'd be right.