In Danger From the Outside World - Part III: Men As Predators
What Shall We Do on Christmas Day?
1) “The hind legs of the tiger are longer than the forelegs. It is this that enables them to jump impressive distances. There have been instances recorded of tigers leaping widths of as much as twenty feet, with one tiger seen to leap thirty feet.
It is not uncommon for wild tigers to make vertical leaps of up to six feet in an effort to scale an obstacle. On one occasion a tiger was recorded as carrying the entire carcass of a domestic cow over a six-foot wall.
Some captive facilities now include circus-like activities to prevent boredom in their cats, and to improve general physical and mental health. Leaping over natural obstacles is often part of this.
Utilised in long-range communication the roar is infrequently used. Easily heard for over 3 km, it advertises location and warns away other tigers, or attracts them when the search for a mate is on. Sometimes it is sounded after a successful kill, but never during the actual attack, which is carried out in silence.”excerpted from lairweb.org.nz
2). Definition of “Captivity and Animal Captivity“- excerpted from WIKIPEDIA:
a. “The state of being confined to a space from which it is difficult or impossible to escape; the same used in a figurative sense, like for example, female captivity, as allegorically portrayed in The Gilded Cage”
b. “Keeping wild, non-domesticated animals in menageries, zoos, aquaria, marine mammal parks, for various reasons:
prestige (to display wealth and power)
entertaiment and Amusement
profit
science
education
conservation biology
Captive animals, especially those which are not domesticated, sometimes develop repetitive, apparently purposeless motor behaviors called stereotypical behaviors , thought to be caused by the animals' abnormal environment. Many zoos and research institutions, attempt to prevent or decrease stereotypical behavior by introducing novel stimuli, known as environmental enrichment.
3) In Carlo’s Sousa’s own words from his MySpace Page:
" Hey What's Up!? My Name is Carlos, Im portugeese and brazilian. I'm 16, I love my life, but its gonna get better. I want to be DJ someday. I Hang with the family , and my true homies play basketball and go out to the movies and partyharder then a rock star, only sumdayz wen i have my days off of work. I'm just a laid back guy looking for some cool new friends! So if anyone wants to talk, just say wat it doo doo!!"
4) Various Posts/Blogs about the San Francisco Zoo Tiger Attack:
According to his last post on his MySpace page his mood was "high". So maybe the Tiger just wanted some spiked brownies.
-------Posted by: Dencio | Dec 27, 2007 5:53:06 PM
Man , I looked at his site and he comes off as being a punk and obnoxious ,I think it will come out that they taunted the tiger and if they did it is say the tiger had to be put down...even on his tribute site people are anonymous since they don't want to look bad when the surveillance video is played back. Another sad thing ..how did this guy every even graduate high school ..he even says in his profile that he is into 'being dumb'
--------Posted by: Aslanspal | Dec 27, 2007 10:10:03 PM
Just looking at his MySpace it's obvious he did drugs. Friends left comments like "where da treez at". Also, the other public MySpace mentioned on this page has comments on it where they are mentioning Ecstasy prices. Also, "going dumb" is San Francisco slang for taking ecstasy. I am sure these Dhaliwal brothers did drugs too. Another news report says that Sousa's father called the Dhaliwal household looking for his son. He was told that he was not with them when in fact he was. To me that screams that they were out doing drugs, acting stupid. Look what it got them.
---------Posted by: nik | Dec 28, 2007 12:08:52 AM
So, let me get this right. If someone happens to taunt the tigers and the person’s conduct enrages the tigers, then the zoo is without responsibility because the person and/or other visitors should have known that the tigers could easily escape their enclosure? How absurd. I guess all zoo visitors better stay home, as really, you never know when someone may taunt a tiger or for that matter, engage in conduct that triggers an attack mode and really, if so, you, as a visitor deserves to be mauled to death. Silly me, somehow I expected zoo officials would have considered a wide range of possibilities (including taunting) when they built the height of the enclosure.
May your soul rest in peace Carlos.
--------------Posted by: Rene | Dec 27, 2007 11:56:26 PM
5. Newspaper Reports/Blogs on Manuel Mollinedo, Director of San Francisco Zoo:
Manuel Mollinedo was the search committee's unanimous pick for director. "The nice thing about a zoo is that you can put your arms around it,'' he says.---from San Francisco Chronicle
Mollinedo left his job as director of L.A.'s Department of Recreation and Parks in 2003, to take the San Francisco Zoo job. He previously was director of the Los Angeles Zoo from 1995 to 2002 and won high praise for his management there despite his lack of background in animal care or zoos. The job usually requires at least as much knowledge in the care and feeding of politicians and donors as it does oversight of exotic animals.
Mollinedo ran the L.A. Zoo in 2001 on the day that a komodo dragon bit off the toe belonging to the San Francisco Chronicle's executive editor Phil Bronstein. That's a fact that may help keep the Chronicle's attention on Mollinedo as the probe of the tiger attack continues.
-------------Posted by Robert
“At the news conference, Zoological Society Chairman Nick Podell lavishly praised the beleaguered Mollinedo, who took over at the zoo in February 2004 and was earning $314,038 a year plus $15,702 in benefits and a $9,548 expense account, according to zoo tax documents filed in November. The society operates the zoo, although the land and animals are owned by the city.”----San Francisco Chronicle
“The very public tragedy overshadows decades of problems - and the troubles of the current zoo administration, which began in February 2004 when Manuel Mollinedo became director of the 100-acre facility.
Almost four years later, attendance has increased, celebrations built around ethnic holidays have drawn crowds, new arrivals such as KuneKune pigs have proved popular, and two splashy exhibits - Hearst Grizzly Gulch and the long-planned African Savanna - have opened. However, problems have multiplied and employee morale has plummeted. The director's tenure has been highly eventful.
Three of the zoo's four elephants have died since March 2004 - two at the zoo, a third at a Calaveras County sanctuary where it was sent, broken-down and ailing. The lone survivor still lives there. The fight over the pachyderms' fate, taken up by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and animal rights activists, enraged the national Association of Zoos and Aquariums, which tabled the zoo's accreditation for a year.
This summer, two giant elands, valued at $30,000 apiece, were killed by their peer soon after all three arrived at the zoo, during a quarantine that sources say was doomed and mishandled. Two black swans, introduced with much fanfare in May 2006, also didn't last long.
A year ago June, some parakeets in the zoo's big summer blockbuster, Binnowee Landing, tested positive for psittacine beak-and-feather disease, which is contagious and often fatal to other birds, including family pets. The zoo knew about the problem but did not warn visitors until it was reported in the press.
Meanwhile, plans were quietly killed for the Great Ape Forest exhibit, highlighted in a $48 million city bond measure approved by voters in 1997 to upgrade the zoo. And four would-be inhabitants - aging wild-born chimpanzees- are still living in a concrete grotto while their handler continues her lonely quest to make sure their rare and invaluable genes are passed on through breeding.
The chimps' longtime zookeeper, Lisa Hamburger, has occasionally appeared at monthly meetings of the Joint Zoo Committee, a city panel that oversees the zoo, to plead her case. As she prepared to speak one afternoon, Mollinedo got up and walked out of the room.
"It would appear that his management style - which downplays the value of staff and the welfare of animals - remains in place," said a former worker from the Los Angeles Zoo.
Since Mollinedo took over, there has been a steady exodus of employees, including the deputy director, education director, two successive public relations managers, development director, curator of birds, marketing manager, events director, human resources manager, general manager of concessions and a number of veteran keepers.
6) Newspaper Reports on Events that took place Christmas Day, 2007 at the San Francisco Zoo:
Two victims of a lethal Christmas Day tiger attack were harassing the big cats at the San Francisco Zoo shortly before a 350-pound feline escaped its enclosure and mauled them, a woman told The Chronicle on Wednesday.
Jennifer Miller, who was at the zoo with her husband and two children that ill-fated Christmas afternoon, said she saw four young men at the big-cat grottos - and three of them were teasing the lions a short time before the tiger's bloody rampage that killed 17-year-old Carlos Sousa Jr.
Miller called the behavior she witnessed by the victims "disturbing."
"The boys, especially the older one, were roaring at them. He was taunting them," the San Francisco woman said. "They were trying to get that lion's attention. ... The lion was bristling, so I just said, 'Come on, let's get out of here' because my kids were disturbed by it."
Her family was looking at the lions when the young men stopped beside them at the big-cat grottos - five outdoor exhibits attached to the Lion House. The young men started roaring at the lions and acting "boisterous" to get their attention, said Miller, who added that she watched the four for five minutes or so a little after 4 p.m.
Taunting an animal at the zoo is a misdemeanor. Zoo officials declined Wednesday to specifically say that they suspected taunting in the escape of the tiger.
"Something prompted our tiger to leap over the exhibit," said Manuel Mollinedo, executive director of the zoo, in response to questions during a 13-minute press conference attended by at least 40 media representatives on Wednesday.
The two surviving young men who were attacked denied harassing any animals. Their lawyer is attempting to sue the zoo for character defamation.
7) Final findings in the San Francisco Zoo Tiger Attack, according to newspaper reports:
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - One of the three victims of San Francisco Zoo tiger attack was intoxicated and admitted to yelling and waving at the animal while standing atop the railing of the big cat enclosure, police said in court documents filed Thursday.
Paul Dhaliwal, 19, told the father of Carlos Sousa Jr., 17, who was killed, that the three yelled and waved at the tiger, according search warrant affidavit obtained by the San Francisco Chronicle
“As a result of this investigation, (police believe) that the tiger may have been taunted/agitated by its eventual victims," according to Inspector Valerie Matthews, who prepared the affidavit. Police believe that "this factor contributed to the tiger escaping from its enclosure and attacking its victims," she said.
Sousa's father, Carlos Sousa Sr., said Dhaliwal told him the three stood on a 3-foot-tall metal railing a few feet from the edge of the tiger moat. "When they got down they heard a noise in the bushes, and the tiger was jumping out of the bushes on him (Paul Dhaliwal)," the documents said.
Police found a partial shoe print that matched Paul Dhaliwal's on top of the railing, Matthews said in the documents. Authorities believe the tiger leaped or climbed out of the enclosure, which had a wall 4 feet shorter than the recommended minimum.
The affidavit also cites multiple reports of a group of young men taunting animals at the zoo, the Chronicle reported.
Mark Geragos, an attorney for the Dhaliwal brothers, did not immediately return a call late Thursday by The Associated Press for comment. He has repeatedly said they did not taunt the tiger.
Toxicology results for Dhaliwal showed that his blood alcohol level was 0.16—twice the legal limit for driving, according to the affidavit. His 24-year-old brother, Kulbir, and 17-year-old Sousa also had alcohol in their blood but within the legal limit.
All three also had marijuana in their systems, Matthews said. Kulbir Dhaliwal told police that the three had smoked pot and each had "a couple shots of vodka" before leaving San Jose for the zoo on Christmas Day, the affidavit said.
Police found a small amount of marijuana in Kulbir Dhaliwal's 2002 BMW, which the victims rode to the zoo, as well as a partially filled bottle of vodka, according to court documents.
"Those brothers painted a completely different picture to the public and the press," Singer said. "Now it's starting to come out that what they said is not true."
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I can imagine. ; )
From this story, I can define four to five issues: 1. manipulation of information by lawyers. 2. animal rights. 3.public corruption. 4.safety measurements in public areas. 5. youth issues. And now, I am going to mix them up!
It's common ground in Greece to see people with no proper expertise taking over important and responsible places. Sometimes, public officials tend to undermine the significant importance of a professional position, basically due to their lack of knowledge and education. Therefore, they choose to put unsuitable people in these areas who only care about their personal profit.They wake up, go to work, sign a couple of papers, take the money and leave the office as fast as they can. Such an attitude can cause real damage and you have written a small example: 4 feet shorter! This phenomenon, I think, it's worldwide. I consider it a perfect result of good public relations or as we say it in Greece: by licking and crawling, you can reach the top! Personally, after the latest scandal, I replaced the word "crawling" to "su***** "!
Anyway, you still have predatory public officials who milk out all the funds and visitors who express their "manhood" through taunting animals. I always thought that zoos have security guards or other people who could take care these issues. Where were they when these kids "tantalized" our big cats? Are there any?
In the meantime, I can't get out of my head the parents of those youngsters and how they brought them up. Is it so difficult to teach your child some basic rules for life? Is it so difficult to teach your child how to be responsible and confident? With all the information of the world in their hands and they still use drugs and drive under influence. It's confusing, isn't it?
And then, you have animal rights. What is worse? Put the animals in a cage, away from their natural environment or leave them free in areas where in the future pollution will destroy? Could we consider zoos as contemporary Arks? Could we view zoos as means of preservation or it is too provocative?
All this discussion reminds me of a documentary I watched earlier regarding the freak shows of the early 20th century and the tendency to revive them. As researchers supported in the show, these exhibitions disappeared due to television and its offerings and not because the protection of the rights of disabled people became stronger and stricter.
Maybe, I got you all confused, but I felt that I had to share with you what this post made me think and why not broaden the ongoing conversation.
Thank you for your patience.
What a sad display of poor judgment on the part of the young men. I'm glad no one else got hurt.
Yes true, but really in the end, I think this: my mom trained me to respect animals so I didn't feel the need to go to a zoo and taunt them, drunk high or not. I went to the zoo to learn and understand and to be thankful for the animals that were there. The Toronto metro Zoo is one reason I have a degree in Biology. Secondly, I think this, as Ilisak pointed out: Beurocracy has a way of getting people into positions they shouldn't be in. These people, they *are* the zoo when they go to work there. If they chose not to be they are not respecting the animals that live there. This whole story is much larger than a drunken, stoned, testosterone driven gaggle of boys taunting a tiger. It is about people existing in cities and not experiencing the wild. It is about children who are not taught to appreciate and respect animals, predatory beasts or otherwise, it is about zoos becoming businesses and 'forgetting' about the real reason they exist (kinda like Universities). It is about public officials putting, unqualified people in the position of caring for these wonderful animals. It is about a breakdown in economic resources... an overall entropy. I hate to sound so negative, but the boy, the circumstances, the result, it paints a very broad picture... perhaps I'm just getting confusing as well.
Thank you for such a remarkable post!!!
Micehlee,
I honestly applaud you. I thought I had considered this story from all angles. (all the angles that Illias so carefully pointed out.) But you are right that there are those of us who don't understand animals and what wildlife is all about and that exacerbates this problem. A zoo is supposed to be an educational centre, but clearly this zoo manager has missed that point. Gosh- you've brought an incident to mind. My husband was raised on a ranch. They farmed rice,they had cattle and chickens and even pheasants. He knew so much about animals and other things. On the other hand, I had been raised in the city. I could easily tell you which line of the NY subway is the safest, which goes through the 'bad' neighbourhoods, etc., but I knew nothing about wildlife until I married my husband and lived out where there are deer, bobcats, etc. We aall adapt to our environment and feel like we're in charge of it. I felt safe and secure in NY because I knew the 'ins-and-outs,' but when I moved out here, I remember I went up into the woods at the back of the lot to cut weeds. I was wearing shorts. I had ticks sticking me by the time I came back down. Never even thought of a tick!
So, in your opinon, then, who has the most culpability in this situation? Ad who was the victim?Or was there more than one?
The zoo in Athens was up and running six years ago when I lived there, if you mean the one in Zappion. We took Nick when he was a little boy. I was disappointed because it was not runlike the zoos in New York and in fact, the Sf Zoo reminds me of it a bit. Still - I am not criticising - Greece has done a brilliant job with the Sea Turtle Rescue Centre in Glyfada and the Butterfly Mating habitat on Rhodes...SF Zoo needs work and I think after this incident, it will be more carefully monitered. At least, I hope so.
Well, I deliberately tried to leave my personal opinon off of this (as much as I could) because I wanted to see how others would view this situation. But your opinion closely mirrors mine. And I have a question for you: You said this -
"In the meantime, I can't get out of my head the parents of those youngsters and how they brought them up. Is it so difficult to teach your child some basic rules for life?"
The 'newish' BMW being driven by the two brothers struck a chord in me. That and the fact that both sets of parents are immigrants and these boys are first-generation Americans. Do you think it's a case of the immigrant mentality- 'I want my chidlren to have more than I had?' Do you think thier parents were so busy working for the American dream that they never realised they were turning their sons into spoiled, irresponsible fools? We can't know from this limited information we have about them , I just wondered what you think.
BTW- You should really stop apologising for being so eloquent - everyone enjoys reading what you think.
First of all, I just wanted to tell you how much I enjoy reading your posts. This reads like the research John Grishim would do for one of his novels.
I can't beleive anyone would be stupid enough to taunt a magnificant animal like this especially given the stress these animals go through being in captivity. I have a hard time feeling sorry for this 17 y/o boy. He asked for it and he got it. It's a tragic story but if you;re going to put yourself out there and taunt a tiger, for God's sake, be ready to lose the fight!
Ok, and the zoo management... It sounds like they need to be heavily investigated and shit down until new management can straighten things out. This is such a shame.
Stupid kids acting like stupid (intoxicated, peer-induced, animal-ignorant, testosterone fueled) kids.
Wild Tiger behaving like a wild (predatory HUGE) tiger.
They should not have been able to be in contact with each other.
I am afraid the humans are most to blame. You can't blame a tiger for being a tiger.
I am sorry for the boys, sorry in the way I would have been sorry if they had been in a car crash killing 1, injuring the others when they were driving too fast / intoxicated but with no warning signs at a dangerous junction & the car breaks failing due to poor maintenance at the garage.
Education for everyone is so important.
The worst part about this is the boy who died was not doing the taunting. He was a follower. He was,according to other news reports, impressed with his two friends and being the younger he did what they did. The oldest- the 24-year-old for godssakes- was doing the taunting. The oldest was attacked and the youngest,who was killed, tried to distract the tiger to get the tiger off his friend. What did he get for his troubles? The brothers did not tell anyone what they'd done (they lied about taunting the tiger) or even inform the deceased boy's parents they were together until the NEXT day. The boy's parents were calling all his friends, looking for him, wondering why he wasn't home for Xmas dinner. They even rang the mobile phone of one of the brothers who said he wasn't with them.
And thank you very much for the compliment. It means a great deal.
You described the situation very well. And I do compare this incident with the accident in the last part of this "In Danger" post, with my stepson, in that they both were caused by youth, ignorance and peer-induced situations as you very accurately describe, as well as adults not taking responsibility (in my stepson's case, the school and the alumni, in this case, the zoo) but I can't help but feel these boys were not victims of that, more like perpetrators. One was generated by foolishness, the other generated by cruelty. Now, of course,that might be how I see it because the first accident involved someone I know. I just can't imagine any kid I know, even most of my former students, getting a jolt of manhood by taunting a caged animal.
I have been out of the vox reading loop so read this before I read about your step-son when I used the car-crash example. Sorry if it was tasteless.
I think some of this says a lot about how difficult it can be, especially for young men, to say "no, dumb idea" especially in the face of peer-taunts and the desire to belong, to be seen as OK, Cool, one of the gang.
You see it in adults too: the pressure to conform, to not rock the boat, to do as the others do.
I have no kids, but a younger brother (by 15 months) taught me a world about how a nice bloke can do some absolutely f-king stupid things for no apparently good reason ~ like driving at 70mph up a hill with blind corners after 8-9 beers at 11pm? The alcohol was legal (UK law) but the driving wasn't :P I love him, but I didn't always like him, or the choices he made. I don't see him as tauntnig a tiger though: that would have been outside his scope as he loved animals and was furious to tears at cruelty. He once shot a raven though. He cried all night. He was 7. Maybe it taught him something though.
Add in any of the other factors then the catalogue of dumb things a young man will do out of boredom, peer-approval, intoxication, testosterone, stupidity, ignorance or thoughtlessness and to display his conjones in the face of danger or parental disaproval is too long.
I didn't take the car crash reference that way at all. No worries. I know exactly what you're saying. And I know many young men just like your brother with good hearts, but somehow they don't put their brains in gear sometimes. It is definitely age-related and has something to do with the brain development of the frontal lobes which isn't complete until age twenty five. It's hard for people under that age to understand or recognise danger This one though, seemed different. There was an element of cruelty to it that I just can't stop thinking about. It reminds me so much of bullying. And I can't help thinking about that beautiful creature being shot. The newspapers here had a photograph of the tiger's dead body. It was awful. She was punished just for being a tiger. On the other hand, a young man, who might have turned out to be a decent sort of fellow in the end, is dead. That the other two boys had the presence of mind to lie after the attack and say they weren't doing anything, to get a lawyer( a rather notorious one, too- he defended Scott Peterson if you're aware of that case here in San Francisco- he murdered his nine-months-pregnant wife and dumped her body in the bay) to claim that he would sue the zoo for defamation of character and to not tell the parents of the dead boy that their son's body was lying in morgue (after the boy had supposedly sacrificed himself to save one of them) does not bode well for their character, I believe. They got away with this and they will end up changing the story as time goes by, making themselves into some sort of heroes, I bet.
It's true that I haven't seen you commenting around VOX for a while.I hope you're well. I've been out of the loop, too. I'm just starting to catch up with everyone...
The zoo in Asheboro, has very large habitats- built for the animals, catered, to their own natural environments- they are really nice. The animals have lots of room to roam, and it's a nice place to go.
Yet, isn't this what every immigrant is looking for in every country in the world? I could use a Greek example too. As you already know, in Greece, we have a large Albanian community. In the early 90s, the Greek government opened the state's borders and facilitated every necessary procedure. After almost 20 years, officially 1 million Albanians live in our country. Most of them are hard workers and according to recent research they are the most frequent bank depositors, while they send money back to their families in Albania. Towards their children, they try to provide all the things they missed during their childhood. Yet, living in a prosperous country, where terms like "lifestyle", "wealth", "expensive" and "exclusive" are every day talk, hits them sometimes hard, because they can't keep up and there are violent incidents due to their occasional sense of inferiority. For me, though, it doesn't matter from where they come from.
My family left Greece for the US and the road had many bumps. That's why I feel sympathy for all the people who leave their homes behind. It's not bad to want for your children to have more than you, but as a parent you have to teach them that all this didn't come without hard work. Usually, immigrant parents give to their young ones more than they can handle without a sweat.
Maybe it's all going down to some basic parenting rules. What is more important? Items or love? Cars, credit cards, cell phones, designer clothes, computers or attention, listening and discussions? Why it has become so difficult to combine them both in a benevolent fashion?
You know what? I remember some years ago, I used to watch "Beverly Hills 90210". This show was huge in Greece and it has become ever since a major pop icon which has defined youth lifestyle. During that show, it was the first time, I heard the words "Porsche", "Stanford", "mansion", etc. In school, we used to pretend we were those characters and that game is still under our skin.
Anyway, I remember the main characters, Brandon and Brenda, who moved with their parents to BH from Minnesota and Brenda, especially, felt like an outcast; like an immigrant to her own country. So, maybe, the dream of welfare concerns everybody. To achieve it, though, it is sometimes an issue of location; the mentality stays the same, even if you leave NY for LA, or Athens for London: "I want my children to have more than I did," But, don't forget that this goal is tricky.
Education doesn't come only through school and university. Your life experiences can give you-sometimes- a much better and profound education that will strengthen every effort you do as a parent.
There is a Greek saying: "Αμαρτίες γονέων, παιδεύουσι τέκνα." ; sins of parents tantalize children. It's unfair to transfer our burdens to our offsprings. Fostering all the values you mentioned is the basis to understand the meaning of rights. How can a child who never learned ethics respect animals? How can we respect freedom, if we never learned how to be free?
How can we respect freedom, if we never learned how to be free?
You've written a lot of interesting things here today, but I simply have to ask- can you elaborate what you mean by this?It's intriguing.
"They're untouchable, knowing most people will be intimidated by their lack of respect and willingness to be confrontational. Unfortunately for this boy, tigers don't know that."
This is a brilliant quote in my opinion. There was that very disturbing aspect to it, too. The woman who reported the boys harrassing the big cats, did so after she learned that there had been a fatality. I don't want to criticise her, but if she had done it immediately, she could have perhaps prevented the tragedy. I am glad she came forward at all. But, still, why just walk away without reporting it? Certainly I can understand her fear to confront three drunk, stoned young men. But why not go to an official? What did she teach her children by allowing them to witness her letting those boys get away with that?
I remember once when I was nine months pregnant, I went to the market around the block from where I lived. Two young men were taunting a delivery boy of the market. He was mentally retarded and earned mere pennies delivering groceries with his bike. Well, those two boys had taken his bike and he was getting so upset, he coudn't even speak without stuttering and they were mocking his speech impediment, too. They were enjoying themselves so much. It was heart breaking. Beaner - I tell you - I absolutely lost it. Without even thinking about my pregnancy, I marched over to them and grabbed the bicycle back. And I told them off. One boy said, "Hey, lady- we don't want to fight with a pregnant woman." And I said, "Why not? If you'll taunt a innocent boy who can't defend himself, why not a pregannt woman?" Here's the worst part - people had been watching- grown men who owned the market and they said not one thing to these boys. But, then, they praised me for stepping in. I wanted to spit. I don't know what makes some people like this. I honestly know I would take a strap to my sons if I ever saw them doing something like this....Grrr.
Then, there is the fear towards the unknown which leads in, basically, two behaviors: embracing it and rejecting it. I will give you a parallel example: my friend's father never attended college and he believes that these 4 years are useless. He always tells us: what do you need college for? You can still make money without a degree. What he fails to understand is that our purpose is not the money, but the thirst for knowledge that gives us the drive to study. Sometimes, I think that he is afraid that people will consider him inferior without him having a degree. He is disrespectful towards our academic efforts, because he doesn't know what it takes to succeed in this field.
In terms of freedom now: imagine this ; you are a teenager living in California and your parents give you all the material things you need to not feel an outcast. They put you in a place where your choices are very limited. They don't teach you how to be independent and self-sufficient. So, as you grow older and you come to understand your "addictions", the truth strikes you. You were never free; you thought you were, just because you had more pocket money. You never learned how to be really free. You were defined by your parents' choices, because it was convenient. You had no hard choices to make. But, when you see the truth, you can't always control your reaction.
Since your social skills are not sharpened, you fill up with rage which is channeled towards other people and why not, animals. Because, if you see it from a different perspective, these kids didn't taunt these animals just for fun; they were taunting themselves.
I have developed this theory called "the golden cage" which is based on people living in Glyfada. They live in a micro-cosmos where there is no war, no poverty, no global warming, no responsibilities and no accountabilities; only shopping, tanning salons, cafeterias, clubbing and endless gossip, things provided with the blessing of the parents.
I can also give you a harder example: black slaves of past centuries. Did everyone manage to coop with the new free conditions? How a kid would feel if he/she was born as a slave and suddenly, he/she was free? Disoriented, maybe? I don't know, I am just making a question.
I'm skeptical, but based solely on your article, I hope the brothers are charged with the following crimes: 1. Underage drinking 2. Providing alcohol to a minor 3. Possession of illegal substance 4. DWI 5. Public endangerment 6. Animal abuse 7. Contributing to the death of another person 8. Drunk in public 9. Hindering a police investigation.
Instead, they will hire a lawyer, go on talk shows and become famous. Is that screwed up or what?
"Instead, they will hire a lawyer, go on talk shows and become famous. Is that screwed up or what?"
If that happens, it will be very depressing.