Time to try my hand at a free-standing rant, since I had a realization today... The topic for this one: Parenting and society.
As some of the members here may or may not know, I, Dronze, am a smoker. This is not a fact that I am proud of, nor a habit I see myself stopping anytime soon, and while this isn't a rant about smoking, it does have a point, so just bear with me...
I am so completely and utterly sick of parents that can't seem to be bothered to dicipline or even raise their own kids. I know that not all parents are like this, but in my line of work I seem to see signs of it more and more frequently, ranging from 12 year olds that are dressed like they could be dancing at the local titty bar, to parents with toddlers that they allow to run rampant throughout my place of employment, to completely unaccompanied 13 year olds at a large, outdoor shopping center with wads of cash and a "F*ck off" attitude toward anyone who's actually trying to do their job.
Now, this brings me to the part I opened this little rant with... my nicotine habit. I stopped in at the local drugstore today to pick up a disposable lighter, as mine had decided to run out of fuel the night before, as these things tend to do. Upon getting to the cash register, the cashier, whom I've had the pleasure of dealing with enough times that she not only doesn't bother to card me, but she knows my usual brand and style of cigarette, as well. She (jokingly) asked me if I was old enough to be buying a lighter, and I looked moderately confused... appearantly the state passed a law pertaining to the minimum age you had to be to purchase a simple, utilitarian object like a disposable lighter in order, in her words, "to keep kids from playing with matches or fire".
Let's think about this one for just a moment... what kid, at an age old enough to be going into a store to buy ANYTHING for themselves, by themselves, is going to know so little about fire saftey that selling them a simple tool that can be used to have a barbecue or start a simple bonfire, that selling them this simple object is going to be a liability dangerous enough to warrant the state getting involved?
More to the point, what failure of a parent is letting their 10 year old go to the store on their own? I'm sorry, but I have 2 major issues with the scenario that would allow this to happen...
The first is that there are parents that are willfully unaware of what their preteen child is purchasing at the drugstore, this is inappropriate and completely irresponsable. Any parent who thinks that the idea of leting their 8, 9, or 10 year old child go anywhere without some degree of supervision deserves to have their child kidnapped, and then to be forced to watch the video of the rape and murder of their child as a result of their own laziness.
The second is that this problem seems to be widespread enough as to warrant state legislature to address it.
I'm sorry, but when there are parents allowing their children to go on Gaia, or any large internet forum unsupervised, well, that's an issue. When this issue streches from cyberspace to reality, it makes me want to start throwing bricks at each and every one of these selfish, stupid, and frankly, dangerous ********. Yes, that's right... Dangerous.
The parent has no control over the child, and their only influence is to let the kid know that they're on their own, and that, no matter what they do, there will be no real degree of dicipline, it tends to breed some serious social issues that will spread like homemade napalm under a garden hose. As if generation X wasn't ******** things up badly enough, we have new statistics that are pointing out that kids are now having sex as early as 10 and 11, and that these children, yes, children, sorry, but until you reach an age where you're paying your own rent and bills, your still a kid... sorry... are having their first sexual encounters at 13, on the average.
We're breeding a generation of abandoned degenerates that place the value of their fellow man at minimum wage, and the value of education at precisely zero. We drug these little bastards into submission and expect them to be adults by age 7, and we wonder at the prevelence of drug use and mental illness when we're giving little jimmy and suzie their first doses of amphetemines at age 6, their first antidepressants at age 8, and their first antipsychotics at 12. We're watching a generation of people who aren't equipped to deal with their own emotions and programmed to think of themselves as infallible and/or perfect.
Something needs to be done, and soon, or we'll be dealing with a bunch of creepy saddos that the mental health care system and the pharmeceutical companies will cause the direct and complete collapse of the world economy due to an overconentration of money. Here's my plan for combatting this cataclysm:
1. Slap an emo kid every day.Yes, every day. Find yourself some whiney punk and fill him in on the fact that being that completely annoying is NOT a way to deal with their life. Tell them they need to come to grips with their emotions and homosexuality before I come along and personally strangle them.
2. Make someone on antidepressants cry.And then point out that the drugs aren't really helping, are they? Life is rough, get a helmet. (only do this to someone who's taking them because they THINK they need them, I understand that there are a few people that actually do, but they tend to be the minority.)
3. Unplug your television.The advertisements poison EVERYBODY, including those of us with enough sense to try to ignore them. If I, myself, could ignore them, well, I don't think I'd be so POed about them. Take a walk, read a book, start hobby, slap an emo kid, or make someone on antidepressants cry... you'd be amazed at the time you free up in your day by just turning off the idiot box.
4. Buy advertising space on billboards to spread the word.Get the word out, "Live responsibly", "Pay attention to your kids", "Stop giving all your money to pushers in suits". This is a movement. Get rid of the apathy, and do something.
This is a good place to start. 
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