ASBOs - what do you think?
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ASBOs - what do you think?
| Sat, 09-04-2004 - 11:22pm |
http://www.chicagosuntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-bad01.html
I applaud the crackdown. And the 87 y/o yelling at his neighbors? Not acceptable. We had one who used to call my children horrid names just because they had blonde hair (he was a Holocaust survivor) but that was no excuse. We tried to understand but quite frankly how DO you explain to a 3 y/o why the man down the street calls you such names?
The police were no help. He had every right to yell what he did from his property. We eventually moved.

Welcome to In The News and thank you for posting the article!
I'm not sure what I think about this.
Problem was he was SOOOOO graphic.
We had to restrict the kids to up the street but he was only 3 houses down and they could hear him even playing in our yard. It really was awful.
When this article came out my first response was YEEESSSS!! finally, someone acknowledges this is a problem!!!
Where do we draw the line, I don't know. Which is why I offered this topic up for debate :-)
Hi Sweetswah,
Sarcasm is now illegal? Give me a break. Is rolling your eyes rather than engaging in verbal sarcasm when confronted with idiotic laws a violation of the law as well? That's a form of sarcasm.
No, what the individual you mentioned did to your kids wasn't right in any way, no argument there at all, but intolerance and bigotry are like that.
So far as I'm concerned, this is yet another case of good intentions creating bad law, and bad law is worse (on several levels) than no law at all. Not only is this a gross violation of what we consider to be freedom of speech, but it will be a nightmare to enforce on a practical basis as it will often come down to a "he said - she said" argument.
~mark~
Bigotry has always been with us, and always will. In times of fear and hatred it becomes rampant, however, I agree with most people this shouldn't require a law. Perhaps if other neighbors object you could ban together and speak to the man. Sorry you had to move, that's probably what I would have done.
As far as what to tell your child, it is never too early to explain the the workings of society. Tell them he is a bigot, explain what a bigot is, and that it isn't not correct behavior. They should just ignore the man, which is difficult because he is an adult. Bigotry is a way of thinking not a nadness, unfortunately it can become compulsive. My theory is that your role is to prepare your child for society, and they will face situations like this again, therefore, they need to know how to classify and react. Probably not all you say will make that much sense to a tot, but you are laying the groundwork for the future.