The investigators then asked Groth, according to Washington County Sheriff Brian Rahn, "Do you feel sorry for what you did?""No," the sheriff quoted Groth as saying. "It was just something I did. I just wanted to have some fun."
Pretty typical of these kids who have grown up in a culture where they don't have to work to achieve praise, where there are no "losers", and where their self-esteem is coddled to the extreme.
But what is even worse then these turds and what they did, is the attitude of the judge in the case.
He [Judge Patrick Faragher] said the vandalism is a "very terrible thing" but comparable to "tagging" or graffiti, and "not an assault on the Catholic Church."Bullcrap! What would they have to do for it to be an assault Catholic Church? Bomb the church? Shoot the pope?
The fact of the matter is that thousands of people use these grottoes for prayer and reflection, and these acts are extremely hostile towards them. If this type of thing was done to a Muslim or Jewish temple, you can almost bet that this would be considered a "hate crime". This should be no different. These guys are completely unrepentant, and are actually proud of what they have done. They don't need slaps on the wrist. They need several years in prison. Maybe someone in there can teach these two a bit about "respect".
7 comments:
I was talking with someone yesterday we came to the same conclusion about these kids.
I live in a very nice area of Los Angeles. There are manicured lawns and nice cars everywhere... I have yet to see one kid pushing a lawn mower or washing a car. People are pampering these kids so it shouldn't surprise anyone when they turn into little monsters.
your theory certainly fits the liberal stereotype nicely, but it's not the conclusion i came up with. i can, with the same background, conclude that it wasn't an enabling environment this boy was raised in. i can make an equally valid assertion that this boy was the result of no parental involvement at all. lowered standardsd weren't involved here since this boy knew no standards at all. the difference may seem subtle, but it's important. whereas in an enabling environment standards are applied, no matter how low they are.
as to assaults on the church as an institution? i expect to see the same "defense" of any other religion and denomination when it happens. it's only fair, right?
and james, just what exactly does pampering have to do with being able to discern between right and wrong? it's the caring and nurturing environment that a child grows up in that makes the difference, right?
Being raised in an environment with no parenting is certainly another problem we have in society today, and these kids may very well have actually had no parenting, making the falling standards in society as a whole have an even worse effect.
The fact of the matter is that there is not really much of a difference between an environment with no parenting, and an environment in which a child's "self esteem" is falsely inflated, where rewards come without work, and where the child can "do no wrong". Both environments tend to produce sociopaths.
As for would the defense of other institutions if they were attacked as such, reading the last paragraph in my post should give the obvious answer. Or course, I would consider a similar attack against any religious icons to be an attack against that religion and should be treated as such. It doesn't really matter what the religion attacked is, this sort of thing is more than just tagging.
and james, just what exactly does pampering have to do with being able to discern between right and wrong?
If the children are pampered to the point of being spoiled, it will result in children who have no respect for people or their property, and who have a self centered entitlement mentality.
it's the caring and nurturing environment that a child grows up in that makes the difference, right?
Only if the caring and nurturing is proper. James isn't talking about a caring and nurturing situation. He is talking about a situation where the children are simply spoiled.
Heh. Being from the area, I cab offer two insights:
1) These guys aren't coddled turds, they are more like inbred r-tards from a long line of such, and drugs/alcohol have more to do with it than being coddled. In fact, I'd be more inclined to say they were the opposite of coddled: abused.
2)It wasn't an attack on Catholicism, it was just a couple of idiot kids in metalhead land doing something destructive for fun. It was more of an attack on authority in general, I'm guessing.
I grew up in Neosho, and it's just another podunk pile of trash on the road between here and there...
Tyler is a friend of mine. All I've got to say is that drugs were involved. But it was not an attack on Catholicism. It was a dumbass thing to do and he realizes that...now. The thing is he has trouble saying "No" to people. Painting stuff was David's idea but Tyler was the one with a car so David had him drive out there.
Here's a piece of information for you, that same night they also painted the back of "County Market" one of our local stores. No one talks about that. Anybody want to claim they attacked the Food Industry?
That's because nobody looks at a food market with the same reverence as a church. To vandalize vandalize something as beloved as grottos depicting the suffering that Jesus took on for our salvation shows a level of A-hole much higher than vandalizing a store.
Besides that, you are missing the main point of that last paragraph, which is if they actually had vandalized a mosque or synagogue, you can bet that those communities would have been screaming for them to be charged with a hate crime, and rightly so. This case should not have been different.
In the end, though, IIRC, David got a reasonable sentence while Tyler got off a bit light.
Unfortunatly, I know Tyler Groth's father. he drives while Drinking a beer, shoots at deer at night with a spotlight and a high powered rifle, (illegal poaching) and owns his own business siding houses and pays as little taxes as he can get away with. (works for cash under the table).Like father like son.
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