Perhaps
There really is literally no end to this circus.
4-Year-Old Can Be Sued, Judge Rules in Bike Case
Presidents are not responsible for their policy failures. Ever. In any administration.
But 4-year-olds are perfectly and legally culpable.
How in the world could young people come to the conclusion that they cannot trust their elders, I wonder?
Perhaps because they can't.
And perhaps we have no plans to ever earn back that trust.
Perhaps.
2 comments:
for what it's worth...
the judge merely determined that there wasn't an automatic immunity from negligence based on the kid's age.
if the case goes to jury, the plaintiff will need to convince those folks that the child was actually negligent.
that determination takes into account one's perceptions, knowledge and personal experience.
when it comes to kids... well...
"Children may be negligent, but they are not held to the same standard of conduct as adults. A child's conduct is measured against the conduct expected of a child of similar age, intelligence, and experience. Unlike the standard for adults, the standard of reasonable conduct for children takes into account subjective factors such as intelligence and experience. In this sense the standard is less strict than for adults, because children normally do not engage in the high-risk activities of adults and adults dealing with children are expected to anticipate their 'childish' behavior."
so, all the judge did was say, "yeah, you can take this pile of shit to a jury. you get your day in court." i'm guessing he may have been uttering, "good luck, dummy" under his breath.
additionally, you'll note that the parents named in the suit didn't make any procedural attempt to avoid the suit.
i understand the bigger point you'd like to make, but i don't think this instance makes it.
the parents are subject to liability and a jury of ostensibly reasonable folks will get to decide if the kid *can* be liable and then if the kid *is* liable.
that seems like what you'd want from a legal system--it avoids putting disproportionate, arbitrary power in the hands of the judge and instead places it with a jury.
Yeah, I understand the legalisms, Carson. I just don’t think they’re the bigger truth, here. I’m sure that would be an interesting explanation for the 4-year-old and her parents who just got taken to court. And that same law gets made by folks who never take responsibility for their own fucking up. Ever. Yeah, it's all so utterly rational, isn't it?
There's a million ways to talk our way around how fucked up it is. I suppose that's as good as any other.
It just seems to make sense to me, Carson, that we be honest about how fucked up the situation and the world is (and, in my case, have constructive solutions to offer) rather that persistently having an explanation for how fucked up it is. And the legalisms have everything to do with how fucked up the world is, when we step away from it and aren’t defending it, anymore, I think.
I don't care what this judge does with this case. I'm fine with him throwing it out. But the plaintiffs are still assholes, no matter how you look at this thing. I certainly hope the plaintiffs would be sent packing. But, to me, the larger issue is that you have assholes who sue a 4-year-old, you have politicians who make those laws who never take responsibility, ever, for their own fucking up, but it’s loving folks like me who are, apparently, fucking the world up and it’s these assholes who are making the world right. Right.
Explanations for how fucked up things are and how none of us have responsibility in that are the stock and trade of progress, these days, I suppose. Assholes just shouldn’t get a pass, I don’t think, because they found a legal loophole. It still does actually matter to me that we not sue 4-year-olds because it's the right thing to do. We’re all assholes in our hearts. And working that out in our own hearts is where real progress is at. And the legalisms just have everything to do with giving one more means of faking ourselves and everyone else out about that. Worse, in the bigger picture, it means a lot of the places where assholes won’t stop being assholes get reinforced and papered over and its consequences avoided. It just matters more, I have no doubt, anymore, that we face up that pretending that legalisms make the world right does not in fact remove all the ways that they make the world wrong.
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