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Originally Posted by Intense1
1. When I write about a "generation" (little g) of kids in the Amish community, I do not mean a whole blanket Generation (big G). Meaning, I'm not talking about the 3 billion plus folks under 18 in the world, I'm talking about a specific group of Amish young girls at a certain age range.
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Oh, I knew which you meant. lol Anyhow, good example with the southeast Asia note- I was originally just saying that 6 or 8 people won't cripple the entire community. There are still a lof of other kids younger and older than them. I can see where you're saying that there can be a ripple effect, and I generally agree with that notion, but I don't think there's enough loss here to cause any real change, at all.
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2. I agree with you about the equality of the value of human lives. It wasn't my intent to say kids count for more than adults because they're kids. I was trying to convey the different sense of horror many people feel when they hear a kid was shot as opposed to hearing that an adult was shot.
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Many people do experience an extra sense of personal horror when the deceased is a child, but I still think this extra horror is strictly
because they place the life of a child as more important than the life of an adult. Why else would the extra horror exist than because they place a higher value to a child's life? I can't think of another explanation.
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I mean, come on, doesn't your heart jump a bit more when you see a news report about a little two-year old killed by ricochet fire in a drive-by shooting, as opposed to seeing a report about an 18 year old? Doesn't it? Just a little bit? Both are aweful, but for some reason, in my heart, the tot rates a bit more of a bump.
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Well, no, because again- I don't value human life differently depending on who it is. I have to value every human life equally.
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3. A room full of adult hostages... ...have a chance at fighting back, mostly because they can think abstractly and plan and use subterfuge. Kids do what they're told. Period.
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That I will grant you, sure- but how many times have we been shown, over and over, that people do not do this? To begin with, adults get "bystander syndrome", which is a very workable observation on social psychology where the more people that are involved (starting with 2), the less likely anyone is to do anything because they figure someone else will. I can't recall the last time a group of adult hostages attempted any kind of real retaliation or lashed out against their captors (not counting the passengers on the 9/11 flight that fought back). Adult hostages do what they're told, too.
I just don't think there's a reasonable enough chance of that ever actually happening to make it worth saying there's a real difference between child hostages and adult hostages.
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Just because adults are reasonably able to fight back if so inclined and kids can't, does not mean that one is more important. That's not what I meant, and I didn't intend to imply it.
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Oh, I didn't think that.
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4. ...I think what I meant was that kids need protection, since they cannot protect themselves.
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In general, yes. I agree that children need protection because they lack the ability to protect themselves. I'm really just discussing that 6 human losses is 6 human losses, and that's that.
Many very good points, great back-and-forth.