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Originally Posted by analog
I can accept his end of it, I meant his silence about what the others were doing. I wonder how plausible it is that a normal 14 year old is actually clueless to the fact that grown men shouldn't be having sex or sexual favors with an 11 year old Or that it's not normal for an 11 year old to be blowing more than a dozen guys period, regardless of their ages. I mean, 14 years old is 8th grade into 9th grade, usually... I find it hard to believe that he didn't know what was going on around him wasn't wrong. That's more what I meant.
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Mob mentality. People in groups do things that they wouldn't do as an individual, that they wouldn't even consider doing as an individual. The social reinforcement that comes from having others present doing the same thing is a powerful motivator. This can sometimes happen with groups as small as two people. See
In Cold Blood.
This doesn't make it right, goodness no, but it does help to understand what some of the forces involved are. Of course the individuals retain individual responsibility regardless of what others around them are doing and need to be punished appropriately, but at the same time understanding the atmosphere that creates the possibility for such an event helps us to find ways to attack the problem from the other end as well.
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Originally Posted by jbw97361
Personally, I'd rather be poor and have good friends than rich and dead inside.
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I'd rather be financially stable and comfortable and have good friends. There's a huge middle ground between rich and poor and having good friends and being dead inside. I've been poor and financially stable. Stable is much better. I've felt dead inside and . . . well I have a supportive family and I'm learning how the friends thing works. The latter is better than the former and the two qualities are not linked, at least not in a linear way. Being poor can lead to problems and place obstacles in the way of happiness that those with a comfortable income don't have to deal with, so it's relevant in that way.