Examinator, Cornflower et al

The thing about Piper is that she sees the reality every day - we can theorise all we like, but Piper is at the coalface dealing with it.

Piper, you sound as though you are very grounded, ready to accept exactly what you see without proselytising. I imagine that you are very clear about boundaries for the children in your care. I hope the meeting went well for you today, people like you are needed.

Regards

Pied Piper,
While not in your league I am a veteran of the coal face....Years as part of a volunteer 'trouble team' crisis intervention and survivor of more suicide counseling calls that I can or want to count.
I feel for you.

One of the problem I see in the world is that management is often promoted on false premises. i.e. A good salesperson/case worker/ teacher doesn't guarantee a good manager....Paul principal often applies (often promoted beyond the level of their competence)
(different skill sets needed).
I often found it useful to remember this and to use the old sales technique of managing ones manager.

I was responding to your "bollocks" comment. Not from any sense of slight etc but to raise the issue that to me one can become so focused on the next step one lose focus on the stars of the objective. In my humble experience some times that's all one has to maintain drive and purpose. Not the usual fortune cookie motivational philosophy by a hard one survival mechanism. Good intentions only go so far sooner or later one has to get down and dirty.

I find the theoretical focus relieves the stultifying effect of day to day slog reality. more colourfully put, a breath of dreams some times is better than a lung full of the stench of day to day reality.

Tpp, "Are we worried about the boy?"

First, 'anti' didn't answer you, I did.

No-one appears worried about the boy, which is rather surprising given that he is in the same environment and most likely is just as at risk. But then again, he may not even exist.

No one is dismissing the girl's claims outright. On the other hand we need to be a bit careful not to jump to confusion. It is worth remembering that children will experiment and that is perfectly normal. It is ridiculous to always call for State intervention. Maybe if our society wasn't so hung up about sex, that could help a lot.

It is the parent/s' role to advise, set realistic and meaningful boundaries, monitor and take corrective action. I don't know what the solution is for kids who keep on falling through the gaps (especially in education) but extra funding for alternative programs could certainly help.

What do you think about the show's solution? Although they would have riding instructions to leave minors alone - regarding sex anyhow.

“Examinator, Cornflower et al”

I am dying to use the et al thing – you know, all nonchalant like.[smile]

Fractelle, that proselytising word? Within minutes children who arrive here are amazing. Ritalin goes in the bin, endless reports about their destructive and disobedient, uncontrollable behavior left at the gutter. My husband told a mum recently when she asked how I do it that I was a child whisperer.

Nah it’s simpler. 2-5’s; I will love you to bits for being you and withdraw in the moments you choose to be something I believe you are not. I will never cause pain and will show you what being absolutely safe is. I notice everything and make time to talk about what I have noticed and what you saw. You will believe without doubt that baddies and monsters are too scared to come here and that a thunder storm is the best fun ever. You will be given choices and some control and you will know that the child next to you has these same things.

I already forgive your mum or dad because then you don’t need to. I tolerate nothing and everything and I understand sometimes it hurts to like me too much.

0-2; I just love you to bits.

All very similar to how I treat my husband really.[grin]

The meeting, ah my head is full… it was weird, they... I dunno, they listened to me. They originally reacted to e-mails and that can be inaccurate when tone is missing. I think my observations had read as complaints.

Exam:”While not in your league I am a veteran of the coal face....Years as part of a volunteer 'trouble team' crisis intervention and survivor of more suicide counseling calls that I can or want to count.”

Examinator, all I can say is I so wish you were here.

Hoellebecq:"how would you keep their power in check."

That's a bit of a doozy itself, isn't it? Feminism derives much of its authority from female victims of violence. This gives the people who work "on the coal face" enormous prestige in feminist circles. They're the ones who provide the ammunition for feminist activists to use to induce guilt in politicians and thereby get laws passed or funding approved that might otherwise be examined more closely. The Queensland Office of Women for example spent 6 times more money last year on administration and wages than it did on actually doing its job, yet that has hardly rated a mention anywhere. Naturally, Ms Struthers, the Minister, mentioned violence against women when responding to the Estimates committee and little more was said.

Other groups of activists use the same methodlogy, from indigenous people to sufferers of some illnesses to some religious groups. Zionist Jews have derived enormous authority from persecution in Europe that has allowed 60 years of atrocity to take place barely questioned in the Middle East.

Part of the central thesis of all these groups is that questions are beyond the pale. They have gone to extraordinary lengths to try to justify a culture in which every statement is part of a polemic and to question means one is misogynist or racist or anti-semitic or just plain hard-hearted about the plight of their particular group of victims.

The only way to stop the rot then, it seems to me, is to question at every opportunity. When people like Ms Wills make a claim, examine it and ask questions about it. Look at the context, look at the motive and discuss it.

If we had a media that was worth two bob they'd be doing that and claims that failed the test of rational examination would not be published or would be critiqued. However, the media is now dominated by feminist women and men who've decided "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em", and they know what role they're expected to play in the farce.

TPP:"we have a 14 year old rapist floating about, what happens to him?"

It seems we have a 14 year old boy who had sex with his 12 year old gf. When I was 14 I was desperate to do the same, but she'd never be in it - she was obviously frigid...

However, if we did have a 14 year old rapist, then he would be treated exactly as the Law demands. No doubt he'd be tried and some suitable course of action taken to stop him doing it again and punish him for having done so in the first place, hopefully taking into account the nature of the asault.

TPP:"What I have never seen is anyone doing anything about it or any process in place to do anything."

People seek sex when they think they're ready to, just as dogs or cows or sheep do. Just as with dogs or cows or sheep, sometimes they are going to conceive when they do and sometimes they'll suffer injury of one sort or other if they do it too soon. It is the unintended consequences that are the problem, not the sex, ISTM. If teens are sleeping with teens and not with adults who may be carrying STIs and if they're not bashing each other to do it then whose business is it apart from their own?

The "age of consent" is a nice legal point designed to make it easier for the Law to prevent exploitation of minors by adults. It is arbitrary, but old enough that the majority of people will be sufficiently sexually and intellectually mature to make a decision that they are able to live with. Some will not be and some will have been that way for years. That's the nature of variation within a population.

As soon as the State intervenes to stop average people doing what average people want to do because there are some people who are not average we have authoritarianism and the end of personal freedom.

Far too much of our present law is being created on that basis ISTM.