Uranhjort

I was under general anesthesia three times in my childhood due to arriving into this world only partially assembled.

The first time I was sedated with ether (which I believe is not in use anymore) and only remember a nurse forcing the mask over my face before waking up to the sound of my father snoring next to me. I was violently ill for the next several days, but from what I hear I got off light compared to others.

For the next two I was given some kind of euphoric stimulant (via suppository, go figure) to calm me, but from what I’ve been told it instead made me hallucinate that I was driving a race car and did so all the way to the operating theatre much to everyone’s amusement. I’m happy that I remember none of this and that it was before smart phones or I’d probably be on YouTube forever. 😅

I’m not explaining away anything, nor denying that dangerously violent or even psychotic children exist. I was specifically railing against the idea of condemning a real, life human child because you have decided that they were “born bad”, in face of the plentiful evidence that they were raised in a violent environment.

For what it’s worth I’m sorry you had to go through that, but you’re not the only one who grew up with someone unstable and violent. I would not presume to speak to your experience, but in my case I was all too privy to the neglect and abuse they were put through and it’s left me convinced that barring any actual inborn neurological damage the only way a child turns violent is if something is pushing them to act that way.

Approx. 20.000 juveniles were arrested for murder or attempted murder in 2020 (per the US Dept of Justice) Shall we put them all down, as you say? Just to be safe?

Calling your position utilitarianism is interesting, in what way is really, actually murdering a child (never mind the massive amount of legal, ethical and emotional complications that entail) to prevent a hypothetical future murder maximizing utility for anyone?

Hmmm, yes, let us murder this child before he has a chance to murder us. This is what a society does.

Because the world is so much easier to comprehend when you convince yourself some people are just naturally bad and thus undeserving of compassion. To some this is preferable to thinking that an impressionable child may be pushed to violence by their environment.

Never mind that the child was likely mimicking his father (who had attempted to murder his mother on several occasions) and was raised in the kind of environment where a loaded weapon was just left around for him to grab.