• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

Reporter faces backlash for teen drinking story

Rather than discuss one extreme fringe opinion I'll note that I do not agree with our current laws. While I do not think it's a positive thing, 18 year olds should be able to legally drink. As far as the law is concerned, they are adults in all other aspects.

Locally there is one area that makes some good money off this law. There is a local night spot that everyone knows allows those under 21 to drink. The city makes no attempt to stop them but they are quick at charging people for underage drinking.

But anyway, the article says that 99% supports the stories. The reporter expects that nobody is ever going to be upset over a story she does? Perhaps she should find another line of work.
 
Maybe it's time for society to realize that "minors as young as 14" are old enough to choose to drink in the first place.

I think 14 is a bit too young. The legal drinking age for beer and wine here in Switzerland is 16 and for stronger liquors it's 18. I'm cool with that.
 
The parents come first... above the law, and above the news reporters. They set the rules for their kids, and nobody should dispute them.

I could not disagree more. Bad parents don't need to be given free reign to let their children destroy their lives before they are even given a chance.
 
Yeah, I do. Fourteen and fifteen years old is old enough to be an adult-- old enough to work, old enough to have children, old enough to fight and die. If their parents don't want them drinking at home, that's fine, but it's their parents' responsibility to enforce it. They should have been drinking already, as children, to learn that there's no "mystique" to it and that it doesn't make them grown-up or cool.

Not in this country it isn't.
 
I could not disagree more. Bad parents don't need to be given free reign to let their children destroy their lives before they are even given a chance.

this is scary. i agree with you

the parents should prevent their kids from engaging in illegal behavior in a very public place
if they want to expose their own kids to liquor in their own homes/other controlled environments, not a problem. just do not allow it to become the public's problem to deal with

with both of my (now of age) kids i provided them beer, wine and liquor growing up
they could not drive after drinking and they could not drink outside the home - at least not the alcohol i purchased
unlike many of their friends, who came from alcohol free homes, my kids did not go stupid when exposed to the freedoms of college. that was the intent of gradually exposing them to drink so that they would (hopefully) recognize that moderation is the key
to those complaining parents i would say that the blame is on you, for not controlling the environment in which your kid imbibes. until they become 21, that is the parents' responsibility ... and they now face the consequences of their irresponsibility. no surprise, they would prefer to blame and threaten the reporter for the resultant outcome
 
There are several factors involved in this whole thing. The legal drinking age is indeed one of them. Just like many other things in our society, we have this law that says you must be x years of age to do y. At x you are now responsible enough. But interestingly, we have no interim steps or ways of teaching that responsibility and how to handle it. At age x, you are responsible even if the day before age x it was considered taboo to even talk about the subject with a "minor". Of course, depending on the subject, we cannot even agree on a standard age x for all subjects. Biologically, adolescence starts at approximately age 12 for most people and final developement of the lobe wich governs decision making doesn't complete developement until approximately age 26 on average. Without proper training and exercise, that lobe will never develop properly, therefore, policies wich guard against something until a specific age hinders brain developement and will lead to longterm problems. (hmm, probably why so many over age 26 cannot realize that Liberalism/Socialism/Communism (really, do we need three names for the same thing?) is so evil and will never actually work)

All such restrictions, such as drinking age, should have stepped progress for teenagers. Unfortunately, most of our legal drinking laws have progressed toward those that MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) lobby for and are indeed as draconian as they can get away with. Although not stated as a goal, the end of legal drinking in America definitely appears to be the goal of that organization. In this, just like many other topics, we are allowing the extremist to set policy.

I noticed that the reporter was from CBS, so I have to question if the true reason for her articles was underage drinking being a problem or if she did it just to, once again, try to embarass the police. Liberal media (CBS is either the most liberal news organization or number two depending on how Pravda of Atlanta (CNN) is doing a particular year) has a long history of harassing police organizations for not doing their jobs even though CBS fully supports and propagandizes liberal policies which strongly undercut the police's ability to actually carry out their jobs. Probably because Police organizations tend to be strongly conservative (just like the military and other organizatios where the members have to deal with reality daily instead of liberalism's dream state.)

So kids, quit harrassing her because she did something you didn't like and harrass her for proper reasons, like being a reporter for the Communist Broadcasting Service and supporting liberal/Socialist policies that are destroying our country and will eventually lead mankind into a second Dark Age, perhaps even darker than the first.
 
Not in this country it isn't.

You telling me that there are no fourteen year olds in your country right now working to help support their families, raising children of their own, or dying in street fights? Or are you just trying to say that despite the fact that they're clearly physically capable of doing these things, and clearly have psychological motivations to do these things, they are somehow physically and psychologically not mature enough to do these things because the law says they aren't?
 
To me, this is ALL the reporter's problem. She reminds me of that nosy, creepy, neighbor who watches you day and night untill you do something bad and then calls the police over it. I have neighbors exactly like her and it's like, "OMG, get a ****ing life! don't you have anything better to do than chasing rebellious kids around? Cmon..." I guarrentee you, she drank when she was in school.
 
To me, this is ALL the reporter's problem. She reminds me of that nosy, creepy, neighbor who watches you day and night untill you do something bad and then calls the police over it. I have neighbors exactly like her and it's like, "OMG, get a ****ing life! don't you have anything better to do than chasing rebellious kids around? Cmon..." I guarrentee you, she drank when she was in school.

Reporting on a store routinely selling alcohol to minors isn't being a busy body. Her only problem is complaining because a very small minority of people complained.
 
Reporting on a store routinely selling alcohol to minors isn't being a busy body. Her only problem is complaining because a very small minority of people complained.
She's following KIDS! it'd be one thing if she was just at a alcohol store, and the only people who got in trouble were the owners, police already do this in the first place...but she is following kids to bust a party....what the ****? as much as I would want to punish my kids, if they were caught underage drinking, I'd be angry at the lady, and do anything I could to defend my children. MY children are not HER responsibility.
 
Last edited:
She's following KIDS! it'd be one thing if she was just at a alcohol store, and the only people who got in trouble were the owners, police already do this in the first place...but she is following kids to bust a party....what the ****? as much as I would want to punish my kids, if they were caught underage drinking, I'd be angry at the lady, and do anything I could to defend my children. MY children are not HER responsibility.

There have been stories like this for decades.
 
You telling me that there are no fourteen year olds in your country right now working to help support their families, raising children of their own, or dying in street fights? Or are you just trying to say that despite the fact that they're clearly physically capable of doing these things, and clearly have psychological motivations to do these things, they are somehow physically and psychologically not mature enough to do these things because the law says they aren't?


What does physical maturity have to do with emotional or psychological maturity?

I don't know what his answer is to your question, but my answer is yes. That's what I'm saying.
 
She's following KIDS! it'd be one thing if she was just at a alcohol store, and the only people who got in trouble were the owners, police already do this in the first place...but she is following kids to bust a party....what the ****? as much as I would want to punish my kids, if they were caught underage drinking, I'd be angry at the lady, and do anything I could to defend my children. MY children are not HER responsibility.

They're everybody's responsibility if they get out on the road driving. Because God knows, if they don't pay any attention to the liquor laws, what the hell are driving laws going to mean?
 
Underage drinking should not be viewed as a part of growing up. Drinking is such a big responsibility and a teen is not yet mature enough to handle it.

For parents who find their teens experimenting with alcohol, it's important to nip the habit in the bud while it's still early. Too much experimentation may lead to teen alcohol abuse. There are a few tips here for parents struggling with a teen using alcohol.
 
Back
Top Bottom