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Reporter faces backlash for teen drinking story

appears the reporter has teenage children
so this issue is something she has to confront personally
her frustration in the authorities turning a blind eye to the problem is evident:
"As a bit of background, I should tell you that two months before we confronted that liquor store owner that has been selling for years to minors as young as 14 in plain sight, we brought this to the attention of D.C. Police as well as the Control Board, yet they did nothing and continue not to (take) any action," McCarren said.
 
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.
 
Do you really think that?
 
Reporter faces backlash for teen drinking story - CBS News

This is pretty crappy. You'd think people would appreciate this reporter bringing the problem to light. Instead she is being harassed and threatened.
She is going around screwing up peoples fun and she surprised why people are retaliating against her?

As far as I am concerned 18 year olds should have the same rights and privileges as any other adult seeing how they are old enough to vote and fight for their country.

Not sure if I really support 17 and under being allowed to drink and these parents having these drinking parties for minors. Minors shouldn't be drinking and doing drugs.If they are going to be doing those things then they should be sneaking around doing those things just like and many others did when we were their age. It how they learn limits and how to be more careful because they do not want to be in trouble at home.
 
Do you really think that?
I could be wrong but judging from his other posts he believes 14-15 year olds are adults and that only recently we as a society have been extending childhood longer and longer.I think his beliefs are due to the fact that long ago peoples life spans were shorter and someone that young was considered an adult,got married and had a job.
 
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Do you really think that?

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.
 
It will be a cold day in hell before I ever believe 14 is old enough to legally drink.

Alcoholism has been part of my life forever it seems. No, not me. I am alanon. I've seen enough people be destroyed by it. Including me.

Good on the reporter. Too bad for the schmucks having a hissy.
 
You don't prevent alcoholism by stopping kids from drinking entirely until they're old enough to sneak around and binge drink.

You prevent alcoholism by teaching kids to drink in moderation before they're ever tempted to binge.
 
You also don't get your kids loaded with cocaine or heroin at 14 either, just so they don't become addicts later on, do ya?
 
You also don't get your kids loaded with cocaine or heroin at 14 either, just so they don't become addicts later on, do ya?

No, but I would hope that cocaine and heroin weren't readily available and heavily encouraged through their entire young adult social life and professional careers, either.
 
No, but I would hope that cocaine and heroin weren't readily available and heavily encouraged through their entire young adult social life and professional careers, either.


What's the difference?
 
If you can vote or enlist in the military, you can drink. Our age limit on alcohol consumption is draconian.
 
What's the difference?

The difference is that they won't constantly be offered cocaine or heroin at every social function they attend for the entirety of their adult lives, and they won't be considered unusual for refusing them if they were.
 
They are not old enough to be allowed to become alcoholics. And chances are, they will.
That's my opinion on it.
However, if they are considered old enough to carry a weapon and join the military, then I would not be opposed to the drinking age at 18, which is the age to join the military, isn't it?
 
Difference is, if it weren't for the requirement that enlistees have a high school diploma, I'd support lowering the age to join the military, too.
 
I would be opposed to that. They just have not experienced enough yet. Plenty of time to still be kids until they have to take on the responsibilities of adults...which includes making decisions they just aren't capable of making yet because they ARE just kids. 18? Then they are fully cooked by then. Let 'em loose.
 
Put it this way...if I were a soldier, I damn sure would not want to rely on a 14 year old having my back. No way.
 
Reporter faces backlash for teen drinking story - CBS News

This is pretty crappy. You'd think people would appreciate this reporter bringing the problem to light. Instead she is being harassed and threatened.

I don't advocate threats or violence against anyone... but if the parents don't have a problem with these kids drinking, then that's the end of the discussion in my opinion.

The parents come first... above the law, and above the news reporters. They set the rules for their kids, and nobody should dispute them.

They don't need/deserve an army of news media and police marching in to their suburban neighborhood telling them how to raise their kids. That's a government incursion on their lives they don't need.


BTW, I grew up outside the United States, and I have been drinking responsibly since the age of 15. It's no big deal. Funny enough, when I got to college, it was the sheltered American kids who had never had a sip who went wild and drank themselves crazy as soon as they were let off the leash. For me, it was no big deal.


Anyway, I see this as a parent's rights issue. Who do you want raising the kids.... the parents, or the government?
 
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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.

While I could live with this, the fact is all age limits for whatever it might be are pointless and have really no reason to exist in the first place.
 
I would be opposed to that. They just have not experienced enough yet. Plenty of time to still be kids until they have to take on the responsibilities of adults...which includes making decisions they just aren't capable of making yet because they ARE just kids. 18? Then they are fully cooked by then. Let 'em loose.

Little circular, ain't it? How much experience could they have had, living at home?
 
While I could live with this, the fact is all age limits for whatever it might be are pointless and have really no reason to exist in the first place.

There is an important moral and societal distinction between children who require supervision and guidance from their parents, and adults who can be expected to function independently. There must be some point before which they are legally regarded as children and after which they are legally recognized as adults; we use a calendar age because it's simple and non-discriminatory. I would prefer some kind of formalized rite of passage-- some test of ability that marks them as capable of adulthood-- but the law is based on calendar age.

All I'm saying is that the calendar age we are using is wrong and several years later than it ought to be, and that we are doing young men and women a disservice by artificially prolonging their childhood.
 
If you can vote or enlist in the military, you can drink. Our age limit on alcohol consumption is draconian.
Actually there's nothing draconian about it. The legal age was 18 when I was 18. It varied a little state to state. And of course there was no such thing as a legal drinking age prior to prohibition.
 
Difference is, if it weren't for the requirement that enlistees have a high school diploma, I'd support lowering the age to join the military, too.

Actually you can enlist at 17 years of age.But form what I understand you can't be deployed till you turn 18 and you still have to get your diploma or GED.
Can I Join The Army? | Army.com
Age and Parental PermissionTo join the US Army you must be 17 years old or older and not have reached your 35th birthday.
 
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