Question Authority

I saw this story on Primetime (link via Dean) (the online written report leaves out a great deal, including the comment I’m about to address, but you probably don’t want a lot of the details they left out – in fact, you probably don’t want some of the details they include). The victim that they profile said that her parents always taught her to do what adults say without question. The very idea of telling a child that, knowing how many sick and twisted adults there are out there, horrified me. I even remember my Dad telling me when I was little that adults aren’t perfect – sometimes, they’re wrong. Or, in this case, do wrong. Not that my father needed to encourage me to question authority. But pretending that authority figures will never abuse their power simply increases the likelihood that they will. If no one ever questions them, they have no accountability. That is a dangerous thing indeed.