Wednesday, July 09, 2008

Good Riddance

Today in the News Journal I read that a group of teens have started a "boycott Christiana Mall" campaign. The mall has recently required parental or adult supervision on certain weekend and evening hours.

The teens reasoning ranges from... they come there to spend money, so they shouldn't be excluded... to... they have the legal right to drive, so they should have the right to go in the mall.

Well, Christiana Mall is private property. As such, within certain constitutional limits, the owners can exclude who they want to, when they want to. We have no "right" to demand access to another person's private property.

It has been the boisterous, disrespectful, and criminal behaviour of some amongst the teen crowds which have made the mall unpleasant and unsafe for society and the mall employees. Certainly it is not all teenagers who act this way at the mall. But the restrictions imposed seem reasonable and appropriate.

Adult and parental supervision is lacking in our society now across the board. Not just in the malls but everywhere. The lack of personal and parental responsibility is a significant factor in many social problems that we face.

6 comments:

Larry said...

And by the way, driving is a privilege, not a right.

Anonymous said...

I sometimes wonder if we should rename our Bill of Rights, into our Bill of Privileges. Regardless of how our government may classify our ability to drive legally, I think we're letting our rights erode.

And that's a shame.

Larry said...

I agree. There has been a significant erosion. To the extent that the terrorists have armed our reactionaries, they have been successful in their campaign. Not only the individual rights have been eroded, it seems to me that our States' rights are continually overlooked by a power hungry central government.

Anonymous said...

Really, This site is very impressive. So, I'm very impressed to this. Christiana Mall is private property. As such, within certain constitutional limits, the owners can exclude who they want to, when they want to.
Thanks ....

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animesh

Delaware Treatment Centers

Anonymous said...

I don't understand why they let supervised children/teenagers into the mall, though.
Most parents 'supervising' their children do no better at protecting a comfortable public atmosphere than the presence of unsupervised children.
The crowd spending the most money, the 20-30-somethings, often find children irritating, not endearing, whether supervised or unsupervised, whether adolescent or pre-adolescent.
I think the Mall ought to ban children entirely. Since they're minors, they don't have any real protection under the law like adults do, so I think it would be perfectly OK.

Larry said...

Not sure whether you are serious, or tongue in cheek...

If by OK, you mean that you agree that it would be legal for the mall to take this step, I agree. I further agree that many parents don't properly supervise their children, and that they don't instill within their children the concepts of personal responsibility that are essential for a well functioning society.

I do believe however that it would be a poor business decision for the mall to take this step, and a sad but pointed comment about the status of our society. I think holding parents responsible for the actions of their children is a more appropriate step. I believe this with the understanding that the parents should pass this responsibility on to the shoulders of their children in their own way.