Careful: Your child is probably member of a hate group

[Ryika]

...and you're likely missing the early warning signals!

So, I found this resources from the Calgary Police about hate groups. Generally a good resource I think, among other things it explains how children are dragged into those without even noticing.

It does however include a list of "early warning signs" that you might not be familiar with, but show that your child might be member of a hate group:

• Sudden lack of interest in school.
• Adopting new groups of friends and staying out late without any explanation.
• Violence or secretive behaviour.
• Overt hostility to parents and family, disobedience, rudeness.
• Racist graffiti, drawings and doodling.
• Playing loud, heavy music with violent lyrics.
• Stereotyping and scape-goating of certain groups; name calling, racial and religious slurs in conversation at all times.
• Making racist or bigoted comments about minorities, immigrants or foreigners.
• A marked repugnance to consider certain ethnic or religious groups as fully Canadian or even human.
• Wearing or displaying Nazi propaganda and symbols such as swastikas or the Iron Cross and/or military clothing and paraphernalia.
• Changing their appearance.

Now obviously, not all entries on that list are created equally - if your child is wearing or displaying Nazi propaganda, then that might be a sign that you've already missed the other "early warning signs" on that list. Because while some of them are obvious, I've marked in bold letters those that I assume some of you might think are more or less normal characteristics many, maybe even most, teenagers show at one point or another during puberty.

Well, they're not. Be careful, or else your child might go from changing their appearance and listening to Slipknot and Rammstein (Young kids these days listen to Slipknot and Rammstein, do they not?), to hunting down Jews in your neighborhood.

 

[Akka]

Well, they're not. Be careful, or else your child might go from changing their appearance and listening to Slipknot and Rammstein (Young kids these days listen to Slipknot and Rammstein, do they not?), to hunting down Jews in your neighborhood.

Some details like that make it really hard to believe you're the age you claim to be, you know ?

 

[Ryika]

I'm just testing if I can get away with being seen as an adult if I say things like that.

Does seem to work, which is great!

 

[Disgustipated]

Both bands are past their prime. Actually slipknot never had a prime. But hey, at least she didn't mention Marylin Manson.

 

[innonimatu]

We also need a guide for children to identify whether their parents are members of a hate group, don't we? Kids, do your parents say bad things about the righteous laws of the state and the government? Please tell it all to the nice agents.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

We also need a guide for children to identify whether their parents are members of a hate group, don't we? Kids, do your parents say bad things about the righteous laws of the state and the government? Please tell it all to the nice agents.

This makes for an interesting question. In current society there is a very powerful wave towards "enforcement of law is everyone's responsibility." A recent shooting in a nearby town over a drug deal gone bad lead to a few parents mentioning that they had 'kept their kids away from' the apparently known dealer who was shot. Many people voiced the opinion that those parents 'had a responsibility to inform the authorities and could have prevented this tragedy.' Maybe so, or maybe no.

But if you side with 'so,' then where does this 'responsibility' end? Should parents be expected to provide enforcement of laws their children break? Vice versa? Friends? How far beyond the people we hire to enforce the law does this responsibility for enforcing the law actually extend...and where does plain old being a snitch start?

 

[innonimatu]

In the conscience of each person. Most of whom, in a functioning society, should care about what goes on around them, and understand enough to decide what to do. Laws mandating snitching seem an abomination to me.

 

[Zelig]

I live in Calgary. The news coverage this has received is idiotic.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

Laws mandating snitching seem an abomination to me.

Gotta agree with that.

But how much 'societal pressure' does it take to be just as abominable?

 

[Berzerker]

wasn't that the same list used to identify drug use?

well I guess a couple at the bottom are a bit more concerning

 

[Zelig]

Laws mandating snitching seem an abomination to me.

Particularly when free market solutions are far more elegant.

You get 50% of any money recovered by the IRS from tax cheats you report!

 

[Timsup2nothin]

It is interesting that long before there were hate groups more than half of these 'signs' would have been written off as normal passage through puberty.

 

[Lemon Merchant]

It's normal for teenagers to act out and want to be "different" and test authority. It's how they grow and mature. If we followed most of the things on these stupid guides, the majority of "good, decent" kids would be locked up with the bad ones.

 

[Zelig]

It's normal for teenagers to act out and want to be "different" and test authority. It's how they grow and mature. If we followed most of the things on these stupid guides, the majority of "good, decent" kids would be locked up with the bad ones.

No, they wouldn't be. This shows such a misunderstanding of what the article is saying that I have a hard time believing that said misunderstanding isn't willful.

 

[Lemon Merchant]

You're mistaking sarcastic hyperbole for misunderstanding. There are a number of parenting checklists for everything from drug abuse to psychotic behaviour (to now hate groups). Each of them includes typical teenage bahaviours in them that you are supposed to "watch out for." My point was that if we are to believe some of the items on these lists, then our children are definitely all guilty of being racist, drug abusing psychopaths.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

In the conscience of each person. Most of whom, in a functioning society, should care about what goes on around them, and understand enough to decide what to do. Laws mandating snitching seem an abomination to me.

I think it depends on what they want people to snitch about.

If you know someone plans to commit murder (or has committed one), yes, you should report it. I can't think of any reason not to, unless your life/your loved ones' lives would be at risk if you did.

The cops need to ask themselves if the normal 911 system would cover the situation. That's what the non-CPC groupies tried to tell the Kellie Leitch supporters during the 2015 election and the recently-concluded CPC leadership race candidates here. Kellie Leitch, who used to be in Stephen Harper's cabinet, stood up and with a straight face (and irritating, squeaky voice) announced the "Barbaric Cultural Practices Tip Line". The idea was that we were supposed to keep an eye on our Muslim neighbors, co-workers, kids at school, etc. and if we suspected anything barbaric going on, we were to call the special phone number and report it.

Leitch claimed that it was to report things like arranged (the coerced/forced kind) marriages, "honor killings" and FGM... and indeed, all of those are barbaric by normal Canadian standards. But we already have ways to report such things. The idea of the government actively encouraging all this snooping and reporting is abhorrent, and they were really vague about absolutely everything they might deem "culturally barbaric".

Fast-forward to the recent leadership race and Leitch was a one-note candidate constantly prattling about "face-to-face interviews with all immigrants, refugees, and visitors to make sure they adhere to Canadian values."

She was really vague about what values she was talking about, but when pressed she did let slip that it was Muslims who were her real target. When asked if she would allow an Irish Catholic to immigrate if he/she stated their opposition to legal abortion or same-sex marriage (which are two of the Canadian values she had listed previously), she tap danced all around it and then sputtered out a litany of Harperisms ("Now, look. Let me be perfectly clear. These are Canadian values ^TM I'm talking about...").

 

[Zelig]

You're mistaking sarcastic hyperbole for misunderstanding. There are a number of parenting checklists for everything from drug abuse to psychotic behaviour (to now hate groups). Each of them includes typical teenage bahaviours in them that you are supposed to "watch out for." My point was that if we are to believe some of the items on these lists, then our children are definitely all guilty of being racist, drug abusing psychopaths.

It says, specifically, "If your child is involved in a hate group, these early warning signs may be a clue" - which looks to be factually accurate, as long as common sense is applied. If your kid shaves their head in solidarity with a friend who has cancer, that's probably fine. If your kid suddenly sports a shaved head and and is listening to music from wiki's List of neo-Nazi bands, that might be cause for further investigation.

 

[Commodore]

Sooooo...basically they are saying that every single teenager on the planet is a member of a hate group?

 

[Timsup2nothin]

Sooooo...basically they are saying that every single teenager on the planet is a member of a hate group?

No, just the ones who have a "sudden lack of interest in school."

Oh...wait...yeah.

Every one.

 

[Akka]

It is interesting that long before there were hate groups more than half of these 'signs' would have been written off as normal passage through puberty.

I think that's kind of the point of the thread