An article appeared recently on The Advocate's website about two small children that were injured in an automobile accident because they weren't properly restrained. (Click here to read the article.) It makes me really angry when I see people driving around with their children obviously unrestrained - especially when I see a cop ignore the situation. Since the adults in the accident weren't seriously injured, I think it's safe to say that if the children had been properly restrained, they wouldn't be in critical condition.
People already look down on Louisiana as ignorant and redneck; there's not any reason to give them more reasons to think this way. Britney Spears already did plenty of damage on this front.
The other thing that I find disturbing about this article is the comment section. I keep hoping that the South is moving past the blatant racism/classism that has defined it for so long... and then I read the comment section for this article. I was truly horrified - especially after I realized that I hear similar comments and/or assumptions everyday. I just tune them out. The comment makers are obviously assuming that the people in the vehicles were definitely poor and probably black. There was nothing in the article that would indicate that other than where the accident took place.
I really can't read online comments to newspaper articles anymore. It brings out the worst in the worst people.
ReplyDeleteIf it makes you feel any better, the same thing happens even in liberal Oregon. Never, ever read the comments on newspaper articles, because they bring out the most hateful of the trolls.
ReplyDeleteAnd, I'm the same way with kids and dogs. Thankfully, it is rare to see a child improperly restrained or left alone in a hot car, but so few people take the same care with their dogs. This weekend, I saw an old man leave his bichons on the car in the sun with all the windows closed AND a guy with his terrier sitting on his lap and sticking its head out the window, which was rolled all the way down as he drove 65 on the freeway. Of course, the terrier was wearing goggles to protect his eyes.
Okay. I'll step off my soap box now.