It was disturbing to see the story today of the 15 year old girl who stabbed her Mother's boyfriend to death over an argument about what to watch on television.
The story so far is that the mother and her boyfriend returned home together, where her twin 15-year-old daughters were watching television. The boyfriend wanted to switch to a news program, which triggered an argument that ended with one of the sisters stabbing him to death. When the police arrived and took the young murderess into custody, the officer was physically attacked by her twin sister. So both girls were arrested.
Sure, the first gut reaction would be, "what a brat". Killing someone over an argument about what to watch on television would seem to be the ultimate in spoiled brat behavior.
Probably so. But even with what little facts are available at this point in the story, I'm prepared to suggest that at least equal guilt should be assessed against the girls' mother.
It stretches credibility that even a self-centered and narcissistic teenager would go so far as murder unless there's a lot more than a simple television programming argument. Unless the girl has a serious mental illness, the only reasonable explanation for the extreme response of murder is abuse.
There would have been no argument over the television between the girls and their mother's boyfriend unless he felt some sort of entitlement. I'm guessing he's not just bringing the mother back from a date, but lives in the house. Otherwise, he would have no standing to demand that the channel be changed to what he wanted to watch.
Maybe the boyfriend has been abusive with the girls since he moved in. Perhaps he began beating one of the sisters when she refused to pass him the TV remote and the other sister stabbed him to stop him. Maybe he's been abusing them physically and/or sexually for months or years.
The young murderess must be held responsible for her actions, unless evidence does come out in the case that the boyfriend was stabbed in an act of self-defense. But I think the mother deserves at least equal punishment, whether for allowing her daughters to become such stupendous brats or for failing to protect them from this or maybe a string of abusive boyfriends. Either way, Mom can be presumed guilty of neglect based simply on the information available already.
The saddest part is that live-in boyfriends who may or may not abuse the children is an all-to-common occurrence in today's America. And people like me are vilified for "judging" their lifestyles.
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