Advertisement

Small Wonders:

Interpreting comments

March 20, 2010|By Patrick Caneday

Opinions. Everyone has them and thinks theirs are right. Otherwise, they’d get new ones.

And when a scandal like the alleged sexual affair between a 33-year-old female teacher and a 14-year-old male student comes along, the opinions blossom like spring flowers — abundant, colorful and fleeting.

I am of course referring to the Amy Beck case currently rocking the Burbank Unified School District. We don’t know yet the motives and emotions behind the events that led to Beck turning herself in for allegedly having sexual relations with a minor. But we do know what people think about this. Look no further than the Burbank Leader’s website for some public opinions.

Advertisement

Many resonate with the expected norms for our society. And then there are those who, well, don’t. They include:

“Having sex with this beautiful teacher would be every boy’s dream. Sure, it is a breach of duty, blah blah blah, but only because it is unfair treatment to the other boys who want it just as much. This should not be a crime.”

To which there were several responses like:

“Are you serious? . . . . A 14-year-old kid is nothing but a huge ball of hormones and they act on impulse. For a 33-year-old adult, male or female, to take advantage of that and not know the difference between right and wrong is never OK. How is an adult sleeping with a minor an OK thing to do?”

And there was more:

“DAMN! What a cool 14-year-old. I wish I was lucky enough to have slept with my teacher. I would dream about it quite often. You give hope to all students little guy . . . . YOU GO KID!!!! KUDOS!”

“I agree, that would have been cool :o)”

And:

“The Puritan control freaks are out in force!”

And more counter-opinions:

“You have to be kidding me. You can’t honestly believe that it’s OK for an adult to have a sexual relationship with a child. Would you be OK if this was your child?”

Perhaps the most thought-provoking reply to those who laud this boy’s sexual conquest comes from someone with self-proclaimed professional experience dealing with sex offenders:

“As to the cretins who say the victim is ‘lucky’ and the sex offender ‘really isn’t so bad’. . . . where do you idiots think adult, male sex offenders come from?”

Glendale News-Press Articles
|
|
|