I assume I’m not alone in my revulsion at seeing that viral school bus video showing the three 15-year-olds savagely beating, robbing and breaking the arm of a scared, cowering 13-year old. They were all attending, for what it’s worth, summer classes at Lealman Intermediate School in St. Petersburg. After initially wincing and averting my eyes, I was overcome with a combination of anger and disillusionment. This spoke volumes about an America I wished we didn’t have to acknowledge.
Three thugs beat this defenseless kid with impunity. The bus driver didn’t intervene. Something to do with policy–as if human instinct didn’t cover it. None of the other students on board helped out either. Nobody got involved. As a society, we’ve told ourselves that if terrorists ever try to take over another airliner, it’s time for the passengers to roll. Maybe we’re deluding ourselves.
Moreover, this was a crime of premeditated revenge. The thuggish three were paying back the victim for reporting an attempted marijuana sale in school that same day. Yet they all were allowed to board the same school bus home. Loco parentis, anyone? This gives negligence and cowardice bad names.
And the ironic upshot–in a judicial system criticized for incarcerating non-violent drug users and pushers–is that the brutalizing assailants may get probation. If that’s the case, then society will serve the sentence–many times over.