A little bit fascist, a little bit rock n' roll...

So, looks like the County of Strathcona (ie: the ruling body of my bubblicious suburb) voted 5-3 in favour of a curfew for all those residents under 18. First offence is $100 fine, second is $200 and it only gets more ridiculous from there. As an added kick to the gut, the fines go to the parents of supposed "malicious, rampaging no-goodnik teens" for their implicit bad parenting in allowing their children to stay out past bedtime. *gasp!*

I for one believe this new bylaw is a bunch o' malarky and applaud the kids who I read in the paper are planning to take this thing to court or ignore it outright.

Not that I believe teens should be out raising hell all night, mind you. However, I do not believe that:

a) Staying out late is really the problem; and
b) Imposing a "time limit" on underaged fun is going to curtail mischief-making in the wee hours.

Let's face it. If you're going to be bad, you're going to find a way to do it, regardless of the "rules" of society. so what are we left with? Punishing some poor 16 year old who decides to walk home from a buddy's house after a night of drinking in an effort to be responsible and forcing said teen to work an extra bloody 40 hours at mcdonald's to pay off his not heeding the new bylaw?

hooey. It's all so much hooey. blecch. How about we teach young people respect and give them the benefit of the doubt and instill faith in them that they're not evil little shits who magically transform upon their 18th birthdays into respectable and contributing members of society? It doesn't work that way. Fostering distrust and suspicion will only make the bad more untrustworthy and the good less willing to participate in a society that treats them as lesser citizens.

The irony of all this, of course, is while we're punishing young people for not being old enough, it's the adults in this situation who need to be reminded to GROW UP.