Pushers and Parents

In barbaric societies, parents sometimes compel obedience in children by swatting them on their backsides. Of course, increasingly the United States is moving beyond such inhumane measures. Instead, we drug our children into submission.

According to this news article, nationally, nearly one out of every 12 children is being diagnosed with a debillitating mental condition known as attention deficit disorder. Though the article says that the cause of this condition is unknown, being a boy seems to have much to do with it. Nearly one in nine boys is considered to have this illness.

In Tennessee, the percentages are still higher: 1 out of every 10 children has this mental illness. One out of every 15 take drugs to subdue them. Approximately 1 in 10 boys is on drugs required to subdue them.

Do some of these children legitimately have a disorder that requires medication? Absolutely. However, these high percentages, which vary widely by geography based on the school of thought of local health care providers, give evidence of societal child abuse by drugging. The drugs used are controlled substances. Often, what is being medicalized is normal childhood, especially boyish, behavior.

I am frankly glad I grew up in a more barbaric age. I prefer having endured a stung bottom, as opposed to a subdued brain.