Another Case of Stupidness–Thankfully No One Is Responsible
November 17, 2008 / 1:45 am • By Dr. Melissa ClouthierA young man’s irresponsible bravado nearly cost a young girl her life Saturday afternoon.
The 16-year-old girl was mauled by a cougar and rushed to the hospital after she and 21-year-old Anthony Zitnick illegally entered a wildlife collector’s home about 1:30 p.m. Neighbors believe Zitnick was trying to impress the younger girl.
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Richard Miralles, a neighbor familiar with Rigerman’s large cats, heard the girl’s piercing scream from next door.‘I heard her scream, `I’m gonna die, I’m gonna die,’ ” he said, hours after paramedics had left.
Miralles said he immediately dropped what he was doing, jumped his six-foot fence, and barged into Rigerman’s back room — only to find the girl pinned beneath Chaos, her head in his mouth and his large declawed paw on her face. Zitnick was standing nearby in shock, Miralles said.
At first, Miralles said, he tried to push Chaos off, but he wouldn’t budge. He then resorted to punching and kicking the cougar, who quickly balled up in a corner, he said.
Miralles then picked up the girl, who was bleeding profusely from her head and thigh, and ran outside to wait for an ambulance.
This guy was an idiot. The girl was dumb for following him. But you know who are complete morons? The commenters who are saying that people shouldn’t have animals like this at home.
How about a person should break into someone’s house? How about not breaking the law? The cat owner followed the rules. The 21 year old man broke and entered and it’s too bad HE wasn’t the one attacked. Instead he stood there while his girlfriend was mauled. Throw the book at him, I say.
It is called personal responsibility, people. See this? See why our culture is on a one-way high-speed trip to oblivion? People who buy too much house aren’t responsible. Banks who loan money to stupid people aren’t responsible. Money men trying to make a quick buck aren’t responsible. Union leaders who push for low productivity expectations coupled with huge benefits and wages aren’t responsible. Automobile executives who have horrible business practices aren’t responsible. Big business isn’t responsible. Parents who let their kids play next to the edges of mountains aren’t responsible.
No one is responsible anymore. And the few who are, are paying for the rest who aren’t. So why be responsible?
Cross-posted at Right Wing News and The Houston Chronicle
6 Responses to “Another Case of Stupidness–Thankfully No One Is Responsible”
November 17 2008 / 11:41 am
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*So why be responsible?*
Self-respect, integrity, the ability to sleep at night.
I can’t throw stones at stupid, irresponsible people because that was me not too many years ago. Thank God for the ability to change, to mature.
November 17 2008 / 11:47 am
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Heidi,
I agree. We can all change and mature and grow. That growth isn’t encouraged, though, when irresponsibility is reinforced.
There is a fine line between helping and enabling.
November 17 2008 / 1:24 pm
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Thank God that this girl received help in time. What a nightmare!
The Houston Chronicle just interviewed me two weeks ago for a story they are getting ready to run for me on the Statue of Responsibility. I have been working hard to help heighten public awareness about this statue.(sorfoundation.org)
What you mention here in this post,Melissa, is precisely what I mentioned during my interview as well. Heidi, we all make mistakes, but constantly finding someone to blame for those mistakes is where the real mistake lies.
The article will come out soon in an insert on Thursday’s paper called, “Faces in the Crowds.”
November 17 2008 / 7:33 pm
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I agree that there is a fine line between helping and enabling. A huge part of helping involves holding people accountable, but those people need to have hope that they won’t be forever defined by their past failings. But I get your point – our society isn’t holding people responsible, we’re coddling them and generally ruining the old ‘American Spirit’. It’s a lose-lose situation.
November 17 2008 / 7:56 pm
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A 16 year old girl with a 21 year old guy?
Where are the parents?
November 20 2008 / 12:03 am
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They’re all wrong.
Melissa, I disagree with you about the exotic pets. The pet owners are not to blame for this incident; however, wild animals are wild animals, not domestic animals, and should be treated as such. Putting them in a residential neighborhood puts everyone in that neighborhood at risk. Cougars are not kittens.
Zitnick is at fault, and they should throw the book at him. An adult man who messes with minor girls is a predator, and should be dealt with as such. It’s called statutory rape. Mel Reynolds went to prison for it.
Breaking and entering is a crime no matter how you slice it.
And where, exactly, WERE this girl’s parents? Why are they letting their daughter run around with a man–MAN, not BOY–five years her senior? And how on earth have they raised her that she would find burglary impressive?