Reader Fred Davison sent me this video of two teenage girls being interviewed by a Florida TV reporter regarding their theft of a 9 year-old Girl Scout’s proceeds from the sale of cookies. If it went viral in 2009, I missed it; if it didn’t, it should have. And although the crime is old news, it is an enduring warning, and a current cause for alarm:
Those who wonder how a young girl like Wanetta Gibson could have casually fingered an innocent boy with who she had been necking in a school corridor and sent him to jail for rape can get some of their answers from the two frightening creatures shown in the video. They have no comprehension of right and wrong. Their parents obviously couldn’t imbue them with any values, and their teachers, if they mentioned ethics at all, did it so fleetingly, ineptly or incoherently that it made no impression at all. They obviously have never been influenced by any church, religion or moral code. They lack empathy, respect for others, regard for fairness or justice, and most of all, shame.
If you think I blame the nation’s leaders, celebrities, and culture for creating these gross mutations of human beings, you are right. If the toxic messages spread by these toxic messengers aren’t countered by influences elsewhere, then these are the children America will get in increasing numbers. I don’t think the girls are aberrations. I think they are probably still in the minority (I hope), but I fear that such pathologically unethical citizens are gaining on the rest of us. After all, we blithely elect some of them to public office, arguing that its policies that matter. That means none of us are safe. It means that we need to be cautious of the people we decide to trust. It means that we have work to do.
Yesterday Massachusetts Democratic Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren was forced to admit that, yes, she had told Harvard and Penn that she was a Native American, though she had explicitly denied this for a month, saying that she didn’t know how she ended up being counted by the schools as a minority faculty member in their diversity statistics. I’m sure, like the two girls in the video, that she is “pissed off” about this, because, like them, she was caught. Democrats and media flacks will rush to her defense, of course, rationalizing her lie, just like the parents of the two girls raised them by excusing every lie and instance of dishonesty. The conduct we tolerate in our leaders and celebrities becomes the conduct our children learn to emulate, and to believe is culturally acceptable. What we end up with…what we are already ending up with…is a generation that shrugs off theft by saying “money is money” (“sex is sex,” “politics is politics,” “success is success,” “what works, works”) and moves on to the next victims.
You wonder how Wanetta Gibson got that way?
This is how.
UPDATE: Apparently one of the girls, the one who wasn’t a minor in 2008 and thus is identified in the video, participated in an armed robbery a year later, and recently violated her probation. Surprised? Thanks to Arthur in Maine for the link.
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Spark: Fred Davison
Sources:
Ethics Alarms attempts to give proper attribution and credit to all sources of facts, analysis and other assistance that go into its blog posts. If you are aware of one I missed, or believe your own work was used in any way without proper attribution, please contact me, Jack Marshall, at jamproethics@verizon.net.
Ethics Alarms 
Thanks, Jack. I was in a pretty good mood this morning. Now I’m depressed.
I wondered a bit about this story – it struck me as one of those “too good to check” items – but it turns out it’s authentic. The video is apparently going viral just now because one of the miscreants continued her bad behavior and is in the news again.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/crime/cookie-monster-to-spend-15-days-in-jail-2363588.html
Good thing this vid IS going viral. These two gals appear to be sociopaths, and sociopaths tend to be really good at covering their tracks. Apparently, they hadn’t yet figured out how to do that in 2008, when the interviews were taped.
Thanks for that link, Arthur—I added it to the main post.
I’m wondering about the other girl, who was a minor in 2008 (or who had a really bad complexion problem.) I’d like to know who she is, so I can be on the lookout.
It has been estimated that something like 1 in 25 of us is a sociopath. Unfortunately, they are as common as people who play the bass or drums.
What we need is a return to God-based morals and ethics. The Sheva Mitzvot B’Nei Noach laid down the basic moral and ethical principles for humanity for many milennia.
Of course, we are tempted to reign unencumbered by any moral or ethical standards. It is the temptation of absolute power, unaccountable to no one else, to covet the station of the Lord God JEHOVAH. It is indeed, the oldest of temptations.
Events like the theft of a 9 year-old Girl Scout’s proceeds from the sale of cookies, Wanetta Gibson’s false rape accusation, the Raoe of Nanking, and the Holocaust all arise when people refuse to listen to the God that spoke on Sinai, when people decide what is right and what is wrong.
What a bunch of idiots! The parents must be dead or locked up in jail or a mobile home somewhere in Ocala! They are both uneducated, trashy, unnatractive illiterate girls! They need to spend some time in jail! It amazes me how all the “straangest crimes happen in Florida”! I went to a spiritual lecture and the teacher stated how the state is below sea level, and it has the lowest level of spiritual alignment- go figure, these girls need to be scrubbing toilets in a womens prison, dressed in orange jumpsuits! They would NOT be missed!