Little Scumbags! Nature or Nurture?

OutlawPete · 06-04-2011 11:31PM #1

On my way home tonight on the 77 bus an it was bricked by a few little scumbags as it turned up past the Coombe/Liberties. Fair sized brick smacked the window two inches from this girls face, if it had of done more than shatter the glass, would have ripped her face apart for sure. So we all stream of the bus and wait for the next one and as it turns the corner, another brick smacks that (not sure if it went through as we were just getting into a taxi).

On the journey back the conversation started about why these little scumbags are in fact: 'little scumbags'.

I say it's more nurture than anything else as that is just my experience really, any little fcukers/scumbags I knew growing up, regularly got beatings growing up and their parents little respect nor time for them. Person I was with disagrees as she was brought up in a tough area and points out that many kids there had very hard and often times traumatic childhoods and not all of them turn out to be like their parents and I guess that's a fair point.

So, what says you ..

More Nurture and parents have the power to turn children into considerate and productive adults or is it more Nature and there's not really a whole lot of an effect adults can have on children if they are inherently bad and/or indeed evil?

Dudess · 06-04-2011 11:33PM

Both - sometimes together, sometimes separately. And sometimes "nurture" as a result of whom they hang around with, not their upbringing.

Kent Brockman · 06-04-2011 11:35PM

Its a pity you haven't got Neuter down as an option:D

Killer Pigeon · 06-04-2011 11:36PM

Get the Gardaí after them so they can arrest them, detain them ... and rape them.

Seloth · 06-04-2011 11:36PM

Hah I'm just writing an essay for college and the author described how the "savages" in society are a product of their sick society environment.

And its quite easy to see,there are more random acts of violence from poorer areas compared to that of wealthier(thats not to say there is neither in both nor that theres no good or bad in each)

pragmatic1 · 06-04-2011 11:37PM

In most cases its nurture but then you've those outliers who were just born sociopaths.

chin_grin · 06-04-2011 11:38PM

Watch Trading Places!

It could be six of one though. I mean it could be brought back to basic genetics.

Genotype + Environment = Phenotype.

I'm way too tired to flesh out my opinion, so you can...............please.

PK2008 · 06-04-2011 11:39PM

Does it really matter? Either way they're still scumbags

starbelgrade · 06-04-2011 11:41PM

There are certain areas where you are a hell of a lot more likely to have kids throw bricks at windows of passing buses than others, so anecdotedly, that would suggest that the environment you grow up in has a lot to do with your patterns of behaviour.

Gummy Panda · 06-04-2011 11:41PM

Killer Pigeon wrote: »

Get the Gardaí after them so they can arrest them, detain them ... and rape them.

I like this new An Garda Siochana

Spudmonkey · 06-04-2011 11:43PM

Killer Pigeon wrote: »

Get the Gardaí after them so they can arrest them, detain them ... and rape them.

Hmmm yes, very good.

starbelgrade · 06-04-2011 11:43PM

Gummy Panda wrote: »

I like this new An Garda Siochana

It's pretty much the same as the old Garda Siochana, only with 20% more added threat of rape.

Storminateacup · 06-04-2011 11:45PM

I disagree with you OP.

I know a family, really decent well educated parents, 2 kids, a boy and a girl. The girl is polite, nice girl, very timid. The boy is what you would describe as a "scumbag". Both raised in the same envirnoment, both with the same parenting. One just turned out to be utterly wild, with aspirations to be wilder, by the looks of things.

I really dont know what it is. Blame the parents? Society? School? Peers?

Richard Dower · 06-04-2011 11:46PM

You've got genetic scumbags, generations of utter trash breeding more trash, added with enviroment and no parenting.

RichieC · 06-04-2011 11:47PM

Storminateacup wrote: »

I disagree with you OP.

I know a family, really decent well educated parents, 2 kids, a boy and a girl. The girl is polite, nice girl, very timid. The boy is what you would describe as a "scumbag". Both raised in the same envirnoment, both with the same parenting. One just turned out to be utterly wild, with aspirations to be wilder, by the looks of things.

I really dont know what it is. Blame the parents? Society? School? Peers?

Was the Girl perhaps the favoured child?

starbelgrade · 06-04-2011 11:48PM

Richard Dower wrote: »

You've got genetic scumbags

Sounds like a disease.

"Doctor, just tell me - what do the tests say?"

"I'm sorry Mr.Brown, but you have a bad case of genetic scumbags."

Poor Craythur · 06-04-2011 11:49PM

Mostly nurture, but I reckon there might be genetic factors too.

steddyeddy · 06-04-2011 11:49PM

100% nurture the basic desires have a genetic basis, its all these kids know "No mans knowledge can go beyond his experience" john locke.

steddyeddy · 06-04-2011 11:50PM

Poor Craythur wrote: »

Mostly nurture, but I reckon there might be genetic factors too.

Highly unlikely

Storminateacup · 06-04-2011 11:51PM

RichieC wrote: »

Was the Girl perhaps the favoured child?

I dont think so? I know the boy had problems with his feet when he was born and was bullied in school a lot, so Im guessing, maybe he learned from an early age, to "defend" himself? Getting into fights ect.

I don't know. Theyre like chalk and cheese anyway, and its baffling because Im even guilty of it myself, assuming all those "skobes" wearing shellsuits are from deprived areas, and well -- knackers. They're not always though.

steddyeddy · 06-04-2011 11:52PM

Storminateacup wrote: »

I dont think so? I know the boy had problems with his feet when he was born and was bullied in school a lot, so Im guessing, maybe he learned from an early age, to "defend" himself? Getting into fights ect.

I don't know. Theyre like chalk and cheese anyway, and its baffling because Im even guilty of it myself, assuming all those "skobes" wearing shellsuits are from deprived areas, and well -- knackers. They're not always though.

Well it could be an example of lack of parenting, the girls bullying could have result in a quieter demeaner.

RichieC · 06-04-2011 11:52PM

Poor Craythur wrote: »

Mostly nurture, but I reckon there might be genetic factors too.

I think genetics might have a say in minor aspects, like for instance, temper... but being an angry f*cker has never hindered a person from being a productive member of society.

PK2008 · 06-04-2011 11:54PM

Neither, kids choose to be good or bad by the decisions they make everyday - just like the rest of us.

The kids that choose to do bad things are scumbags

Poor Craythur · 06-04-2011 11:55PM

steddyeddy wrote: »

Highly unlikely

I wouldn't say that. It's mostly nurture though, I reckon.

prinz · 06-04-2011 11:56PM

Nuture and psychological... a lot of is attention seeking, maladjustment, anti-social, a lot of the time relationship issues with parents, siblings, authority figures.

xoxyx · 07-04-2011 12:13AM

Storminateacup wrote: »

I disagree with you OP.

I know a family, really decent well educated parents, 2 kids, a boy and a girl. The girl is polite, nice girl, very timid. The boy is what you would describe as a "scumbag". Both raised in the same environment, both with the same parenting. One just turned out to be utterly wild, with aspirations to be wilder, by the looks of things.

I really dont know what it is. Blame the parents? Society? School? Peers?

Who was born first? Was the boy the elder? Did he enter school and become friends with a kid who was bullied by his older brother? Did these boys learn bad behaviour from this older kid. Did they then start acting out?

Or, was the boy younger? Did his sister start school first and make a nice set of friends. Maybe the parents paid a lot of attention to the girl during her first year. The boy resented this and saw school as a means of taking his parents' attention away from him. So, he started school and decided to rebel against the institution that caused his parents to pay him less attention.

There are so many factors.

Who knows!!! It's probably none of those things. But, the point is, that nurture, and the seemingly minor things that happen during your lifetime, have a strong effect.

Aside from various hereditary traits and diseases, I believe that who you become is due to the life that you live, especially (obviously) during your formative years.

I cannot take anybody seriously who says that a person is born evil, good, optimistic, pessimistic, fashion conscious or humourless.

DOC09UNAM · 07-04-2011 12:21AM

I blame aspartame, too many of them drinking Powerade and getting all crazy off it.

Cypher_sounds · 07-04-2011 12:23AM

It's the parents fault or lack of!!

eco2live · 07-04-2011 12:26AM

Environment but mostly parents are the problem. I hate scumbags. They think they can do what they want without fear. There is a serious lack of manners.

Ectoplasm · 07-04-2011 12:32AM

Mostly nurture - or more accurately, the lack of same. With some kids acting like a little scumbag a way of getting attention; if you get none, then even negative attention is 'good'. I think this is more likely to explain why kids who on the surface of things have every advantage, still behave like gurriers.

With others, it's learned behaviour - they do get attention, even love, but their parents/older siblings/peers are all showing them examples of bad behaviour.

flahavaj · 07-04-2011 12:32AM

Bottom line in all this is that if your parents are both complete and utter scumbags then you'll need a miracle to avoid being anything other than that yourself.

Little Scumbags! Nature or Nurture?

Why are some kids little fcukers/scumbags? 294 votes

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