Bristol Palin, teen drinker

[Filliam H. Muffman]

I hope she stopped since she got pregnant. I guess it explains how she ended up that way. I can see it now, blame alcohol on the failure of the abstinence pledge?

Pics of her with drinks in her hand. I was photographed once holding a beer for a friend, but not three times.
http://perezhilton.com/2008-09-02-what-d...m-do-wrong

[rgG]

My 17 year old daughter was telling me about those pics last night. In this digital age, almost nothing you do goes undocumented.

[Lux Interior]

Doesn't look like her at all.

I believe that's her future sister in law.

[PeterB]

rgG, I have a couple of better questions:

1) Why in the world would she (or any other teen) allow pics of herself like these to be taken?

2) And then, if taken, why would she allow them to be posted to the 'net for all to see? I'm guessing these were on her or someone else's myspace page, as is typical for this sort of thing.

It's not the drinking that I have a problem with-- kids do drink, have sex, etc. It's the attitude that it's so "cool" that everyone has to see it and know about it, that I think is problematic of this generation's teens (the "look at me" generation; very narcissistic tendencies; read here: http://www.newsweek.com/id/123484 ). Something to discuss with your teenage daughter, why it is so damned important that everyone knows what everyone else is doing, 24/7 ... what happened to personal boundaries and privacy?

[rgG]

PeterB,
My daughter and I have had many frank discussions about things just like this. I have said to her that doing something you should not be doing is bad enough, but taking pictures or video doing it is just plain stupid. She agreed with me, but that said, and saying that I am not a supporter of Palin, there does come a point when you can't fully control your children. I would hope that my daughter has better sense than to do something like that, but since I don't know the whole story here, I can't vilify the parents without more information.

Let's not forget that many Democrats and Republicans have had children that have embarrassed them while running for office. I think we should leave her daughter out of this and hope that she has learned something. She is going to have to grow up now, whether she likes it or not, with the baby on the way.

[OWC Jamie]

Maybe she should use Ashley Biden as a role model and throw bottles at cops from outside bars.

[PeterB]

rgG, I'm sure you're a good parent. I also don't make assessments of Palin's parenting skills (or Biden's either, as billb insinuates). I *am* making assessments about the lack of judgment of this generation of teens. They are the most documented generation ever-- everything about them is digitally recorded. They may simply not understand that this is NOT a good thing. Many of them in fact seem to think they will acquire stardom from these sorts of behaviors. (They look at faux celebrities like Paris Hilton and get that idea.)

[OWC Jamie]

If I wanted to be mean I would have written what kind of bars.

Kids today really aren't that much different than thirty years ago.
Parents are a bit more affluent ,maybe.
They certainly have a higher bar for that 'one-upmanship' that all kids seem to need to top.

[(vikm)]

[quote billb]Maybe she should use Ashley Biden as a role model and throw bottles at cops from outside bars.
Maybe we all should for that matter.

[PeterB]

[quote billb]If I wanted to be mean I would have written what kind of bars.

Kids today really aren't that much different than thirty years ago.
Parents are a bit more affluent ,maybe.
They certainly have a higher bar for that 'one-upmanship' that all kids seem to need to top.
How exactly is what kind of bar relevant? (I know what kind of bar it was-- just don't see how that has any sort of relevance)

Kids may not be that different, but the world is. Their misbehavior is now fully documented for the whole world to see, and whatever they say or do is immediately disseminated worldwide, and permanently preserved for posterity. It's a different world.