Inertial Invites on Nostr: npub19fcv2…aay3c And I'm saying that your acknowledgement that it's the obvious ...
npub19fcv2nflra09c6p9xz8c8detwj6uy07u4z4m25qh836mnvxtatdq6aay3c (npub19fc…ay3c)
And I'm saying that your acknowledgement that it's the obvious ones who are cruel and all the other children don't actually want to hurt anyone is incorrect. When children are cruel, they usually mean it, and far more of them can be cruel than you seem willing to acknowledge. It's not a state of being, it's an action. Cruelty isn't inherent to children any more than it is to adults, but nearly all children engage in some cruelty, and they often mean to hurt people when they do.
That said, it depends on age. Under a certain age, children don't really understand cruelty, they just know what result it gets, and they do it to get that result. Sometimes in young children it's due to curiosity: what result will I get from this action, whether it's considered "cruel" by the observer or not. But as they grow older, children understand cruelty more and more, and they can be cruel. Any of them. That doesn't make them monsters, it just means that they have agency. To say that children don't know what they're doing denies them that agency.
Cruelty isn't a state of being, it's an action. So no, children aren't cruel, any more than they're constantly hungry or tired just because they sometimes are those things. "Most children engage in some cruelty," would perhaps be more accurate, but less pithy.
And I'm saying that your acknowledgement that it's the obvious ones who are cruel and all the other children don't actually want to hurt anyone is incorrect. When children are cruel, they usually mean it, and far more of them can be cruel than you seem willing to acknowledge. It's not a state of being, it's an action. Cruelty isn't inherent to children any more than it is to adults, but nearly all children engage in some cruelty, and they often mean to hurt people when they do.
That said, it depends on age. Under a certain age, children don't really understand cruelty, they just know what result it gets, and they do it to get that result. Sometimes in young children it's due to curiosity: what result will I get from this action, whether it's considered "cruel" by the observer or not. But as they grow older, children understand cruelty more and more, and they can be cruel. Any of them. That doesn't make them monsters, it just means that they have agency. To say that children don't know what they're doing denies them that agency.
Cruelty isn't a state of being, it's an action. So no, children aren't cruel, any more than they're constantly hungry or tired just because they sometimes are those things. "Most children engage in some cruelty," would perhaps be more accurate, but less pithy.