The Makings of Future Hoois

Thought this would be a quiet Sunday. Thought I could shut myself from all the bad news in the world for just 1 day. And I had to surf the net & checked MSN Cat Forum. The first headline I saw is Abused kitten at MacDonald in Sengkang.

A group of sick kids decided to experiment if a kitten is capable of feeling pain & therefore splashed a cup of hot coffee at it. Although the boys ran off, the principal was duly informed & hopefully he does something about it.

Thankfully this kitten remains unscarthed & is now up for adoption.
I don't care about the fate of these kids come tomorrow in school. But I do care about what they are capable of becoming when they grow up.

In psychology, there are three major personality traits (MacDonald Triad) in children that are said to be warning signs for the tendency to become a serial killer.

1. Fire starting, invariably just for the thrill of destroying things.

2. Cruelty to animals (related to "zoosadism"). Most children can be cruel to animals, such as pulling the legs off of spiders, but future serial killers often kill larger animals, like dogs and cats, and frequently for their solitary enjoyment rather than to impress peers.

3. Bedwetting beyond the age when children normally grow out of such behavior.

However I should add that the Triad has been called into question by researchers. They argue that children and teenagers set fires or harm animals for many reasons (boredom, imitation of adult punishment of household pets, exploration of a "tough guy" identity, or even feelings of frustration). Therefore it is difficult to assess if these variables are in fact relevant to serial murder etiology and, if so, how precisely they matter.

Say what you want, in my books when a child tortures or kills an animal, he/she did not just do something wrong, but he/she is sick in the head. That child needs help. Period.