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I don't know where you get the idea that most of the stories of this nature originate from California.

I didn't say most of the stories like this (how many "dentists abandon children" stories could there be anyhow?) originate in California. I said the behavior here really sounds Californian. How so? Well, this is how little jeremiah (comment #18) characterized it:

Personal pleasure trumps responsibility, instant gratification trumps duty, me-me-me trumps natural family affection.

That sounds to me like a good summary of the mindset of California today. I know that from having lived there a while myself and from having an adult son who lives there today.

But it's not just my personal impression. Indeed, it's something many people actually take pride in. Ever hear of a novel called Ecotopia, the story of a country that seceded from the US to form a land where nature and mankind live in perfect harmony--in other words, a land full of spacey, self-absorbed nutcases like the parents in this story. The states in question were Washington, Oregon and (of course) CALIFORNIA. Something like that could never, ever be written about Utah, South Dakota, Nebraska, Indiana or my home state of Georgia, nor would liberal professors assign it to their hapless students. Face it: it wouldn't be realistic.