Soccermom...you have very clearly articulated my own thoughts about this whole incident...thanks for saying what you have said, I agree completely with you...
When people start blaming the victim, for something over which he had no control, and when people actually start imagining to themselves, that they know exactly how the victim should have acted in a particular situation, I am appalled...
And your last sentence says it all...you said..."None of us knows what our kids would do for certain"...truer words could not be spoken...you can teach your children how to react in certain given situations, and pound it into their heads how they should act in any given situation, but until your own child is actually in that same situation, there is no way to know how they will act...one likes to believe that a child will react as they have been taught, but what one wants to believe that their child will do, and what the child actally will do, are two separate things, which may bear no ressemblance to one another...
I find blaming the victim, a child, to be quite appalling...
It reminds me of a show that was with Dr. Phil or 20/20 or something like that. They did a hidden camera test to see if kids would fall for child lures. All the parents warned their kids about strangers and thought for sure their kids wouldn't fall for the lures --- yet most of them did. I'm not suggesting Shawn fell for a lure. We don't know what happened to him. I'm just saying you can teach your kids all you want, but that is no guarantee they will act the way you predict. It is disheartening to see so many smug people blaming Shawn, but is also refreshing to see some many Freepers (most of whom I'm sure are moms) stand up to them.