I was disturbed to read the May 27 Associated Press article under the headline "Alabama boy kills monstrous wild hog after 3-hour chase." An 11-year-old boy is presented as a young hero for his achievement in finally shooting a wild boar point-blank in the head with a high-powered pistol.
I am wondering about the legality of this act, and about the wisdom of his parents in parading their son's feat before the international media. Has the boy been initiated into the American gun culture from his earliest years?
In my opinion, it would have been more "heroic" of the boy to have shot a photo of the animal, which for its part deserved respect, even awe, for its achievement in surviving so long in the Alabama backwoods.
What sort of mentality is being promoted when we make a pistol-toting juvenile an international hero?
Was it really necessary for The Japan Times to buy into this meretricious media story? That the United States has learned nothing from the recent tragedy at Virginia Tech is unsurprising, given the potent propaganda against gun control. But I think The Japan Times underestimates the readers in this country if it imagines them to be equally uncritical toward the warped gun culture, and equally unconcerned about the abusive education such children receive.