Panel 1:
Jim: So, it turns out that two of the boys who did all the damage on Hallowe'en are nice kids from good homes.
John: Really.
Okay, so in their case it's supposed to be an aberration? Because we know that good homes, which are defined by how much the parents earn, not how they parent, only produce perfect children. And if they pulled a stunt like this, can they still be called nice kids?
Panel 2:
April: Then why did they do it?
Jim: Well, I guess the 3rd [sic] boy got them all revved up and talked them into it!
Whoa there. Does Jim know this for a fact? Heard their confessions? And even if he did, what they say still might not be the absolute truth. It could just as easily be that Mike Trailerpark was going along with Joe and Frank Richkids because he's a wannabe and they impressed him with their arrogance. And they let him take the fall because their parents can afford legal representation, and people automatically suspect the hick.
Panel 3:
April: But they knew it was wrong!
John: Some people don't think for themselves. They just do what other people tell them to do.
People aren't always thinking in terms of right and wrong when they perform criminal acts. I'm not going into detail about my wayward youth, but suffice to say, what motivated me was anger, and a sense that people on a pedestal, proclaiming absolute right and absolute wrong, didn't know what I was going through.
And yes, some people are followers. I'm just not sure which kids really were the followers here.
Panel 4:
Jim: That's the way the world is, April...People are always willing to follow a leader.
Panel 5:
April: [who incidentally, though she's addressing Jim, is not looking at him, but off into the distance] If people need to follow a leader, Grampa...Why don't they choose a good one?
Well, because not everything's cut-and-dried if you're not a Patterson, darling. Not everyone was coddled and encouraged and indulged since birth like you were.
And it's a fallacy that well-to-do, conservative kids are always supportive of and kind to each other, and welcome needy outsiders. Sometimes the "bad" kids are more loyal to each other than the preps.
