# American parents -- again **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 23, 2020, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-parents-again/928772 "2020-12-23T22:46:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2020, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-parents-again/928772/61 "2020-12-25T19:26:07Z")
> [@Hamlet](#): > > I don’t know who you’re pissed at Broomstick, but it seems to be the imaginary person in your head and not me. You sure went to town on those strawmen, though. None of what I said was directed towards any particular poster, although I did quote a few people. As for who I am mad at: > [@Broomstick](#): > > After this Year of Covid and working as an essential worker that lead to me getting to suffer through the goddamned virus myself I’m all for slamming **health rule violators** in jail, starting with mask-holes but not limited to them. > [@Broomstick](#): > > **Maskholes** who say “I’m not wearing a mask because I’m not sick” are full of shit. > [@Broomstick](#): > > No, I think they’re trying to get her out of her punishment because she’s a rich white girl from America who, **like a lot of other rich, white people in America are spoiled little shits.** > [@Broomstick](#): > > Because I am sick and tired of watching my co-workers get ill and **people politicizing a pandemic to the point of deny its existence** even as it kills 3000+ people a day in this country. So, you see, I’ve actually stated who I’m pissed at in several of my posts. Also “pissed” is a tame word for how furious I am. A third of a million people dead in the US, thousands (we don’t know how many) left damaged/maimed, and **it didn’t have to be this bad!** Covid 19 is now killing more people a day in the US than any other cause. That is on Americans, no one else. It didn’t have to be that bad and that is why I am absolutely furious. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2020, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-parents-again/928772/62 "2020-12-25T19:45:05Z")
> [@Hamlet](#): > > I don’t know who you’re pissed at Broomstick, but it seems to be the imaginary person in your head and not me. You sure went to town on those strawmen, though. I’d say she’s mad at the appropriate people. My question is: Why aren’t you? ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2020, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-parents-again/928772/63 "2020-12-25T21:14:28Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Yeah, weren’t we all idiots at 18? I’m still an idiot. ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2020, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-parents-again/928772/64 "2020-12-25T22:28:35Z")
I am an idiot and so is my wife ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2020, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-parents-again/928772/65 "2020-12-25T22:38:15Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > She’s also a pre-med student. You’d _think_ someone interested in a career in medicine would know the importance of quarantine in controlling a pandemic, but no… I do wonder if this’ll affect her being accepted by a med school… she needs to do that, then be accepted into a resident program, then a hospital/practice. I mean, I’d be reading her application a few years from now and thinking “THAT Skylar Mack? Hmmm, should we choose her over a student who hasn’t had a cushy life, someone who’s worked hard and learned to follow all the rules, and has a respect for public health?” ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2020, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-parents-again/928772/66 "2020-12-25T22:44:21Z")
Well, _maybe_ Skylar might actually learn something from the experience. Even better, might even learn the correct lesson from the experience. Stranger things have happened. More likely, though, she’ll go back to being a privileged, selfish little bitch. ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2020, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-parents-again/928772/67 "2020-12-26T00:14:11Z")
I would love to know 1) how many “pre-med” Freshmen actually go to Med school, or even into medicine at all and 2) how many admitted med school students were Pre-med their first day of college. A freshman calling themselves “pre-med” is practically meaningless. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2020, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-parents-again/928772/68 "2020-12-26T02:54:20Z")
Hell yeah, come on, freshman pre-med? Unless you came in with a whole damn lot of AP, a freshman is pre-everything-and-anything. > [@Broomstick](#): > > The Caymen Islands have their set of laws. If you violate them you receive their punishment, not yours, and not that of your home country In the advisory and informational material of every country’s consular service, and in all responsible publications about travel, there is a part where the language can be distilled all the way down to: _ **Their country, THEIR laws.** _ ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2020, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-parents-again/928772/69 "2020-12-26T03:00:41Z")
Last time I crossed a border, I forgot to declare on the customs form the bag of dried fruit trail mix in my carry-on bag. I approached the customs official and with great shame confessed my contraband. So no, I’m not exactly filled with pity for this lawbreaker. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2020, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-parents-again/928772/70 "2020-12-26T03:22:12Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > I would call what she did more than violating a quarantine. She agreed to the terms when she came into the country, she deviously asked for a wristband that didn’t fit so tight (“ooh, it hurts!”) which she was later able to slip off her hand and leave it behind so she could go and party, in complete and utter disdain for anyone she was putting in danger. Yes, she’s young, but she’s old enough to understand what she was doing. Her decision-making faculties are probably immature, something else that the parents (or at least daddy and grandma) probably contributed to. I believe the punishment is excessive but I have a hard time mustering up any sympathy for the reasons you outlined above. This wasn’t a mistake on the young woman’s part, she made a deliberate decision to flout the rules set in place to protect everyone during a pandemic. Four months is a short period of time it’s a relatively minor disruption to her life in the grand scheme of things. So she misses a semester and maybe graduates a little later than expected? Hardly her life being torn away from her as her father puts it. ---
**Author:** ![psychobunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/54ee81/32.png) [@psychobunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychobunny)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2020, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-parents-again/928772/71 "2020-12-26T04:01:32Z")
I have no sympathy for her. It’s not like she suddenly found out that she was missing some once in a lifetime opportunity and made a stupid snap decision. She had to know before she went about the mandatory quarantine. She also had to know that her boyfriend would be competing during that time and she wouldn’t be able to attend. She went to a foreign country planning to break the law. This was not a snap decision of a stupid teenager; this was a premeditated crime. She and her parents think she is above the law. Now is the time for her to learn that she isn’t that special. She should be down on her knees thanking the officials who only are making her serve 36 days. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2020, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-parents-again/928772/72 "2020-12-26T04:05:45Z")
> [@amarinth](#): > > The quarantine itself was over two weeks in a country club. It seems that the punishment for violating it (and endangering the lives of how many people?) should be longer. > The current sentence (36 days to 2 months) seems about right. This is a very good point. She knew coming in that she would have her movements restricted for 14 days. She ignored that, and actually took off the tracking bracelet that was a condition of her quarantine. The punishment has to be harder than if she had complied with the restriction she voluntarily accepted, and wilfully ignored. ---
**Author:** ![psychobunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/54ee81/32.png) [@psychobunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychobunny)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2020, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-parents-again/928772/73 "2020-12-26T04:06:54Z")
Let me also say that according to the article in the original post, she could have gotten up to 2 years in jail. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2020, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-parents-again/928772/74 "2020-12-26T04:07:27Z")
When I was in university, Cayman Islands were where the pre-med students who didn’t get accepted into US med schools went. I’m just guessing that’s probably not a viable option for her now. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2020, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-parents-again/928772/75 "2020-12-26T08:57:58Z")
I visited the Caymans a few years ago. Beautiful and interesting place, and I’d happily go back. Anyway, point is, during one taxi ride, my girlfriend and I noticed a big building that didn’t seem to fit the area, and asked the driver. He said it was the medical school where all the foreigners came to learn how to be doctors, and then he smirked. We thought he was chuckling about people who come to a tropical paradise for an education, but looking up the school later (St Matthew or St Michael or something), it turns out it was a notoriously crappy college that soaks its students for high tuition and sends them out with a subpar education. Anyone who’s pursuing a medical degree there is probably a maroon with more money than sense. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2020, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-parents-again/928772/76 "2020-12-26T13:08:51Z")
She willfully tampered with a device intended she complied with the law and stayed quarantined. 4 weeks seems like the appropriate punishment for violating quarantine; tampering should go above and beyond that. It’s too bad she’s not getting $40,000 or so in fines for her mommy and daddy to pay. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2020, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-parents-again/928772/77 "2020-12-28T05:56:11Z")
You can get an MD or a DVM there, as long as you have the $$$$$$$. > **[St. Matthew's University School of Medicine | SMUSOM](https://www.stmatthews.edu/)** > > St. Matthew's University is a medical school focused at providing quality and affordable medical courses thereby aiming at the success of our students. Ross University, in Barbados, is probably the best known of these schools. We had several graduates do residencies at my old hospital, FWIW. The military action in Grenada in the early 1980s was done to protect American medical students who were studying there. ---
**Author:** ![Drsunflower1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drsunflower1/32/12711_2.png) [@Drsunflower1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drsunflower1)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2020, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-parents-again/928772/79 "2020-12-30T15:55:25Z")
Yes. The fact that she’s a premed makes it even worse imo. Doesn’t bode well for her future career when it comes to ethics and public health insight. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2020, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-parents-again/928772/80 "2020-12-30T16:02:38Z")
> [@Drsunflower1](#): > > The fact that she’s a premed makes it even worse imo. Maybe she is friends with [Lara Kollab](https://www.cleveland.com/healthfit/2020/08/former-cleveland-clinic-residents-training-certificate-revoked-over-anti-semitic-social-media-comments.html). ---
**Author:** ![Drsunflower1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drsunflower1/32/12711_2.png) [@Drsunflower1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drsunflower1)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2020, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-parents-again/928772/81 "2020-12-30T16:16:17Z")
Who knows😝. I wouldn’t want her as a future colleague if she doesn’t mend her ways. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-parents-again/928772.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-parents-again/928772.md?page=5)