So what's your take on this "Forest Boy of Germany" crap?

[RJ 17]

I'd imagine our Escapist brothers and sisters across the pond in Europe would be able to relate more to this story since it happened over there, but for those of you that don't know, about 9 months ago some "mysterious" kid shows up in Berlin claiming that he had been living alone with his father in the wilderness for the past five years. He didn't remember his name or where he was originally from, but claimed that he had been completely alone in the wilderness since his dad died.

When I first heard this story, I thought it was a load of crap. In a conversation with a buddy of mine I mentioned that I bet he's just some jerk kid who ran away from home and is seeking attention.

Turns out I was right, if not completely then mostly. His stepmother identified him at which point he fessed up and said it was all a big lie.

Then I saw this article:

http://worldnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/06/19/12300558-forest-boy-who-hoaxed-police-was-running-from-his-troubles-friend-says?lite/

Short version: one of the kid's friends came out to try and explain the "Forest Boy"'s actions, saying that he comes from a troubled home. He didn't get along with his father who was "very strict" and didn't like his stepmother. He dropped out of school and quit going to work, the friend saying "He spent a lot of time on the computer just screwing around." He went to live at some government charity house for troubled kids exactly like him.......and ended up leaving there due to a dispute with the guy running the place over the fact that he wasn't paying his bills. And then the icing on the cake is that he apparently got some girl pregnant, she wanted to keep the baby but he didn't. And so he decided to say "fuck it" and ran away from life, ended up in Berlin, and that's where the big lie begins.

Personally I'm absolutely unsympathetic towards this jackass. I really wouldn't have cared so much if it just turned out he was some punk pulling off a hoax for attention. Turns out, though, that he's just a loser who doesn't like having responsibility. Quit school, quit his job, abandoned a girl he got pregnant...just wanted to screw around on the compute all day, apparently. When the consequences of his irresponsible lifestyle began to catch up with him, he just bailed on life all together.

Really I gotta say I hope they take some kind of legal action against this douche. But that's coming from someone who places a high value on taking personal responsibility with one's life. What do you, my fellow Escapists, think about this story?

 

[DoPo]

I'd imagine our Escapist brothers and sisters across the pond in Europe

That doesn't make much sense. You are across the pond, not us. ;P

Anyway, ...erm, I don't know what to say exactly. The guy is a bit of a dick. OK, more than a bit. Other than that, well, let's see, he spends a lot of time on a computer and he tried to evade his responsibilities which makes him...puts on sunglasses...an escapist, doesn't it? And now, I must leave. But let's see what our correspondent from Germany has to say, Smash?

 

[RJ 17]

Personally I'm absolutely unsympathetic towards this jackass. I really wouldn't have cared so much if it just turned out he was some punk pulling off a hoax for attention. Turns out, though, that he's just a loser who doesn't like having responsibility. Quit school, quit his job, abandoned a girl he got pregnant...just wanted to screw around on the compute all day, apparently. When the consequences of his irresponsible lifestyle began to catch up with him, he just bailed on life all together.

Really I gotta say I hope they take some kind of legal action against this douche. But that's coming from someone who places a high value on taking personal responsibility with one's life. What do you, my fellow Escapists, think about this story?

Uhm, his girlfriend having a child is not his problem. He has every right to walk away from that, just like she has every right to not have the child if she doesn't want to. You can't force someone to become a mother or father, that is just monstrous.

And if you'd looked him up [http://nl.linkedin.com/pub/robin-van-helsum/27/307/939], you'd know he did sports and failed several low-grade studies. Neither does it make sense for a computer addict to go somewhere without computers.

Aside from that there's indications his situation was pretty bad. He never knew his mother, and media speak of there being 'problems' with his father. That means his father either beat him, or sexually abused him.

In any case I wouldn't go jumping to any conclusions like you're doing. His story is weird, but plenty people do weird things after living through half Van Helsum has.

I didn't say his girlfriend having a child was his problem, I said it was his responsibility. Personally I think it's rather monstrous that you'd consider getting a girl pregnant as "not his problem." Yeah, why should he care that he help bring a life into the world? He's not the one who's pregnant anyways. He planted the seed, his job's done. /sarcasm

He grew up never knowing his mother? Well if he abandons that girl the kid's going to grow up never knowing his or her father. I still say life is only as complicated as you make it. Dropping out of school, quitting your job, and getting kicked out of a government charity due to not paying your bills shows a clear lack of responsibility on his part. I'm not saying that people don't go through hard times, but that's what that government "hostel" was for: kids going through hard times. At that point he had a chance to better or worsen himself, he chose to worsen himself. And as such he got kicked out of there because, when put on his own, he couldn't handle his responsibilities i.e. paying his bills.

 

[Clearing the Eye]

I would totally love a real live Tarzan. What a cock tease.

 

[Gimelbub]

I'd imagine our Escapist brothers and sisters across the pond in Europe

That doesn't make much sense. You are across the pond, not us. ;P
\

How exactly can only one continent be across the pond?

 

[Helmholtz Watson]

As for abortion, well I'd rather not get into a debate with a misogynist like you over it. But the baby is as much his fault as it is hers.

Nice ad hominem. Blah has a point, if she wants the baby and he doesn't, then he can walk away and she can raise it. In return he has no right to see the child or later claim custody.

 

[Darknacht]

She didn't 'opt' to get pregnant. She didn't click "Allow" on the sperm that he put inside her. As for abortion, well I'd rather not get into a debate with a misogynist like you over it. But the baby is as much his fault as it is hers.

Unless he raped her yes she did. And she is fully at fault(so is he) the idea that a woman is just as capable at preventing a pregnancy as the baby is moronic.

I'd imagine our Escapist brothers and sisters across the pond in Europe

That doesn't make much sense. You are across the pond, not us.

You guys are a bit special over there aren't you? ;P

 

[Bat Vader]

ou seem to forget that it, as they say, takes two to tango. Contraception was as much his responsibility as hers, and you can very much blame him for basically ruining this girl's life and running away from his legal responsibility.

He can't have ruined her life. She clearly either opted to get pregnant or didn't care to terminate the pregnancy afterward. She choose that, it wasn't chosen for her. Even if he wanted a child and she did not it's legally her sole decision that nobody can deny. The only way you could assign blame is if they both agreed to have a child, and he ran away after that.

I blame both of them because they most likely didn't use protection. If that is the case he is responsible for the baby as is the mother.