“I think it was naive,” Krohn now says of the speech. “It’s a 13-year-old kid saying stuff that he had heard for a long time.… I live in Georgia. We’re inundated with conservative talk in Georgia.… The speech was something that a 13-year-old does. You haven’t formed all your opinions. You’re really defeating yourself if you think you have all of your ideas in your head when you were 12 or 13. It’s impossible. You haven’t done enough.”
Later in the article:
“It really has gotten cumbersome having to go through the process of telling people what I’ve done over the past few years,” said Krohn. “I’ve tried to tell people, but it’s not as interesting, apparently. People don’t want to listen to me tell them I’ve changed.”
Those old memories sometimes come back to haunt Krohn, as when HBO’s Bill Maher recently included Krohn in a biting bit about young conservatives.
As person who spends a lot of time with young teens, my opinion is: of course.
Of course he didn't know what he was talking about. Of course he was repeating talking points he heard around his house. Of course a few years' worth of life has caused him to rethink previous positions.
I actually remember seeing this speech online when it happened and I thought then what I think now: WHAT ON EARTH WERE HIS PARENTS THINKING?!
A 13-year-old says and does a lot of things that he or she will later regret. The nice thing is that he or she usually says and does these things to parents or teachers who are obligated to:
1) excuse youthful ignorance
2) protect the child from long-term harm
Surely our bitter national dialogue can agree on protecting teenagers from themselves, right?
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