Oklahoma Teen Mom Guns Down Armed Intruder

[Malthus]

You'd still have a lot more of your life ahead of you to recover than if you'd married the guy at 30. If you're gonna make a mistake, do it young.

Presumably if you are 30 you would not be marrying someone 70 to escape mommy and daddy - and if you are, you are more of a self-concious gold-digger.

[alfred russel]

??? What are the chances she finished high school, and now she has a kid and is a single mom at 18. Without some real help, her future looks very bleak.

Ok so how would that be different by marrying a 17 or 18 year old?  I thought the age difference was the disturbing thing here not the very fact she is getting married at 16.

At least the 17 or 18 year old probably wouldn't be dead of lung cancer, and could provide some child support. The relationship would have a low chance of working out, but probably better than marrying a 56 year old.

Marriage at 16 is a very bad idea. Marriage at 16 to a 56 year old only makes it worse.

[MadImmortalMan]

You'd still have a lot more of your life ahead of you to recover than if you'd married the guy at 30. If you're gonna make a mistake, do it young.

??? What are the chances she finished high school, and now she has a kid and is a single mom at 18. Without some real help, her future looks very bleak.

You're starting from the premise that the choice is between not making the mistake and making it. I'm talking about choosing between making it at 16 or 30. Different thing. Obviously it would be better not to do it at all.

Hell, maybe the old guy got her away from a father who beat her or something. We don't know. Possible it wasn't a mistake at all.

[Martinus]

You'd still have a lot more of your life ahead of you to recover than if you'd married the guy at 30. If you're gonna make a mistake, do it young.

??? What are the chances she finished high school, and now she has a kid and is a single mom at 18. Without some real help, her future looks very bleak.

You're starting from the premise that the choice is between not making the mistake and making it. I'm talking about choosing between making it at 16 or 30. Different thing. Obviously it would be better not to do it at all.

Hell, maybe the old guy got her away from a father who beat her or something. We don't know. Possible it wasn't a mistake at all.

That's lesser of two evils (possibly) but still a mistake. I fully agree we should look down on scum like that.

[garbon]

??? What are the chances she finished high school, and now she has a kid and is a single mom at 18. Without some real help, her future looks very bleak.

Ok so how would that be different by marrying a 17 or 18 year old?  I thought the age difference was the disturbing thing here not the very fact she is getting married at 16.

I think it is the age difference (and I'm not really against big age differences but that seems extreme - especially at an age where the difference between like 14 and 16 is vast).  She can't have really made an "informed" choice about her marriage - and there's the whole crazy power imbalance between her and her grandfather.

[Malthus]

??? What are the chances she finished high school, and now she has a kid and is a single mom at 18. Without some real help, her future looks very bleak.

Ok so how would that be different by marrying a 17 or 18 year old?  I thought the age difference was the disturbing thing here not the very fact she is getting married at 16.

It's like a cheap Chinese restaurant menu: one from column A (too young) and one from column B (huge age difference). They go together to make a meal designed to provide marital indigestion. 

[The fortune cookie reads "You are 18, have no education, and a baby. Any idiot can guess your likely fortune."]

[alfred russel]

You're starting from the premise that the choice is between not making the mistake and making it. I'm talking about choosing between making it at 16 or 30. Different thing. Obviously it would be better not to do it at all.

Hell, maybe the old guy got her away from a father who beat her or something. We don't know. Possible it wasn't a mistake at all.

I don't think there is a worse age to get married and have a kid than 16-18. Marry at that age and have a kid (the wrong guy is almost redundant) and you've closed off so many opportunities. At least at 30 you have your education and a career going, and you know how the world works. I assume this girl was on a path to welfare for the foreseeable future.

The solution to 16 year olds being abused shouldn't be to marry 50+ year old men about to die of lung cancer.

[Valmy]

At least the 17 or 18 year old probably wouldn't be dead of lung cancer, and could provide some child support. The relationship would have a low chance of working out, but probably better than marrying a 56 year old.

Marriage at 16 is a very bad idea. Marriage at 16 to a 56 year old only makes it worse.

But an older person probably has alot more property to leave her as well.  A 18 year old who married and now has a kid is probably not going to be producing tons of income for child support anyway.  Having kids as a teen is a pretty tried and true path to poverty and a bad life.  That is the primary mistake here.  If she did not have the kid she would be a 20-something widower or divorcee and then...big deal.

[Ideologue]

I find it interesting that people will complain about states with 18 as the age of consent having it too high, then wring their hands over someone marrying a 16 or 17 year old (unless you want to make a case that the age at which one can get married should be higher than the age at which one can give consent).

To be honest, I think that would be the most appropriate thing.  Sex is certainly a lesser commitment than marriage.

[Valmy]

To be honest, I think that would be the most appropriate thing.  Sex is certainly a lesser commitment than marriage.

Sex is a commitment 100x greater than marriage if it results in a child.  A marriage is a pretty easy commitment to get out of.

[Ideologue]

I don't think there is a worse age to get married and have a kid than 16-18.

How about 14-15?

[Ideologue]

To be honest, I think that would be the most appropriate thing.  Sex is certainly a lesser commitment than marriage.

Sex is a commitment 100x greater than marriage if it results in a child.  A marriage is a pretty easy commitment to get out of.

I'm no family lawyer, but I'm pretty sure you can't get rid of an unwanted marriage at the clinic.

[Valmy]

I'm pretty sure you can't get rid of an unwanted marriage at the clinic.

I am pretty sure getting divorced is a bit less of a deal than getting an abortion.  Especially in Oklahoma.

But anyway my point was the kid is the really bad mistake here not a bad marriage.  What is really holding you to the marriage if there are not kids?  The law does not require you to cohabitate, just leave.

[Barrister]

To be honest, I think that would be the most appropriate thing.  Sex is certainly a lesser commitment than marriage.

Sex is a commitment 100x greater than marriage if it results in a child.  A marriage is a pretty easy commitment to get out of.

I'm no family lawyer, but I'm pretty sure you can't get rid of an unwanted marriage at the clinic.

You've never heard of a legal aid clinic?

[alfred russel]

I don't think there is a worse age to get married and have a kid than 16-18.

How about 14-15?