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With all the jubilation over the rescued Utah boy scout, his bizarre behavior and actions during the rescue are being gloseed over.
His mother says:
He had two thoughts going through his head all the time... Toby [his father] always told him that 'If you get lost, stay on the trail.' So he stayed on the trail. We've also told him don't talk to strangers ... when an ATV or horse came by he got off the trail ... when they left, he got back on the trail.
Lost for four days, desperately in need of help, he doesn't have the sense to reach out to the rescuers he encounters on the trail. Worse, he is consciously hiding from them, having been taught not to talk to strangers. That he doesn't have enough sense to distinguish between a rescuer who is looking for him in the wilderness and a stranger who will snatch him from the streets of Provo forever, at 11 years old, is totally perplexing.
Rewind a few years to another triumphant return, that of
Elizabeth Smart. Her reticence to flee her kidnappers, even where it appears she had opportunity to do so, was ascribed to
Stockholm Syndrome.
Maybe it's whacko Utah kid syndrome... there must be some sort of brainwashing, or Mormon lock-step groupthink, that made these kids completely incapable of dealing with grave circumstances. Neither child showed one scintilla of common sense during their ordeals, which
were horrifying.
God rest her blessed soul...5 year-old Samantha Runion spoke clearly to her friend "go get my nana!" when grabbed by the monster would kill her; that clear instruction (which her friend followed) resulted in the capture of the vile creature. She kicked, screamed, and fought to the end. Perhaps it's my bias, but to have two kids from Utah who simply melted into their truly dire predicaments with nary a peep is more than coincidence.