On the situation in general, I think Truancy officers have fallen out of regular usage and that it's a bad thing. They were once a lot more active and this is exactly why.
That said, getting bent out of shape because someone says things you don't agree with is a bit much. Even if they are racist, ignorant (in your opinion), or whatever else, that's what freedom of speech is all about. In the above situation part of the whole problem as I see it is that your talking about kids engaged in illegal and self destructive behavior, and doing it flamboyantly enough to become a public nuisance if people were reacting that way to them.
If a couple of black guys want to sit down and talk about how they hate all white people or something like that, but keep it to themselves, that's fine. On the other hand if they are being loud enough so as to intentionally be overheard and upset those listening, or are actually planning a hate crime or something, well that is something else entirely.
When it comes to people simply with opinions on things you disagree with, especially contreversial subjects like say 2012, well that's just you being intolerant. People are entitled to their opinion, and when it comes to big things like that there are lots of people who are absolutly convinced either way, and both can make some fairly legitimate points. Debating such things is fine, but getting irritated simply because of someone's opinion, or becoming deeply overcome by hate because of it... well that's something else entirely. While I don't believe in it, and a lot of similar things have come and gone, this is one of the definitive doomsday "prophecies" that has been looked at for many, many years. With it right around the corner it's of course become a subject of a lot of conjecture, with experts saying that there is nothing to it and the calander simply had to end somewhere, and other experts saying that the calander would have continued indefinatly for the duration of the civilization given the importance of it rather than being ended at any given point. Some experts point to Mayan legends that spell out a great doom on that date, others claim that there never were any such stories. The Mayans having more or less disappeared as a civilization rather abruptly, and as such even the descendants don't have any real definitive, irrefutable evidence. In the end it comes down to what you want to believe. Me, personally, I believe the legends and intent of the calander are accurantly portrayed. I believe the Mayans believed the world will end in 2012. On the other hand, for all of the areas where they were unusually advanced, and the mysterious nature of their sudden decline, I feel this is a civilization that couldn't even build boats sufficient to sail around the American coastline and colonize and such that way, never mind reach other nations. In the end they were a group of primitives who never advanced beyond being primitives, and I can't see how they could have predicted anything capable of ending the world that nobody else would have seen. In comparison the Y2k bug could have ended civilization had it remained undetected or not been resolved, but we found this, took it seriously, and resolved it pretty quickly. People have been looking at the Mayan beliefs for what? a couple of centuries now, and nobody has found anything to back up their theory. Thus I don't believe it.... but I don't mock those who do, because I can at least understand their point of view when it's argued by an intelligence and well articulated invididual.
That's way off subject, the point I'm making is that I disagree with the person who said this kind of belief makes them angry, as I think that's a bit out of line. The same also applies to similar attitudes on big issues with a number of decent arguements on either side.
