At 18, he’s legally free to walk away from his shit-for-brains father and make his own choices.
He chooses nepotism. He may not be totally mature, but they are his choice.
He’d be free to walk, taking a leap into the unknown at the cost of losing almost everything he has. Expecting that sort of heroic act of him is not entirely reasonable.
OTOH, judging by the photos, he does give off Brock Turner/Kyle Rittenhouse vibes. If, having grown up where he did, he turned out to be an aggressive predator, it would not be a huge surprise.
Also, why do we act like 18 is the magic minimum age when someone should know better? I remember being 15, 16, 17 and having a solid understanding of morals and how to participate in society. I wasn’t special.
It’s not “You’re 18 now, so you should know better.” It’s “For fucks sake, you’re 18. You should have figured this shit out years ago.”
The point I’m making is we set 18 as the age when you’re responsible for your own actions, but it’s not because just in that moment you become responsible.
We set the age at 18 because it’s a really generous guess. Most people understand how to interact with others years before their 18th birthday. If someone is still fucking up at 18 then consequences are appropriate.
It took me well into my 30s to walk away from religion. Especially in an isolated environment, it’s likely he doesn’t really understand his choices, and though he has had a much more comfortable way of life than us, it’s still hard to transition to a much less forgiving way of life. I had to leave behind friends and family I still wish I had a good relationship with, but the cultlike environment (JW) is specifically designed to discourage leaving. Learning about other viewpoints are heavily discouraged, as is associating with people not in the same belief structure.
While mine was religion, with how polarizing his father is and the protection needed, I don’t doubt he had even less access to other people and viewpoints than I did. I at least got to meet people online, at work,and through shows (funny enough, Futurama was a huge part of breaking me away) to get some other viewpoints, but some of my friends were homeschooled and wouldn’t watch or be allowed to watch almost anything secular.
It’s why so many are afraid to allow kids to go to college (pretty discouraged by JW also), because they might change. I say at 18 the chance of someone in his position being able to get alternative experiences is slim to none.
