This story takes place a few months back. I was in a mall near one of those kiddie rides and in close proximity to them were a mother in her late 20’s, her toddler daughter and her own mother, who was in her late 50’s. The little girl asked her mother if she could go on the ride. Mom, however, was not playing along and told her daughter that she could not because “Grandma says they are run by the mafia.” Grandma then retorted “It’s true.”

I found the situation perplexing. On the one hand, I reward the mother for not belittling her daughter and providing her with an adult answer to the situation. On the other hand, however, did the mother really expect her daughter to not only understand the concept of organized crime, but make the connection to the mafia? And where did gradma get these facts? Sure, perhaps some ‘thugs’ may own or run those kiddie rides, but to implicate the mafia just like that, well that is just brazen disregard for proper fact gathering.