Really America? Is this what it’s come down to?

Middletown – On Aug. 21 at 7:44 p.m., police were called to Aldi supermarket on Washington Street for a disturbance. The complainant said she was in line waiting to be rung up, the report says, by cashier Jason Perry, 24, of Sunset Terrace, and her 4-year-old son called him a “fat guy” five times. Perry, the report says, flicked her son’s baseball cap off his head and it fell into the carriage. Perry said the mother laughed after the child said it so he flicked the boy’s hat off to show his parents how rude the child was being, the report details. Video confirmed the incident, police say.Perry was arrested for disorderly conduct.

O.K., I understand the cashier shouldn’t have flipped the kid’s hat off. Bad move. But with a little something called parental guidance this would never have happened. Listen, 4-years old is plenty old enough to understand what “no” means and here, in my opinion, is what mom should have told her son:

“No, do not say that. We don’t make fun of people.”

And would an apology have been too much to ask for?

But what did the mother do? She laughed. Thought it was cute. What could have been a life-lesson for the kid was turned into a “It’s not my fault” or “Look at me, I’m a poor victim” moment. Parenting at its worst, folks.

And the cashier arrested for disorderly conduct? Really? He should have been reprimanded, sure, maybe suspended for a couple days, but arrested? Good God. He flipped a kid’s hat off. Inappropriate at worst. Hell, in a way Jason Perry was fighting the good fight for all of us.

And the Wussification of America continues.