Americans rape and kill!

[Ryokan]

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20050906/ts_alt_afp/usweathercrime_050906175855

NEW ORLEANS, United States (AFP) - More than 125 people have been detained in New Orleans for crimes ranging from looting to rape and shooting at police since a temporary jail was set up in the city's Greyhound bus station, a top official said.

"People can't continue in this destruction being sociopaths, thinking that lawlessness is ok."

However even the military presence and the new powers have not stopped the troubles that became chronic before thousands of troops were sent in. There are still "pockets" of troubles, the official said.

The contractors shot on Sunday were the latest example of the security problems which saw gun stores and other businesses looted and many rapes and killings.


I have an idea! Let's give these people a state!

WTF, they've already got one? :eek:

[Zep]

I'd like to object strongly to the title of this thread. It implies this sort of behaviour is the norm for all Americans - it most definitely is not. Not even in the crucible of New Orleans post Katrina has it been the norm. Tens of thousands of other people in the same desperate circumstances managed nobly to refrain from abuse and murder of their fellow sufferers. It's just a handful of morons who have the red spotlight on them here.

In all populations, and in most times of great stress, there always seem to be a few sociopaths whose lack of morals and self-esteem create problems out of proportion to their number, and which attract the sensation-driven media attention.

[Flo]

Silly America bashing. I've been thinking about what would happen should such a catastrophe happen in some European countries, and I'm pretty sure the picture would be every bit as bleak.

For example, cities like Nice or Marseille are at risk for a tsunami (Nice had a few already in the past). Given the present social mix and criminality problems, it is widely expected that looting and other unrest would become a huge problem.

You can see disgusting behaviour in much smaller communities, like when the little town of Feternes (Haute-Savoie) sufferred mudslides and some ç/%ç()/&!!! drove all the way to the city hall to steal the cheques sent to help the local population ...

[Ryokan]

Originally posted by Zep
Tens of thousands of other people in the same desperate circumstances managed nobly to refrain from abuse and murder of their fellow sufferers. It's just a handful of morons who have the red spotlight on them here.

You can focus on that if you want, but there's no denying that Americans are raping and killing.

(For those that don't get it, this thread is a parody and satire of this (http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=62173) thread)

[ZeeGerman]

Originally posted by Zep
I'd like to object strongly to the title of this thread. It implies this sort of behaviour is the norm for all Americans - it most definitely is not. Not even in the crucible of New Orleans post Katrina has it been the norm. Tens of thousands of other people in the same desperate circumstances managed nobly to refrain from abuse and murder of their fellow sufferers. It's just a handful of morons who have the red spotlight on them here.

In all populations, and in most times of great stress, there always seem to be a few sociopaths whose lack of morals and self-esteem create problems out of proportion to their number, and which attract the sensation-driven media attention.

I would say that "Tens of thousands of other people in the same desperate circumstances" did not only manage to refrain themeselves from abuse and murder, they didn't feel the urge to do so in the first place.
(I guess that's what you meant anyway). The title of this thread is indeed way off the mark.

Zee

[Ryokan]

OMG! Are people believing I mean this? It's a Mycroft parody, for Zeus' sake!

Bah!

[Zep]

I never bother to read any Mayday, so apologies if I got sucked in...

:bricks: :rs: :confused:

[Donks]

Originally posted by Zep
I never bother to read any Mayday, so apologies if I got sucked in...

:bricks: :rs: :confused:
Wow! Talk about a low blow! Confusing Mycroft with Mayday? That's just nasty, Zep.

:D

[Zep]

Originally posted by Zep
I <strike>never bother to</strike> don't often read any <strike>Mayday</strike> Mycroft, so apologies if I got sucked in...

:bricks: :rs: :confused: (Runs desperately to avoid the fallout of a Freudian slip...) :(

[Dr Adequate]

Originally posted by Zep
I'd like to object strongly to the title of this thread. It implies this sort of behaviour is the norm for all Americans - it most definitely is not. What you're basically saying here is that all Americans are inferior savages and that we can't expect any better of them that to rape and kill. This is racism against Americans.

[With thanks to Skeptic (http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=62083) and Ziggurat (http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=62074) for help with the illogic.]

[Zep]

Originally posted by Dr Adequate
What you're basically saying here is that all Americans are inferior savages and that we can't expect any better of them that to rape and kill. This is racism against Americans.

[With thanks to Skeptic (http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=62083) and Ziggurat (http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=62074) for help with the illogic.] Yes.

I mean, no.

Umm...


LOOK! An airship!

[a_unique_person]

Originally posted by Dr Adequate
What you're basically saying here is that all Americans are inferior savages and that we can't expect any better of them that to rape and kill. This is racism against Americans.

[With thanks to Skeptic (http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=62083) and Ziggurat (http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=62074) for help with the illogic.]

Barbara Bush seems to think some of them are.



Hurricane Katrina victims in Houston, Texas, were "underprivileged anyway" and life in the Astrodome sports arena is "working very well for them," former first lady Barbara Bush said.

The comments by the mother of President George W Bush have fueled the ire of some Americans, who see the Bush family as out-of-touch patricians.

"Almost everyone I've talked to says 'we're going to move to Houston,"' Bush said in a radio interview after visiting evacuees at the Astrodome with her husband, former president George Bush.

"What I'm hearing, which is sort of scary, is they all want to stay in Texas. Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality," she said.

"And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this - this is working very well for them."

[BPSCG]

Originally posted by a_unique_person
Barbara Bush seems to think some of them are. You, of course, have a link for this. It seems to be 1) taken wildly out of context, 2) heavily edited to make her sound bad, or 3) simply made up, like the 380-pound guy who was supposedly euthanized because they couldn't get him out of the N.O. hospital.

[a_unique_person]

Originally posted by BPSCG
You, of course, have a link for this. It seems to be 1) taken wildly out of context, 2) heavily edited to make her sound bad, or 3) simply made up, like the 380 guy who was supposedly euthanized because they couldn't get him out of the N.O. hospital.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/astrodome-victims-underprivileged-anyway/2005/09/07/1125772566487.html

[Darat]

I'm being quite serious but couldn’t her statement be accurate regarding their material status? E.g. the refugee centre conditions are better then their home condition – prior to the disaster. (I don’t know what the refugee centre is like and I don’t know what their original living conditions were.)

[a_unique_person]

""What I'm hearing, which is sort of scary, is they all want to stay in Texas. "

[Darat]

Originally posted by a_unique_person
""What I'm hearing, which is sort of scary, is they all want to stay in Texas. "

An influx of hundreds of thousands (as I believe it is) of new residents in a very short period would overwhelm the infrastructure and resources of any town or city and I'd have thought anyone would find that a "scary" thought.

[Snide]

Originally posted by Darat
An influx of hundreds of thousands (as I believe it is) of new residents in a very short period would overwhelm the infrastructure and resources of any town or city and I'd have thought anyone would find that a "scary" thought. And don't forget that AUP doesn't recognize (or intenitonally ignores) that "scary" has become a loosely-used adjective as part of American lingo.

"I just bought this shirt, and now it's ripped already."
"Wow, that's pretty scary."

edited for clarity of point

[Magyar]

This is just a general observation and maybe I am wrong and jsut missed the stories, but I didn't hear a SINGLE story about looting, rape or arson from any of the affected countries after the tsunami. Not a SINGLE incident of mugging or attack on the rich white tourists who could have been abused in all kinds of ways.

As far as I know even the Tamil tigers stopped fighting.
Wonder what can/should (if anyting) be made of this?

[a_unique_person]

Originally posted by Snide
And don't forget that AUP doesn't recognize (or intenitonally ignores) that "scary" has become a loosely-used adjective as part of American lingo.

"I just bought this shirt, and now it's ripped already."
"Wow, that's pretty scary."

edited for clarity of point

I think Barbara is way past the 'lingo' stage of life.

[slingblade]

Originally posted by Magyar
This is just a general observation and maybe I am wrong and jsut missed the stories, but I didn't hear a SINGLE story about looting, rape or arson from any of the affected countries after the tsunami. Not a SINGLE incident of mugging or attack on the rich white tourists who could have been abused in all kinds of ways.


My first thought, like a good lil skeptic, is it could be that none of the news sources you regularly read/hear/watch reported any such stories, which doesn't, of course, mean they didn't happen. Could just be sanitized news. Could be it would be very, very bad for renewal of tourism to report much of such things. Could be you don't get the news from a wide variety of sources. Could be you just weren't paying attention. But, you said that. :)

I find it hard to believe everyone in any crisis situation anywhere can act with uniform and perfect decorum, but golly, Wally, I'd sure like to believe it.

[pmurray]

Originally posted by Dr Adequate
What you're basically saying here is that all Americans are inferior savages and that we can't expect any better of them that to rape and kill. This is racism against Americans.
No, it's cultural chauvinism. Racism is when people are descriminated against on the basis of race, not merely nationality.

[Dr Adequate]

Originally posted by pmurray
No, it's cultural chauvinism. Racism is when people are descriminated against on the basis of race, not merely nationality. Quite so. Which makes my post a particularly good parody of Skeptic's nonsense (http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=62083) about "racism against Muslims", don't you think?

[Ziggurat]

Originally posted by Dr Adequate
What you're basically saying here is that all Americans are inferior savages and that we can't expect any better of them that to rape and kill. This is racism against Americans.

[With thanks to Skeptic (http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=62083) and Ziggurat (http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=62074) for help with the illogic.]

Nice try. But I wasn't the one who brought race into that thread, Cain was. I don't believe in race as an important factor. My tribe isn't defined by race. Hell, it's not even defined by nationality. The tribe I belong to is one I joined by choice. My tribe doesn't engage in honor killings, my tribe doesn't tolerate preaching death to children, my tribe doesn't steal, rape, or kill just because a natural disaster made such behavior possible. What tribe (http://fallbackbelmont.blogspot.com/2005/09/bill-whittle-and-gotha-program.html) do you belong to?

[Dr Adequate]

Originally posted by Ziggurat
Nice try. But I wasn't the one who brought race into that thread, Cain was. And then you wrote:However, I'm afraid you're the one being racist, because you refuse to hold Palestinians to the same standards as westerners. It seems not to bother you at all that they engage in mob violence, and you see no reason for there to be consequences for such behavior. You would never tolerate that in your own country, though. That kind of double standard is racist. That you can convince yourself that you're the one being "generous" by withholding condemnation really doesn't change the fact that you're still engaging in the bigotry of low expectations. And this was the fatuous nonsense which I satirized. Try to stay awake, would you?

[Ziggurat]

Originally posted by Dr Adequate
And then you wrote: And this was the fatuous nonsense which I satirized. Try to stay awake, would you?

I'm quite awake, thank you very much. You attempted to satirize it, but I'm not exactly impressed with your results.

Here's the REAL parallel, if you want to talk about New Orleans: the behavior in the Superdome and other places was unacceptable. Excusing that behavior, or trying to blame someone OTHER than the people who engaged in it, is racist: it places a different burden of responsibility, a different standard of behavior, on one class of people than on another. THAT would be the equivalent in this thread of what I said in that thread, not your flailing attempt at humor. It is not that I was unable to grasp that you were trying to satirize my other post (the results are hardly biting), but that you didn't even get my original point.

You've got a long way to go in your fight against inadequacies. I suggest you start with your own reading comprehension skills.