US youths killing tramps for 'sport'

[T_i_B]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/02/22/wusyouth22.xml

A worrying trend dubbed "sport killing" in which homeless people are threatened, beaten and even murdered by thrill-seeking middle class teenagers is spreading across America, experts warned.

Organisations for the homeless have reported an alarming increase in the number of apparently motiveless attacks on rough sleepers by young people often without a history of violent behaviour.

Last year there were 122 recorded serious assaults on the homeless and 20 murders, the highest level in almost a decade, according to the National Coalition for the Homeless (NCH).

The attacks included the killing of a 45-year-old homeless man beaten to death with a bat and golf club in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in January. Three teenagers have pleaded not guilty to first degree murder. Analysts say the attacks, dubbed "sport killings" by criminologists, often seem to serve as entertainment.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. Our society promotes violence and demeans "others"

Look at the movies and TV--violence is shown as the best (and sometimes only) way of not only righting wrongs but proving you're "a man". And rw radio is always demonizing and dehumanizing different groups of people. These thugs are preying upon the weakest--they are cowards, as are most wingers.

[acmavm]

3. Funny, I once said that movies and tv had a lot to do with the

trend in youth violence. I was flamed like crazy.

Let's see how well you fare against those who like to avoid dealing with the reality that what you off kids for entertainment is not going to be seen as a serious issue.

[rodeodance]

5. add to that -our "Leaders" demonstrate that 'force" is the preferred

method of dealing with people

[DBoon]

25. and that poor people are disgusting and deserve their fates

because they chose not to work on their MBAs and to live in the streets instead

[proud2BlibKansan]

8. I am with you on this

Having worked with kids for nearly 30 years, I can tell you they are much more violent today and oblivious to the harm it causes.

[Marie26]

13. Not to mention video games. nt

[Kutjara]

2. Anyone for "A Clockwork Orange?"

Amazing how ahead of its time Burgess' novel of social and moral decay was. Clockwork Orange and Orwell's 1984 are quickly becoming the must-have travel guides for the 21st Century.

[carla]

7. Cruelty

is the sport of a society addicted to "righteousness". The feigned moral superiority that pervades the American nation, that drives its "mission", that delivers violence as a means of resolution to almost any conflict, domestic and international, is the immediate cause of such heinous behavior as "murder for sport". If we taught our children compassion, instead of "Right and Wrong", we might be safer.
:grouphug:

[Bonobo]

4. What do you expect when the police openly mistreat them?

When our society's "good guys" slash homeless people's tents, confiscate their property and abuse them... what do you expect?

[WilmywoodNCparalegal]

6. Reminds me of a CSI episode: 'Fannysmacking'

where kids were beating up tourists for sport (that episode featured K-Fed as one of the fannysmackers).

Sad, so very sad!

[Burma Jones]

9. Jon Stewart jokes about killing "hoboes"

I imagine he will stop now.....

[Marie26]

14. Does he really?

I'm surprised he'd be so callous

[Hell Hath No Fury]

18. In the context it was used...

it made sense and illustrated the insanity of those who do canned hunting and go to "schools" where you get to live your dreams by shooting just about anything you want to.

[Burma Jones]

21. That was one instance, but you're right, he tends to use it to illustrate

callous disregard for life and fairness.

[gorbal]

10. Most of these poor "hobo's" are special needs not getting help

I always make a point to speak to them if I feel safe enough to. Sure many of them drink, but many were special needs before than drank. We really have to go after people who dump them on the street.

[T_i_B]

19. Very true

There are are all too often mental health issues with those who are homeless and this is an area that deserves more attention, because the issue of how we treat people with mental health problems is linked to this. Here in the UK we have had the Tories "Care in the Community" scheme, which needless to say was not a success.

And then of course there are the obvious social costs of homelessness (not least to the unfortunate soul who's out on the streets), and these are issues that can only be resolved by the compassionate approach.

[GreenZoneLT]

31. Misuse of the word hobo

A hobo is somebody who doesn't have a permanent abode, and travels from place to place working at seasonal or odd jobs. It's a less accessible lifestyle than it once was, because of the bureaucratization of employment makes it harder and harder to pick up a casual labor job, but it doesn't describe people who are on the street because of mental and/or drug problems. Those are bums and tramps, or "homeless" in the polite, indescriptive euphemism.

Not trying to get down on these guys; calling them by descriptive names shouldn't be an insult. A guy who bums money to keep body and soul together is a bum, and somebody who does the same while traveling from place to place is a tramp.

[saigon68]

11. These people need to join the Armed Services

Their particular skills are needed in Iraq-Nam

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/5253160.stm


Troops 'took turns' to rape Iraqi

Charred and blood-spattered wall inside family home where attack occurred

The case is the latest in a series of scandals for the US army
A US military hearing has examined testimony of how three soldiers took it in turns to try to rape an Iraqi girl aged 14 in Mahmudiya in March.The girl and three family members were allegedly killed by four US soldiers.

Graphic details of the attack at the family's home came in a sworn statement by one of the accused, James P Barker.


OOPS ALMOST FORGOT THE </SARCASM> TAG

[TexasLawyer]

12. BumFights

Crap like this sure doesn't help.

Bumfights
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bumfights is an independent video series originally created by Indecline Films in documentary-style showing homeless people ("bums") fighting and attempting amateur stunts in exchange for money, alcohol, and other incentives. Homeless people were actually hurt in the making of these videos (most notably, Rufus Hannah, who later filed charges), and had no stunt doubles. The first video in this series was called 'Bumfights: Cause for Concern' The film was produced by Ryan McPherson, Zachary Bubeck, Daniel J. Tanner, and Michael Slyman, and has been distributed mainly over the Internet. In 2003, Indecline sold the rights to another company, who in turn credited the pseudonyms "Shannon Muston" and "Taylor White" as the creators.

The US-based National Coalition for the Homeless (NCH) has stated that Bumfight videos disseminate hate against the homeless and dehumanize them.

<snip>

In July 2004, four teenagers in Mildura, Australia faced murder charges after they set fire to a homeless man's makeshift shelter, supposedly inspired by the Bumfights videos.

In August 2005, two 19-year-old men attacked homeless Los Angeles residents with baseball bats, apparently saying they were inspired by Bumfights.

In 2005 two teens from Calgary, Alberta who apparently claimed to be "fans" of the show severely beat a homeless man in their city. The two were later sentenced to a year in prison.

In February 20, 2007, three teens from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, severely beat and killed Rex Baum.

[Judi Lynn]

15. Too bad there isn't a way to co-try the parents of these callow youths, these tender

lads venturing out into the world of elders. They need to be publicly commended for having raised such exceptional children. Their photos should be recorded in newspapers and tv clips, and their childrens'.

If you can't take the time both to be a decent man/woman yourself, and raise your kid to be civilized, too, why the HELL have kids in the first place? Don't you owe both the kid and your society a lifetime of conscientious, respectful behavior toward others? Why not?

[Bhaisahab]

16. Stephen King, live.

his long story Apt Pupil is a terrifying story. maybe these idiots are taking their cues from that tale. wonder who their eichmann-type mentor is...

[closeupready]

17. Stuff like this makes it hard for me not to support the death penalty.

This is about the worst crime imaginable. It's hard to care about people who care so little themselves about human life.

[Javaman]

20. I wrote this a while back...

Javaman (1000+ posts) Tue Mar-21-06 03:51 PM

56. There you go! Video games are the root of all evil....

You know I was just saying to a friend while I was playing grand theft auto, "you know, I have this crazy urge to go out to kill and main people souly for my own enjoyment, what do you think, bob?"

Bob thought for a moment and said, "well, dave, I have had this unquenchable thirst for blood lately, as well, and I believe that a little mayhem and destruction are in order."

So bob and I walked out to the car, pumped up with excitement from our afternoon playing grand theft auto and filled with delusions of grandeur, we hit the road with a mission.

As bob and I casually mowed down one pedestrian after another, I turned to him, mid killing spree, and said, "you know bob, I have been thinking, do you think it's the failure of society that has turned us to this life of mayhem? Or do you think it's the failure of strong parental images, guidelines and lack boundaries set for us that has lead us down this road?"

We both momentarily chuckled at my pun, but bob thought for a moment, looking but not really "seeing" as one innocent person flew over our hood after another, then turned to me thoughtfully and said, "you know dave, you might just have a point there, I feel that if my parents were more like parents and not wanting to be my "best friend" (bob loves doing that finger thing for parentheses), I would have had the structure in my life that I so desperately crave on a deeper emotional level".

I really enjoyed bobs introspective moments that allow me to explore the deeper issues of life. "I concur", I stated and slammed the breaks on the car, just short of a family of 5 in the middle of shopping mall.

We exited our vehicle and turned ourselves in. We both felt better at taking responsibility for our actions.

Now as bob and I sit in our maximum security cell here in texas awaiting our death in the gas chamber, I look back and think of all the errors I have made. But also at the irony. bob and I killed people and now we are being killed to show that killing is wrong. Life is just so kooky, ain't it?

[slackmaster]

22. We need a rivival of the "Arm the Homeless" Web site hoax

:nuke:

[SayWhatYo]

23. Time for cops to start dressing up like helpless homeless people...

Maybe that would put it to a stop...

[GreenZoneLT]

32. Too little payoff

Fortunately, unlike the sort of things cops go undercover for (mainly drug sales and prostitution) there aren't enough of these assaults to make it worthwhile to put cops out there. They could go for months without anyone bothering them, let alone attacking them. Waste of police resources.

You're never going to stop it altogether by police action, anyway, any more than you'll stop gay bashing. It's typical adolescent male group behavior. The best way to prevent it is to keep them busy at other things like studying and organized sports; idle hands ARE the devil's workshop.

Look at Britain: cops and surveillance cameras EVERYWHERE, and it's still the likeliest place in Europe to get your ass kicked by yobbos.

[opihimoimoi]

24. Them kids put themselves at high risk to someday become homeless

and only then would they see the dire circumstances the homeless must contend with...

If caught...jail...then very diff to get jobs...then distitute...then broke...etc....

[ryanmuegge]

26. So what? Little Georgie and other Yale Skull and Boner elites used to do it, probably

Therefore, it must be ok.

[ryanmuegge]

27. ahh, it'll be kind of pleasing in a few years...

When the same people who do disgusting shit like this will be among the ones they now victimize. All of us, with the exception of the most wealthy, are inevitably going to face a serious decline in standard of living due to the tapeworm economy, peak oil, and China's rise. It'll be nice to see the same little fucking punks who do this shit on the streets with the rest of us. Poetic justice, I tell you.

[fujiyama]

28. Homeless people are looked at

as being worthless. They are expendable, disposable people...along with prostitutes. That's why, when there is a murder of one of these groups, no one really cares.

Also, the RW talking point that homeless people are like that because they "deserve it" for "wasting all the money on booze" has become so pervasive, that no one gives a shit if some horribly violent crime against them takes place. If you devalue life, then bring up a generation completely desensitized to violence through media, this is what you get. It seems like people are being desensitized to violence through violent video games as well as websites like youtube (though, I'm not sure what youtube's policies are regarding violent videos), which among many things shows violent acts taken place but thought of as humorous. But rather than restricting the creation of the games themselves, I think it's time for parents to actually RAISE their kids, rather than have video games, TV, and the internet do it for them....

[cigsandcoffee]

29. Tramps?

For a generally progressive place, Britain sure does have some throwbacks.

[GreenZoneLT]

30. That victim was probably actually a bum.

Gentlemen of the great outdoors can be broken down thusly: A hobo is an itinerant worker, often doing seasonal agricultural work. A tramp is an itinerant non-worker, existing off handouts and petty property crime. A non-itinerant, non-worker is a bum, the lowest rank on their social scale.

An itinerant criminal who subsists by preying on hoboes and tramps is a bindlestiff. I love that word. Young men who assault bums and tramps for amusement are technically referred to as "assholes."

"Homeless" is such a crappy, loaded, ill-descriptive term for bums, tramps and hoboes. It fits evicted families, not people who are living on the street because they can't or won't adapt to available housing (a room in a relative's house, a shelter that won't allow booze, etc.) It's like calling mentally retarded kids "special." All the negative connotations just migrate to the new word. "Mentally retarded" was itself a polite euphemism when it first appeared as a replacement for "idiot" or "cretin." I've noticed "special" has now been replaced by "exceptional."