News stories I thought I would never hear if I lived to be 5000 years old

[Calhoun07]

Is it just me or is the news just giving us more and more crazy and radical stories that are impossibly hard for the rational mind to deal with? From the rise in mothers killing their children (four in the past week here in Kansas City. That's four different moms, four different families, all unreleated. Four in a decade is too many, but this is four in a week! Let alone what's going on in the rest of the nation!) to undertakers selling off body parts of people they were supposed to cremeate years ago, to that lady in Texas who let that homeless man die on the hood of her car.

I don't drink, but man, sometimes this world just makes me understand those who do. Some of this stuff sounds like the most outrageous things that have come from the mind of Stephen King, things I never thought would prevade our reality, but here they are.

I am not sure where I am going with this tread, maybe because I can't believe these things are happening. Is the world going to Hell in a handbasket or are these things of human nature that we brushed over in the past and are just noticing them now?

[Lucky Bob]

It's called "sin". Also known as "human nature". I personally think that it has been around since mankind itself, just that nowadays we have new ways of doing wrong.

[The Guard]

This stuff happens all the time, but when it's "IN", that's what we'll hear about. It's why every incident with a gun at school was reported after Columbine. The newspapers and TV news sees that people respond to it, so they search out more.

[Jedigreedo]

It's weird, it kinda makes you question why people even try to protect this country anymore. :confused:

[Squall]

If you think the evil stuff that happens today in the USA is bad, then you haven't seen anything yet, because other places in the world are much more evil and dangerous than the USA. Consider yourself lucky.

A few examples of the horrors of humanity, in the last 12 years.... the Serbian attempt to wipe out all Bosnians; the Zaire Civil War, in which the ousted President had part of his face cut off (skull and jaw was exposed) and his wife was forced to eat them; the two British journalists who were actually skinned alive in Afghanistan last December during the U.S./British invasion; the 50 year old Israel/Palestine crisis coming to a bloody day-by-day war; a Mexican drug lord which the U.S. FBI and Mexican Federales discovered had the hobby of collecting the eyeballs of his enemies and informants who had their cover blown; Saddam Heussein, the dictator of Iraq who, to save money, tested biological weapons on his own people; unfortunately, I could go on and on... our world is, and always has been, a dangerous place. :(

But Jedigreedo, you ask, "It's weird, it kinda makes you question why people even try to protect this country anymore." That's easy! (1) The USA is home. Most people want to protect their home, and this should be easily understandable. (The British want to protect the U.K., Brazilians want to protect Brazil, the Japanese want to protect Japan, etc.) (2) See the paragraph above.

God bless the USA! (and her allies)

[Squall]

Oh, and this is not the end of the world. I think it just seems like this to you because you're noticing this kind of news for the first time.

Actually, if you study history, humanity as a whole is a thousand times less evil than it once was. Just be glad you didn't live in Europe during the Middle Ages, or Spain during the Inquisition, or the Middle East during the Crusades, or Germany under the Nazis, or the Soviet Union under Stalin, or Asia under the Mongols, or live in territories occupied by the Romans or the Ottomans, etc. etc. Of course, the 20th Century was a bloodbath too, like all the others; I'm just saying that this is nothing new, so don't panic. :rolleyes:

For another sample perspective, think about this: infanticide is nothing new. It's even in the Bible's Old Testament. Why would it happening now be of any surprise to anyone? Killing a helpless infant is about as pure evil as you can get, but even in ancient Sumer this happened, and even in ancient Sumer, this was punishable by death (as it should be).

[Calhoun07]

I really would like to see an "eye for an eye" kind of justice restored. That woman who let that man die on her car deserves to meet such a fate. Nothing else will be satisfying. And I certainly think infantcide should be punishable by death. I know there is quite a bit of controversy over death penalties and such, but I think if an "eye for and eye" justice was instigated then that would certainly deter more crimes.

And I know things like this have happened in the past, even worse things, but it just seems like there has been more of it in the news lately. In the past, things like this were more spread apart. At least in the news reports, anyway. So either the news was skewed in the past and now they are giving more attention to these kinds of stories, or these things are really happening in greater numbers than before.

[Evil Dr. Reef]

Originally posted by Calhoun07
I really would like to see an "eye for an eye" kind of justice restored. That woman who let that man die on her car deserves to meet such a fate. Nothing else will be satisfying. And I certainly think infantcide should be punishable by death. I know there is quite a bit of controversy over death penalties and such, but I think if an "eye for and eye" justice was instigated then that would certainly deter more crimes.
No kidding. People who commit these horrible crimes should know what it was like for their victims.

[Squall]

It's not that these horrible events are occuring more often... it's just that they're being reported more often. With radio, TV networks, TV cable channels, and the Internet all competing for news, these days we get more news, more often than was ever reported in the past. It's just that, back decades ago, local tragedies were kept local; now all tragedies are considered national in scope.

Here's one of a thousand examples: about a year ago on Fox News, I noticed they had a "Fox News Alert" one afternoon when I came in from my college classes. Had a war started somewhere? No. Had something like Sept. 11 happened? No. (It was several months before Sept. 11) So what was this news alert? Well, apparently there was a multi-car pileup on a major Interstate in California. Well! Like that doesn't happen all the time, every week, all over the country! :rolleyes:

Events like the Andrea Yates infanticides are unfortunately farily common, just not usually reported on. (She gets to be the highlight of the news because she actually had the audacity to kill five infants at once; most infanticides involve only one infant.) Now, events like Sept. 11... they're about as common as Pearl Harbor, or the Battle of Waterloo, or the Visigoths invasion of Rome...

[The Guard]

I really would like to see an "eye for an eye" kind of justice restored. And I certainly think infantcide should be punishable by death. I know there is quite a bit of controversy over death penalties and such, but I think if an "eye for and eye" justice was instigated then that would certainly deter more crimes.

An eye for an eye gives the whole world one eye.

Deter more crimes? People are going to murder whether there is "eye for an eye" or not. You don't stop to think about the punishment when you do it. Or you WOULDN'T DO IT.

What does killing people solve? If anything, it gives them a way out. Let them rot in prison for the rest of their lives and wonder what waits for them after death. Let them FEAR.

No kidding. People who commit these horrible crimes should know what it was like for their victims.

Remember that mother that drowned her sons in her car? The jurors, as part of the testimony, were put in am airtight room, and SUFFOCATED, so they could see what the boys had gone through. They should have done that to HER, and then let her rot in prison.

[Stardust]

Upon reading some of these posts, my mindset was slightly changed. when i read the first post by Calhoun07, I agreed with him. I believed that society is going down the toilet in the sense of morals and virtue, but now it's limited to USA. I came to this conclusion becuase of all the sexual innuendo in movies (hence the PG-13 and R ratings). And going to college....well, i'm kinda sheltered...not really, but i have religious ties to my morals like no sex before marriage kind of thing. And now, instead of encouraging abstinence, we're encouraging safe sex.

it's not only sex, either. it's cursing (which i have to agree with the 10-year old genius - it's verbal violence, but unlike him i'm not gonna leave a movie after 3 curse words), education (i've been looking at the IQ thread), immoral behavior (drinking excessively...affairs...abuse)...that kind of thing. violence, too. all the school shooting and stuff, not war. ok i don't know if i just made sense there.

but then....reading posts about things that happen in other countries...puts things in perspective. maybe it isn't the end of the world after all.


What does killing people solve? If anything, it gives them a way out. Let them rot in prison for the rest of their lives and wonder what waits for them after death. Let them FEAR.

that statement is good for other countries, but in the US, prison is nothing to be feared. In Argentina, NO ONE wants to go to prison. They loathe going to prison, so prison would be a fair punishment. Here, in the US, people don't care if s/he goes to prison. Did you know the US didn't sign the Geneva POW bill, yet the US treats its prisoners better than any country?? everyone wants to be a prisoner of the US (ok maybe not everyone). we don't mutilate them or starve them.

[Calhoun07]

And actually, there are people who have it worse on the streets who commit crimes just so they can go to jail. I agree...our prison system doesn't make it hard enough for prisoners.

[Mattashell]

The Reason I Oppose The Death Penalty

Even though I think murderes deserve the fate of their victems. I think people who kill deserve to die themselves, but I've learned that the U.S. Justice system is incompitant if anything, and simply can not be trusted not to convict innocent people. I am absolutely certain that this happens far more often than is ever discovered. When police are under pressure to solve a murder case, or a terrorist case, and it is not easily solvable, they nab a scapegoat (usually a minority) and fake some evidence. In small towns it is easy to deliver a guilty verdict from a jury who is familiar with the crime, because people have a tendency to need to blame someone than question the facts. Lawyers are only concerned with winning the case. I defense attourney's job is to deliver a not guilty verdict. A procecuter's job is to deliver a verdict of guilty. They compete against eachother, and the better debator wins, despite what the truth may be. How many murderers have gone free? How many innocent men have been executed by the state?

[The Guard]

that statement is good for other countries, but in the US, prison is nothing to be feared. In Argentina, NO ONE wants to go to prison.

Exactly. They NEED to be dark holes where you get bread and water. The lesser crimes, I don't care if you get a TV, and get to walk around. But murder, rape, etc...they should be put into some kind of DUNGEON.

If the rules about Cruel and Unusual Punishment were updated, I think we'd see a drop in some violent crimes.

For instance, if you rape someone...CHOP!

If you kill someone, it's solitary for the rest of your life...

[Lucky Bob]

Question: are you for abortion?


(This is my 100th post! Hooray for me!)

[Calhoun07]

Originally posted by luckybob1985
Question: are you for abortion?

Let's not open that can of worms, shall we? We are already walking on thin ice with the death penalty issue. I have been impressed with the intelligent responses from both viewpoints in this thread so far, and nobody has stepped out of line, but I am afraid that hot potato topics like this tend to end badly on the boards (and are generally discouraged.) So maybe it's best to just focus on one controversial conversation for the time being.

[Mattashell]

I would be in favor of the death penalty, if it weren't for the corrupt methods used to convict innocent people all the time.

[Calhoun07]

If it was a perfect justice system, then the death penalty would be ideal, but I also would hate to see innocent people get put to death. Understandably, those people need a chance to clear their name, even if it is from behind bars.

[Jedigreedo]

Originally posted by luckybob1985
Question: are you for abortion?


Yea sure, world's populated enough, plus maybe having to pay the money for it would teach'em to swing the smaller amount of needed money for protection.

Death Penalty? Sure. It's not that great of justice, but then again with the many variations of the human mind's theory on justice, well technically there can be no real justice served.

[Stardust]

Wow, death penalty and abortion....what a fine line we walk on. :)

Death penalty....that is so iffy. I'm all for it, but then the question lies beneath: is s/he guilty??

If we know for sure, then all right. kill 'em. But if it's like Timothy McVeigh, where he didn't care if he died....why give him the satisfaction of death? Put him in solitary confinement where he can't talk to anyone (giving out his secrets to other bad people in jail). No TV, no entertainment of any kind....just solitary confinement. Food and water. He'll be thinking of what he did for the rest of his life, possibly trying to escape, but he can't because...well it'll be an inescapeable prison (in a perfect world...)! :D

I remember there was a mass killer in Texas - I don't have my facts straight, but from what I remember, he killed a lot of women. He went to jail and was going to be executed. He pleaded to President Clinton to appeal it because he had a wife and kids, so the family needs him. Um....what about the families of all those women he killed? So, since he feared it, ok. Pop his head off.

With the death penalty, it prevents convicted killers from giving their secrets away to other jailers who, when they go out on parole, do the same thing only better because they have learned from the other guys in jail. man, what a twisted world we live in.