What the hell are we turning into?!?!?

**1080Rider** · 08-20-2013, 11:52 AM

What the fuck is going on in the world? Have things always been this bad or is it just the media coverage that brings it to light??? A young guy is killed because the teenage punks felt like killing someone for the fun of it.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/...97J0QK20130820

**Conundrum** · 08-20-2013, 11:57 AM

Whether it's done in anger or ignorance, the population is sliding:

http://www.ktvb.com/news/Boy-dies-af...220369411.html

"Here son, I want you to act as a weight so this mattress doesn't blow out of the truck..."

**buttahflake** · 08-20-2013, 11:59 AM

how many, random minority types have been shot, since that happened?
no one cares, yeah?
pretty, white, baseball player.
headline news.

**4matic** · 08-20-2013, 12:03 PM

Malchicks

**DasBlunt** · 08-20-2013, 12:14 PM

Oklahoma, same disaster state as Ohio, right?

**1080Rider** · 08-20-2013, 12:15 PM

Originally Posted by buttahflake

how many, random minority types have been shot, since that happened?
no one cares, yeah?
pretty, white, baseball player.
headline news.

Ummmm... I think anytime an innocent bystander is killed it makes headline news. I remember the young girl in chicago that made new twice, first when she was killed, then when the empress spoke at her funeral.

I read about shootings everyday in my local news, this story is a little bit different. Three pieces of shit went out to kill someone for fun. It doesn't matter if it was a white baseball player from australia, it is pretty alarming that there are kids out there that are planning this shit.

**LightRanger** · 08-20-2013, 12:17 PM

Meh. It's always been this bad, you just didn't hear about it as much because of media inundation.

Case in point: child abductions are down dramatically in the last 30 years, but the ones that do happen you hear about a lot more. This has the opposite effect on (often yuppy, white, suburban) uninformed parents who don't let their kids run around the neighborhood unstructured anymore. I have yet to have kids, but we're sure as fuck not going to refer to our future kids hanging out with their friends as "play dates."

**skew** · 08-20-2013, 12:31 PM

Read any statistic you want: Crime, and violent crime in particular, is down dramatically over the past 10-15 years. There was a great article in the Economist a few weeks back. Apparently the credit goes to more effective law enforcement and the technology that makes it possible. Crime don't pay more than ever.

**Tippster** · 08-20-2013, 12:38 PM

Originally Posted by LightRanger

Meh. It's always been this bad, you just didn't hear about it as much because of media inundation.

Case in point: child abductions are down dramatically in the last 30 years, but the ones that do happen you hear about a lot more. This has the opposite effect on (often yuppy, white, suburban) uninformed parents who don't let their kids run around the neighborhood unstructured anymore. I have yet to have kids, but we're sure as fuck not going to refer to our future kids hanging out with their friends as "play dates."

When the categories get conflated, the statistics can become confusing. Take the number 800,000: It's true that 797,500 people under 18 were reported missing in a one-year period, according to a 2002 study. But of those cases, 203,900 were family abductions, 58,200 were nonfamily abductions, and only 115 were "stereotypical kidnappings," defined in one study as "a nonfamily abduction perpetrated by a slight acquaintance or stranger in which a child is detained overnight, transported at least 50 miles, held for ransom or abducted with the intent to keep the child permanently, or killed." Even these categories can be misleading: Overstaying a visit with a noncustodial parent, for example, could qualify as a family abduction. Some individuals get entered into the database multiple times after disappearing on different occasions, resulting in potentially misleading numbers.

You have no idea how long it took me to convince first my wife, then my kids' friends' parents of that fact. I even wrote a letter to our HSA newsletter, and got much feedback, some positive but mostly negative. I had an FBI/DOJ statistic sheet showing that there were more kidnappings in the 80s (when we parents were kids) than now. Finally people are letting their 10+yo kids walk a block or two to the park to hang out and play unsupervised.

**Art Shirk** · 08-20-2013, 12:40 PM

I think every generation, when they reach a certain point, decide that the world is going to shit. You just don't care enough to pay attention when you are younger. Coupled with the increased availability of information, as LR said, and you get the newest generation of doomsdayers. Our species have always been brutal I think. Some really sick bastards in every period of time. I am sure that the Cuban Missile Crisis and Elvis Presley presented plenty of opportunities for people to think the world was on a short walk to hell. And now that I am a bit older, I can't help but be just as pessimistic despite the above.

If I'm wrong, I'll just chalk it up to meth and video games.

Hugh Conway · 08-20-2013, 12:56 PM

The amount of information accessible to the literate human with internet access is many many orders of magnitude greater than that was available to the learned scribe with a library of 100 years ago. Humans are, somewhat, as they've always been. Which is why processing this vast trove of information is difficult and they generally fall back to cliche, emotion, fear mongering and bullshit.

**Lone Star** · 08-20-2013, 01:00 PM

Reading this thread, I immediately thought of this quote which has been attributed to Socrates:

Our youth now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for their elders and love chatter in place of exercise; they no longer rise when elders enter the room; they contradict their parents, chatter before company; gobble up their food and tyrannize their teachers.

It turns out this wasn't written by Socrates; however, it was drafted over a hundred years ago.

It wasn't this generation of youth that allowed the Holocaust to happen, brought us to the brink of nuclear war, got us into vietnam, iraq, afghanistan...

**Chainsaw_Willie** · 08-20-2013, 01:04 PM

The media's job is to scare you and foster a sense of outrage.

Mission accomplished.

**DasBlunt** · 08-20-2013, 01:09 PM

Originally Posted by 1080Rider

Ummmm... I think anytime an innocent bystander is killed it makes headline news. I remember the young girl in chicago that made new twice, first when she was killed, then when the empress spoke at her funeral.

I read about shootings everyday in my local news, this story is a little bit different. Three pieces of shit went out to kill someone for fun. It doesn't matter if it was a white baseball player from australia, it is pretty alarming that there are kids out there that are planning this shit.

Literally happens everyday. YOU, dont always hear about it. You think all murders make Google front page and nightline?

Last night, on my nightly skateboard ride, some buffed tattooed ghetto kids were playing football in the street, one says, "hit him", and throws the football at me. I casually catch it, and throw it to the next guy, they cheer, and I high five the "leader" on the way by and made new friends right then and there. I woke to this story in OK, and was amazed that this happened to me last night.

I did not go agro, I took the high road, and more and more educated humans are taking this course all over the world.

**The AD** · 08-20-2013, 01:12 PM

Good point. If only that Australian kid had just caught the bullet and thrown it back...

**MontuckyFried** · 08-20-2013, 01:13 PM

Originally Posted by Hugh Conway

The amount of information accessible to the literate human with internet access is many many orders of magnitude greater than that was available to the learned scribe with a library of 100 years ago. Humans are, somewhat, as they've always been. Which is why processing this vast trove of information is difficult and they generally fall back to cliche, emotion, fear mongering and bullshit.

I don't always agree with Hugh, but he's spot on here. It's access to information that makes humanity seem so terrible these days. The current story you refer to sucks indeed, but previous generations have sucked equally as bad, if not worse. What about overall racism, sexism, homophobia, genocide, etc.? What about lynchings? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynchin..._United_States "The most for any year was 231 in 1892. From 1882 to 1901, lynchings averaged more than 150 a year. Since 1924, lynchings have been in a marked decline, never more than 30 cases, which occurred in 1926."

Yes, humanity can be awful, BUT I've say we've come a long, long way as a society. Sure we've devolved in some ways, but we've improved in others.

**axebiker** · 08-20-2013, 01:18 PM

Originally Posted by DasBlunt

Literally happens everyday. YOU, dont always hear about it. You think all murders make Google front page and nightline?

Last night, on my nightly skateboard ride, some buffed tattooed ghetto kids were playing football in the street, one says, "hit him", and throws the football at me. I casually catch it, and throw it to the next guy, they cheer, and I high five the "leader" on the way by and made new friends right then and there. I woke to this story in OK, and was amazed that this happened to me last night.

I did not go agro, I took the high road, and more and more educated humans are taking this course all over the world.

Yer so kewl... And...you took the "high road"? Wow! What is this world coming to?!? Kinda out of character for you.

**DasBlunt** · 08-20-2013, 01:19 PM

Originally Posted by The AD

Good point. If only that Australian kid had just caught the bullet and thrown it back...

I certainly do not intend to imply that, of course. But many of us will face similar confrontations in our lives. One way or another, we will face a choice.

Those kids, bored out of their skulls, are a snapshot of the many things wrong with our neighbors and friends.

**axebiker** · 08-20-2013, 01:40 PM

Originally Posted by buttahflake

how many, random minority types have been shot, since that happened?
no one cares, yeah?
pretty, white, baseball player.
headline news.

Yeah...it's whitey's fault, right? Nice conclusion, idiot.

I wonder if "we're all Trayvon" was responsible?

**buttahflake** · 08-20-2013, 01:49 PM

Originally Posted by axebiker

Yeah...it's whitey's fault, right? Nice conclusion, idiot.

I wonder if "we're all Trayvon" was responsible?

state fair time, yeah?
heads all foggy from cheese curds and stick food?
i'm pointing my finger at 'media', idiot.
this country is way kinder than it ever has been.
roll eyes is for bitches

Hugh Conway · 08-20-2013, 02:04 PM

Originally Posted by buttahflake

this country is way kinder than it ever has been.

yeah, you are a fucking fountain of kindness and understanding

**Chainsaw_Willie** · 08-20-2013, 02:14 PM

Originally Posted by DasBlunt

...

Those kids, bored out of their skulls, are a snapshot of the many things wrong with our neighbors and friends.

None of my neighbors or friends would resort to murder as a cure for boredom.

I was bored a lot as a young man. When I was 21 I suggested to my good friends, as we sat around bored and wondering what to do with ourselves, that we give backpacking a try. The thought of killing someone never even crossed our minds. I still go on week long trips with those same guys over 20 years later.

**DasBlunt** · 08-20-2013, 02:15 PM

Originally Posted by buttahflake

this country is way kinder than it ever has been.

Originally Posted by Hugh Conway

yeah, you are a fucking fountain of kindness and understanding

Yeah, but he did say it, and I know that a perspective earned is gleaned from righteousness lived.

Once we climb the last hurdle of equality in the USA, ALL of the USA, you will keep seeing the steady decline of certain types of violence. Oklahoma? Still not there.

**buttahflake** · 08-20-2013, 02:24 PM

Originally Posted by Hugh Conway

yeah, you are a fucking fountain of kindness and understanding

do you want to be friends, cj?
hell, we can be friends with benefits if you want, cj.
i'll rub my balls on yer face anytime, seejay.

**Harry** · 08-20-2013, 07:03 PM

Originally Posted by 1080Rider

What the fuck is going on in the world? Have things always been this bad or is it just the media coverage that brings it to light??? A young guy is killed because the teenage punks felt like killing someone for the fun of it.

"I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die"

- Johnny Cash
- 1955