I think if you go looking for cites you will find many more examples of humans subjugating and humiliating other humans than you will find amongst all other animals species combined.
Being wary of making a slippery slope argument I would suggest that this is one step past the sort of behavior evidenced in Bum Fights, which was one step beyond the Jackass movie craze. The Jackass guys humiliated themselves willingly, the Bum Fight victims coerced, but this woman was unconscious.
It is like all the other forms of assault on the powerless. Child molestation, rape of passed out women, or women in vegetative states, etc… This kind of shit happens all too often. Maybe not all instances involve a dying person, but the need to humiliate, denigrate or otherwise put down some other human in front of one’s peers is all too fucking human.
Shag might be exaggerating to make a point, but I agree with his theme. I have never lived in the UK, but I have lived in Western Europe, and they do indeed put up with shit there that would not be tolerated in most parts of the United States, by cops or citizenry.
I’m talking about little things like teenagers yelling and jumping around on a train for extended periods of time. (Not a tough street gang, school kids) That’s grounds for a stern threat of an ass whippin where I come from.
Same with snatching cell phones, cutting in line at an ATM, what have you.
I can’t speak to terrorism charges, but if there was some kind of organized brawl centering around a football match in the US, it would last about 20 seconds before someone pulled a gun or the cops descended in mass to dole out a little stick time for everybody.
I have never seen the kind of European hooligan brawls you see on you tube anyplace in the United States, and I’ve been around.
Of course the situation can change regionally within a country. I haven’t spent too much time in Miami, but the 2 times I’ve been “out” there, I’ve seen several instances of a guy pushing around his girl. (Not hitting, just being a little too rough) If someone tried that in, say, Dallas, a fight might break out between bystanders to decide who gets to jump the asshole first.
I just can’t believe it’s a coincidence that in 25 years of living in the US, traveling to 47 states and living in 5 since adulthood, I have heard of someone I know being mugged or pick pocketed exactly once. I can think of six such incidences in Europe after living there 1 year.
Quite Right! Remember the 51-year-old lady from Alabama that beat up a woman that cut in line ahead of her at the Teacup rides at Disneyworld? That’s what I’m talking about! Go team USA!
The joke is admittedly a very dark one, but I will must grudingly give the nod to humor as well. She purchased laminate flooring with a lifetime warranty. Before she even got home her life ended. Warranty expired.
Also, Shag, you are a raving lunatic if you are serious.
I rather think his life inside will not be fun. IIRC his status will be down there with the kiddy-fiddlers. Paging casdave. Hopefully he’ll leave prison a better man.
IF you are referring to the laminate flooring joke, I can explain. The “lifetime” warranty would refer to the woman’s floor, since now she’s dead, cannot be replaced for free, but will need to be because of the urine/shaving cream stains.
I see it’s already been explained. Sorry. :smack:
As for Shagnasty–the hole just gets deeper-now you’re taking on all of Western Europe? Take a deep breath. One of the reasons this made news is because it is so unusual.
Please don’t think that all or even most Americans hold these views. Most of us are really nice. College campuses are not the greastest bastions of public safety, given their skewed populations of young people + alcohol and other illicit substances. Dog sniffing units and terrorism training does little to prevent rape, for instance.
As for the British influence in the southern states–puleese. Shades of Ashley Wilkes or what? I’d buy a more current immigrant Scots-Irish influence than an English one there. And what this British influence has to do with fistfights between Bubba and Roy is beyond me.
I admire and respect the British police for their LACK of gunpower (for the most part). I think this shithead who did this unspeakable thing will get the British book thrown at him, with full force and rightly so.
I’ve only been to UK twice. Both times, I spent a great deal of time in London. Both times I felt safer there than I did in Chicago after dark. Whether this was an accurate perception is debatable. Petty crime and misdemeanors happen everywhere (my 35 mm camera was stolen in Amsterdam in the 70s; my husband’s cell phone wass stolen in Paris. All my CDs were stolen out of my car in my driveway. My wallet has been stolen here as well). Such things do not condemn a country as “soft”.
And what’s with the using of feminazition as a perjorative? or socialization for that matter? Those are not insults.
Ack. I see now that she had just purchases the flooring. Either way, the joke works (it’s a sick joke, but I’ll admit to finding it funny).
does this guy show any remorse? Better than prison (IMO) would be to be assigned to a dementia ward with close supervision–he can clean up piss for 3 years. That might teach him something (and get the piss cleaned up).
Which is why American “sport” is so utterly fucking anodyne.
Give me a passionate Roma vs Lazio grudge match, or an Old Firm game, or an India vs Pakistan cricket match any day… spending 4 hrs watching an NFL game in a soulless corporate stadium with 50,000 middle-class Yanks occasionally shouting “Go Team!” inbetween trips to the concession stand makes a mockery of the concept of “going to the game”.
Though that’s interesting, since the previous quote mentioned “stick time”, and I’ve heard it said that until you’ve seen Indian (or Pakistani) police wading in with lathis, you ain’t seen police brutality. (As usual, I’m prepared to listen to first-hand accounts.)
I remember the UT/USC Rose Bowl quite fondly. I did not get to see it live, but a local movie theater showed the game for free. Perhaps it’s because we didn’t have to go to the concession stands as everything was brought out by the theater’s waitstaff – :rolleyes: – but, as a reporter subsequently said, “the first downs were cheered like touchdowns and the touchdowns like wins.” We leapt out of our chairs and cheered. I hugged a lot of people I’d never met. They gave me beer. I gave them cheesy potato skins.
Generally we don’t beat the holy snot out of each other after a game, which makes us pussies, apparently. Ehh. I do know that whenever the Longhorns win, you can’t get down the streets within city limits for cars streaming orange and white and people shouting, hanging out their windows, blaring the fight song…
This is probably fodder for another pit thread, but I get annoyed with the “Americans are stupid and lazy lulz” meme. I doubt that as a people we are actually any stupider or lazier than other industrialized countries. I know I’m pretty sedentary because… well, I’d like to walk to work, but it’s an hour’s drive away. I’d like to walk to the grocery store, but a six mile round trip is a long way to go by foot, especially in Texas heat. Our cities, except for some of the oldest ones, are not built for foot traffic. Few if any have reliable or safe public transport. Amazingly enough, when I go to Toronto I take the bus and subway everywhere that I don’t walk and I love it. I get tired because I’m not used to it, I admit, but…
