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| This happens in AMERICA?
Posted: 10/3/2007 9:02:36 AM | It's funny how things like this is happening in AMERICA the land of the free and the only thing I can see when I turn on the news is Britney Spears with no panties and losing her kids. Poor lil rich girl doing drugs and acting out of control but let's hide the real problems.
Michael Vick and his treatment of dogs got more press than this.....so did OJ and his hotel robbery stint....but I find out in an email that crap like this is happening in the good ole US of A.....I'm wondering what's wrong with this picture.
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September 13, 2007
BY MARY MITCHELL Sun-Times Columnist
It took a lot of courage for Carmen Williams to reveal the identity of her 20-year-old daughter.
Williams is the mother of Megan Williams, the black West Virginia woman who was tortured, stabbed, sexually assaulted and treated like an animal by six white offenders during a weeklong captivity.
You never get used to the lurid details of a man's inhumanity.
Just as it was hard to bear the horrible things that were done to Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom, the white Knoxville, Tenn., couple brutally killed in January, I'm sickened by the cruelty Megan Williams suffered.
I'm also struck by the similarity between how Carmen Williams chose to handle her daughter's ordeal at the hands of whites and how Mamie Till-Mobley handled the brutal murder of her son, Emmett Till, in 1955.
Although the news media usually doesn't identify rape victims, Williams told an Associated Press reporter "she wanted people to know what her daughter endured."
It's the same reason Till-Mobley gave when she allowed the beaten, disfigured body of her son to be viewed in an open casket. Till had been killed in Mississippi, and his body brought back to Chicago for the funeral.
Her decision not to hide the horrible way her son died was a pivotal moment in the civil rights movement because it drew city folk into the civil rights battle. Until then, the burden of the battle -- the lynchings and killings -- was being carried by their country cousins.
'A horror movie'
Megan Williams was rescued Tuesday when sheriff's deputies, acting on an anonymous tip, went into the rural hills of West Virginia and found the badly abused woman at a mobile home.
Six people -- including a mother and son and a mother and daughter -- have been charged with an assortment of crimes in the case.
Frankie Brewster, 49, was charged with kidnapping, sexual assault, malicious wounding and giving false information during a felony investigation. Her son, Bobby R. Brewster, 24, who allegedly brought Megan to the mobile home, was also charged with kidnapping, sexual assault, malicious wounding and assaults during the commission of a felony. Danny J. Combs, 20, was charged with sexual assault and malicious wounding; George A. Messer, 27, was charged with assault and battery; Karen Burton, 46, was charged with malicious wounding, battery and assault; and her daughter, Alisha Burton, 23, was charged with assault and battery.
The accused are being held on $100,000 bonds each.
According to a criminal indictment, the perpetrators raped Megan, doused her with scalding hot water, made her eat dog and rat waste and drink from a toilet. Her captors also stabbed the victim in the leg several times. During the attacks, Megan was repeatedly called a racial slur.
The Logan County, W. Va., sheriff described the crime as "something that would come out of a horror movie."
We've made some progress
At least one of Megan's attackers allegedly told her she was being victimized because she is "black." However, local authorities decided Wednesday not to seek charges for a hate crime. Instead, they'll pursue the state kidnapping charges because those charges carry much heavier penalties and the best chance of a successful prosecution.
State hate crime charges, which carry a sentence of 10 years, could come later, prosecutors said.
Obviously, if hate crime charges are brought in the Williams case, people who were outraged that the Tennessee couple's torture and murder by black suspects was not similarly prosecuted will say it is proof the government is reluctant to prosecute blacks for hate crimes.
But it would be unfair to use Williams' ordeal as a yardstick on race relations in America.
While the Williams case shows there still exist people in this country who harbor a deep-seated hatred of blacks, it also shows we've made some progress.
Mamie Till-Mobley devoted her life to seeking justice for her son. Although the U.S. Justice Department re-opened the case shortly after Till-Mobley passed away, the effort proved too little too late.
But someone tipped off the West Virginia authorities, and saved a young woman's life.
That lifeline wasn't there 50 years ago. | |
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| This happens in AMERICA?
Posted: 10/3/2007 9:39:37 AM | BrownSugar, I'm with you. It shocks me what passes for "news" sometimes. I understand the escapist mentality (I think I read once that more people "vote" for American Idol winners than in presidential elections,) but honestly, I don't respect it. I think most people operate on the illusion that they are somehow immune from horrific things, that they truly have that level of control in their lives, so when they read about someone like Megan Williams they can comfortably pretend that she was somehow culpable, and it could never happen to them or their loved ones. It's so much easier to see a dog as a defenseless victim, you know?
It IS horrifying what Megan went through, and in a way I'm glad that she has gone public with it - I think people should know exactly what the us-versus-them mentality of vitriolic racism can bring us down to. I think putting a human face on the issue, telling the truth about what kind of monsters the Brewsters et al. are, can only help bring to light how bad things are in America - how truly backwards a lot of people still are. We look at the rest of the world as if they are so backwards, as if "tribal factions" only exist in some farway place, that we could never embrace that kind of mentality here. This story proves that's not true - and it's a scary reality to face. Maybe that's why people would rather think about Bratney. What does that say about us? | |
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| This happens in AMERICA?
Posted: 10/3/2007 12:03:49 PM | JumpinRainDrops.....I completely agree that it's good she went public. I for one knew nothing of the story until someone emailed me and I thought, how sad. Something that brutal happens in a country and no one wants to talk about it?
But I agree with the whoever said it can happen anywhere, completely true again, but you would think.....in America....the land of all that's great?
Have we really progressed at all as a race of people....humans or are we doomed to keep mucking up like our ancestors? | |
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| This happens in AMERICA?
Posted: 10/3/2007 12:05:07 PM | News worthy.. What is that? Anything that will distract you from whats realy going on in america...
Let see now, whats going on right now that isn't in the news?
How about 25 states that are talking about succeding from the United States of America..
Yes my heart bleeds for that young lady. They should hang those racist s o b's and everything they own should be sold and all the money should be given to her..
That would be JUSTICE in my book.... | |
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| This happens in AMERICA?
Posted: 10/3/2007 1:13:59 PM |
I for one knew nothing of the story until someone emailed me and I thought, how sad.
It was all over the news for a couple days and also on the internet...
Maybe you should try to stay more informed of things going on it the world... | |
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| This happens in AMERICA?
Posted: 10/3/2007 1:35:11 PM | ^^ Thanks Duckman,
But I dont need you to tell me to be informed, this one might have slipped by but I think a couple days on the news is not good enough, not when we are bombasted with all the shenanigans of those coke heads in Lalahood.
Thanks though I will keep more in tuned with the world and its happenings from now on. | |
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| This happens in AMERICA?
Posted: 10/3/2007 1:45:21 PM | | Brownsugar, pay no attention to duckman, he's an A-hole.Maybe he should read your post again and understand this is not a thread of how much news you watch but how anyone can be so cruel. I for one understand what you mean. How can anyone do such painful and terrible acts on living things?Whats makes someone enjoy watching others suffer? I cant explain it. One thing that annoys me about the news is constantly telling what movie star is dating who. Really, who cares? If I want to know about stars,I will buy movie magazines. Unlike post 2, I dont see this as a race thread. | |
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| This happens in AMERICA?
Posted: 10/3/2007 1:59:10 PM | Brown-----
More in tune with the world and it's happenings? Oh happy days, we have the making of a Mother Teresa. Start the new year with going to Africa and applying your generosity and yourself in helping all those butchered in the Sudan alone. Next go to the rest of the continent and assist the children dying there. Tens of thousands are dying from diseases that can be prevented. After that go to India and China where you are also needed. Being in tune with the world just doesn't cut it. And for goodness sake, do it now, you are much needed there. You go girl.
Nebula, lol......you are living in 2007 not 1861. Don't watch civil war movies when under the weed, ok? | |
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| This happens in AMERICA?
Posted: 10/3/2007 2:04:42 PM |
Maybe you should try to stay more informed of things going on it the world...
What for? To hear the results of an ongoing very much unneeded war, to hear about crap like this, or similar stories?
Thanks but no thanks...
When was the last time you heard "good news"? I can't remember...
Unfortunately ladies and gent's this type of news sells, we have "civilized" ourselves just enough to love to hear this type of crap, whether aware or unaware of it, we want to hear sh*t like that, don't believe me? Look at the percentage of the movie genre showing on your local video store...
Wake up and take a look at the hand-basket in which the majority of us are. Wonder which will be our destination...
God bless you all!
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| This happens in AMERICA?
Posted: 10/3/2007 5:10:54 PM | I believe there has already been a thread on this item...this story.
One of the guys dated the woman who was being held. Because of this, the prosecutor cannot charge any with a "hate crime". It had nothing to do with her colour....but a bad relationship gone worse.
Anyways, they will be facing mulitple charges.
Things like this happen all over the palce...try looking up how often a white guy takes a beating in a black neighbourhood. Never see those stories. Un-newsworthy, and don't have the "racial" impact that these other stories have. | |
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| This happens in AMERICA?
Posted: 10/3/2007 9:29:08 PM | "but let's hide the real problems"
Whats your point? Your trying to turn this into a big racial incident, and its really not.
A bunch of dim witted, low rent sociopaths brutalized a woman who happened to be black. Those cretins would have done the same thing to someone else no matter what color they were. No offense but its people like you and the Al Sharptons of the world
that keep the race hype alive and dont allow us to move on as a society.
Instead of focusing on the now relatively rare, and they are rare, incidents of white on
black crime, your real focus and outrage should be on the savage black on black violence that happens every day in this country. Young black men, raised by single mothers with no fathers, , robbing, brutalizing and killing mostly other black people.
Wheres the mass demonstrations about those lives?
The biggest problem black people have is not racism or white people, but themselves
and turning a blind eye to the problems they have created within their own community,
and for not holding the members of their community who commit crimes, have child after child without the means to support them, and black men for abandoning their
own children, accountable for their actions. | |
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| This happens in AMERICA?
Posted: 10/4/2007 4:02:53 AM | ^^^OK first of all you need to back the hell up because nowhere in my thread do you see me trying to prove a racist point!
Pay attention. I cannot stand when people come on here and before they read properly what is written they jump to some half thought out retort to try and put others in their place.
Do you want to know what the real problems are? They are crimes against humanity I could give a rat's a$$ what color the victim or the perpetrator of the crime is. It's the fact that stories like this exists in a country that tries to put on such a show for the world and yet it gets covered up to some extend.
It's the fact that ya this happens all over the world in other countries but in America and so close to home, it makes you pause and ask the question: This happens in America?
Ya there are a lot of people in America who have no idea what goes on around them, they are either so bombarded with information overload on everything else important like the war in Iraq, OJ's latest shenanigans or what the lil teenyboppers are doing in Hollywood that it's astounding when you do find out that it can happen at home an dnot just in third world counrties.
Then of course you have the people who live in ignorance of the problem because it's what they are used to. They live in a certain part of the country that probably hasn't caught up with the rest of the world especially in how you treat another human being.
Stop trying to create drama about racism, no one is talking about race. What because I am black I am going to make it about that? Gimme a break already and get with the program, I would be just as upset and angry had they been two headed creatures from the blue lagoon. It's what they did to another human being that's on trial, not their God damned color. Jeez
P.S. Dont you tell me where my outrage should be, what are you doing in your community to help bring people together and stop crime? Are you doing anything?
If not stop yakking about it and do something. I might not have a lot of influence or power but I do know that in my community I am helping and working with young people to try and keep them away from gangs and violence and encouraging them to pick up a book and look to college instead of the streets to make a living. It's not much but it's something! | |
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| This happens in AMERICA?
Posted: 10/4/2007 7:01:29 AM | Brownsugar, I'm afraid you'll get nowhere trying to talk sense to some people. They will see what they want to see and get themselves worked up into a little tizzy over it, and the best you can do is let it go. Trust me, I've started threads here where my intention was to discuss a particular issue only to have it dissolve into bizzarre speculations about where I shop and whether I'm a "Real American."
I think I get what you mean, though, and I agree. Mainstream media "news" has become little more than Entertainment Tonight with a few weightloss tips delivered by some perky blonde trying her best to look serious through her hairspray high. I usually pay pretty close attention to the news, and I missed this one completely - until someone did post another thread on the crime. But what I think you're doing a good job of addressing is the disgraceful state of news in the US, and what consumers think is important enough to warrant their attention.
And in some ways, maybe it IS about race - but not only as a specific incident in which racial identity was used as an excuse to commit acts of deranged violence. This incident and sevral others (as noted in this thread) point to an ongoing undercurrent of hositily that continues to permeate American culture, and bubbles up every so often in ugly, brutal acts committed by ignorant, violent people. The question is, WHY do some people look at a person of a different color and see an enemy? I think it's a lot of things - upbringing, media influence, the state of education, maybe mental illness issues, but the fact is: it's there. It was there when I was a kid, it was there in my grandmother's time, and I'm sure that it's gone through cycles where it was better and cycles where it was worse, but it's been right there all along. When I was a kid, if you read a crime report in the news, the race of the suspect was ALWAYS identified, unless they were white.
What if we had a news and educational agenda that was dedicated in some measure to looking at the things we have in common, not just the things that divide us? What if, for example, we stopped seeing news stories about how minorities, women, and the elderly are more likely to live in poverty as they age, and we just got honest and said the system favors white men?But to a lot of people here, that wouldn't be "news," I guess. | |
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| This happens in AMERICA?
Posted: 10/4/2007 7:05:23 AM | Brownsugar,
I think many of us who have read the thread realize that your intent was to point out that we are inundated with the inane while hard news goes largely unreported, and it is an excellent point. That stuff should be relegated to entertainment news, which is all it is. Unfortunately the network news has degenerated into infotainment as ratings speak to advertisers and money speaks to networks. It is a sad commentary on America when the population is content with a 30 second sound bite on national affairs but can't get enough of whether Britney will regain custody of her kids.
I think the race thing came into play not because of what you said, but because of the tone of the article you posted. By comparing Megan Williams' ordeal to the civil rights movement and Emmit Till it does invoke race, as do most of the articles I have read on the case.
The article glosses over the horrific torture and murder of two white kids by saying that it is "hard to bear" but that what happened to the black woman is "sickening". The reporter also makes the statement that if hate crime charges are brought that people will be outraged that none were filed in the Tennessee case and will take it as proof that authorities are reluctant to file hate crime charges against blacks. I think she's right. But her point wasn't that the Christian/Newsom murder was a hate crime, it was that white people think that blacks receive preferential treatment when it comes to hate crimes.
The reporter includes the details of what Williams went through but does not mention the ordeal that Christian and Newsom endured, which I am not even going to recount here because it is that bad. I'd call what happened to them sickening and horrifying rather than just "hard to bear".
The only two comments made about Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom are that it was "hard to bear" and that people would be upset if hate crime charges were brought here and not there, so I am not sure why the reporter even included Christian and Newsom in her article unless it was to make a political statement to the effect of "yeah, that happened, but look what happened to a black woman!"
She was not talking about crime in general she was talking about civil rights, as evidenced by:
While the Williams case shows there still exist people in this country who harbor a deep-seated hatred of blacks, it also shows we've made some progress.
She doesn't bother to mention that Williams dated Bobby Brewster because that would show he harbored a deep-seated hatred for her, not her race. That is not unbiased.
I am not trying to minimize what happened to Williams, I am only trying to explain why some people took your post as being about race. Your post isn't, but the article certainly is. | |
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| This happens in AMERICA?
Posted: 10/4/2007 8:42:31 AM | | Well Brownsu what's going on here with the posters is simple. They are talking back to you and you can't handle it like others from your area. You are used to with holding a gathering hostage with your self-righteous scoldings leaving all others in shocking silence. Every poster has made a clear and merit response to your anti-American, racial and media bashing. Judging by your retaliatory posts, you are also anti-democratic. In a democracy, everything goes. One cannot stop bigotry unless a crime is made and the perpetrators caught and punished. Which has happened to all your sample situations. OJ and Vick are celebrities and excellent quarterbacks. They make big money for others in sports. Spears like others her ranks do the same for entertainers and lots of money she made for them. Now if the young girl abused by her ex-boyfriend's trailer trash family, of which his mother and sisters participated in, one will be constantly hearing of it until the paying advertisers insist on new stories. The girl was attracted to trash. Instead of accusing some poster of being ignorant, take the time to see that most news are read not TV viewed. Plenty of good stories on TV networks of course. There are tens of thousands of print news and magazines all over the country. In every city and town. Larger ones, national and local ones. If one doesn't read it a particular day, another does and shares the stories in conversations. All of your posted articles are old. It is fascinating that you leave in Ontario yet fixed on searching American news while ignoring the many news stories in your neck of the woods. You have an arterial motive and that is to spread your hate of America by using the misfortunes of others in your quest. The world is full of people like you. They are the ungrateful controlling leftist ones. Of which it's evident you subscribe to. There are a few idiots in this small site alone spurting their jealousy, ignorance and hate of America. Deliberately dismissing all the good and charity Americans like myself have done and still does around the world. Yet people like you love aiding America's enemies just for the sake of aiding America's enemies. Shame on you. | |
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| This happens in AMERICA?
Posted: 10/4/2007 8:55:45 AM | Comparing Williams vs. Christian and Newsom:
The atrocity committed against C. & N. were IGNORED by the Mainstream Lapdog Infotainment Media until a group of White Nationalists held a rally in Tennessee several months later.
The case of Williams on the other hand quickly made national news.
And lets not forget - Ms Williams is still alive (unlike C & N).
Sadly folks this stuff is going to get a lot worse before it gets better, especially if the US economy really goes pear-shape. | |
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| This happens in AMERICA?
Posted: 10/4/2007 9:01:45 AM | So brownsugar. In a nutshell. What exactly is the point you are trying to make?
Break it down in one sentence. Maybe there's just a miscommunication here. | |
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| This happens in AMERICA?
Posted: 10/4/2007 9:05:21 AM | Apparently someone didn't hear about the summit happening right now in Cattanoga Tenn.. They are talking about succeding from the US.. Nj, Ala, Alaska, Hawii and many others..
Those people that held that girl captive and tortured her because she was black thought they were living in 1861.
And if i wassnt in a crappy country that denies people the right to things that GOD made i would hit that bong. | |
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| This happens in AMERICA?
Posted: 10/4/2007 9:18:34 AM | | Unfortunately, this sort of thing happens everywhere, to every sort of person...which is why parents need to train their children in self defense; and I don't mean karate classes at the local Y. People of all ages need to learn how predators, bullies, racists, rapists, etc, think...and so how to avoid them most of the time. When scum can't be avoided, people need to know how to handle them and win. Panic does not work. Nor does begging, whining, or submitting. Swift, violent, action is needed. When I was 5 years old, an adult abused me...until I got my hands on a 15" carving knife. The abuse involved being: tied up, beaten, burned, sodomized, and poisoned, repeatedly. During a period when I was not tied up, I managed to get hold of the knife, and things changed. Since then, I began training, and have studied: tumbling, gymnastics, wrestling, boxing, judo, karate, knife fighting, fencing, bo-ken, riflery, practical pistolry, and black medicine. I have gone on to train my younger siblings, cousins, neighbors, and such. Any children I have will be mini special force members; able to take whatever the world dishes out. It is harsh, forcing kids to grow up young, but it beats having them grow up abused. This sort of thing is not a race issue. It is a control issue, and some controllers act against children, or blacks, or black children, while others act against whites, adults, seniors, or others. Racial aspects are like seasoning/condiments on a meal...not the cause, but an enhancement. Telling a black you are abusing them because they are black is just an added mental abuse to go along with the physical abuse. Those who abused Megan will end up in a prison full of abused, and formerly abused, blacks who will give Megans' abusers what they deserve. People such as those who abused Megan are a minority. Most blacks, and whites, and asians, etc, get along fairly well most of the time in America. There are, however, exceptions due to a minority of all colrs who prefer to not get along. There are blacks who abuse/murder whites, and so on. That does not make all-or even most-blacks guilty, just as all/most whites are not guilty. The majority of all ethnic types need to work together to make examples of the abusers they catch and convict. | |
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| This happens in AMERICA?
Posted: 10/4/2007 9:28:52 AM | | Part of avoiding becoming a Megan like victim is realizing how these things can happen. They happen-simply-because they are FUN. The abusers/rapists/etc get an endorphin rush-an adrenalin high-like an amphetamine high, from abusing people. That is all the reason the abusers need in order to do what they do...they enjoy it. The spread of B&D /S&M sex fetishes shows how closely associated abuse and sexual pleasure are. Some people can only climax, sexually, while abusing or being abused. Such depraved pleasure seeking is not confined to any one race, religion, nationality, economic level, or anything else. Such people are a minority, but one which crosses all soicio-economic-racial/etc boundaries. Realize that some people enjoy such things, and do what you can to avoid those people. When you can't avoid them, be prepared to do unto them before they do unto you. Know how to defend yourself...with: guns, knives, clubs, rocks, fingers, feet, or anything else. | |
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| This happens in AMERICA?
Posted: 10/4/2007 9:37:00 AM | | Nebula22, those are Klansman numbering about 12 angry racist white men. They also want to take over Cuba by infiltrating Mexico. The Civil War put an end to the confederate mentality long ago. Notice that the Red states are all southern, southwestern, midwestern and many northwestern States, and the people in every southern state are grateful of that war's turn out. The only State (free associated State) that can stay as it is or become a full State is the Commonweath of Puerto Rico. They always vote to stay a Commonwealth. The Republican party in Puerto Rico is for Statehood and the Democratic Party is for Commonwealth. Here in Hawaii we feel we run the mainland. | |
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| This happens in AMERICA?
Posted: 10/4/2007 10:25:54 AM | There was no evidence that Newsome and Christian were victims of a hate crime though. As Police Investigators said, they were just at the wrong place, at the wrong time. It could have been a black couple just as easily.
The Williams case however, while she may have dated one of the defendants in this case, weren't racial comments made towards her during her captivity? A past history of dating shouldn't exempt it from being a hate crime.
And as far as brownsugar posting, stop bashing her for it. It's contributing topics to these forums and it isn't done maliciously. If you think it is, then stop reading this thread. | |
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| This happens in AMERICA?
Posted: 10/4/2007 10:36:35 AM | | This will continue to happen in America as long as Parenthood is a right and not a privlidge. If people were truly held accountable for their progeny they'd sure be a bit more cautious about spreading their jam before buttering their toast. | |
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| This happens in AMERICA?
Posted: 10/4/2007 11:05:47 AM | Shawhan.....
It's funny, a black man coming on here to call me out. I think it's extremely unfortunate that you sir see what I am doing as HATE. It's funny that you are so gung ho on calling me anti-American and basically doing to me the exact same thing that you are accusing me of doing!
It's funny how you know that I am anti-democratic and obviously you searched my profile to see that I lived in Ontario yet completely missed the point of my post. You seem like an intelligent individual so I will not even bother but to say Shame on you sir.
Before you start trashing people or start psycho-analyzing them maybe you should read through the lines and understand what the person is saying.
Shame on you!!!!
**Anyways, to everyone that replied to the post thank you. To those who got the point of the thread thank you and those who didn't get it, thank you and to those who chose to believe that I am or was trying to stir a pot based on racist motives, thank you! | |
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| This happens in AMERICA?
Posted: 10/4/2007 10:43:25 PM | Brown sugar , you make a good point about the press coverage .
It astounds me that the story wasnt bigger than it was. Sadly though, this is the way our press, society , is today. Lots of information on silly Britneys travails, other celebrities. All that attention given to OJ ,yet this story barely made the front page. I have to search to get news about our troops in Afghanistan, yet my msn here greats me every morning with strories about silly celebrities .
Something is wrong with what society thinks is news worthy, important . I agree with you.
The things that happened to that girl, in this day and age deserved more coverage. | |
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