What the hell is wrong with people?

Move over, Random Thoughts, the Sequel.

Not one of the longest. The longest.

 

BBJ, I thought Maher was out of line in that instance, too. Each case is reprehensible and goes beyond bad taste.

I do see some differences in the circumstances.

Steve Irwin made his living by putting himself in dangerous situations. He chose to take those types of risks and it finally got him killed. It was sad and nobody deserves what happened to him, but he chose to put himself in that situation.

The victims at Virginia Tech made no such choice. They were murdered by a lowlife, murdering piece of garbage. The exact same thing could have happened at Penn State, or on just about any campus. In fact, I was on the Penn State campus during a sniper scare in the early '90s, though if I remember correctly the gunman was the only one who ended up being shot. That alone should be enough to help a reasonable person find some compassion.

 

outofplace, I'm not disagreeing. But how many kids today know of something in the early 90s? They were, what, 3?

This was a sick joke. Clearly not funny. But also clearly not national news. Mahar was national news. And I don't see how that was any less sick. Regardless of what Irwin did for a living, he had family and loved ones too who probably could have done without the reminder of the horrific way he died.

 

I just meant the thing in the '90s as an example. I doubt any kid would know about it. But anyone with half a brain would realize it could have happened just as easily on another campus.

I understand the point about Irwin. People in this country don't realize how hard that hit in Australia. My mother was there right after it happened and it was a very big deal.

But Irwin does bear at least some of the responsibility for his own fate. He put himself in danger time and again, including the moment when he was killed. That is very different from being gunned down going to class.

 

I agree.

But it becomes national news when the 24/7/365 news cycles, Internet bloggers, radio talkshow dickheads, message boards (like this one) and emailers all turn it into a national happening.

That may be good, though, because it will expose these sick little fucksticks to others outside of their group of friends who may approve of the costumes. In that case, the exposure may help turn them around and realize what they did was grossly inconsiderate, uncompassionate and distasteful.

 

Two threads, both last week. Chef needs to keep up.

 

And this, in itself, is disturbing -- excusing ignorance.

Why shouldn't they know of stuff that happened in the early 90s? I was a week past my third birthday when Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. My wife had just turned 2 when JFK was assassinated in Dallas.

Jesus, my son is 13 and HE knows stuff that happened before he was born.

You want to talk about what the hell is wrong with people? Not knowing what the hell is going on... and not caring that you don't know.

 

Birdscribe, while I agree with your overall point, the incident I wrote about is fairly obscure. To be fair, I only know about it because I happened to be on campus that day.

 

Fair enough, Out. Point taken. I just can't stomach the "Well, I was 3-years-old, so I don't know that..." bullshit. It's an excuse for ignorance.

But if you're a student on a given campus, surely there should be some kind of knowlege about what happened there. We had a professor murdered by one of his students when I was there two decades ago.

I would venture to guess something like that would have some traction among the students.

 

Birdscribe, clearly they should know about the things you mentioned. But are they supposed to know everything? And if they don't, are they ignorant?

The act in question here was ignorant, but making it a national news story is even more so. It's indicative of a media that should have better things to do.

 

Agreed. I'm just trying to be fair. Besides, the shooting spree at Virginia Tech should hit home with college students on any campus, regardless of its own history.

 

Bingo.

Could have happened on any college campus in the country and those kids mocking the deceased could have easily been the ones murdered.

I attend college and I'm a teenager. If I ever went to a Halloween party and saw this Nathan Jones idiot decked out in that costume, I'd punch him in the face. Absolutely classless to mock a sickening event in American history. He deserves a good ass kicking without question.