Insanity in the U.K.

[Locutus]

What the hell is going on over there man?


Police are considering charging a 10-year-old boy with a race hate crime after he was beaten by a Slovakian woman with an iron bar.

That's right. Jeezus H.

Here's the rest of it:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/09/27/nschool127.xml

 

[triedit]

Sumbitch threw food at her and told her to go back to her own country. I can see why she did it. I hope they charge them both.

 

[Just the Facts]

Sumbitch threw food at her and told her to go back to her own country. I can see why she did it. I hope they charge them both.

I know how some snotty little brats can make it inviting to drill 'em a good one, but adults are supposed to know better. You don't hit kids with iron bars, no matter how bad they get under your skin. You just don't. Grab 'em by the ankle and swing 'em around some, maybe. :lol: But no iron bars.

 

[Just the Facts]

Not to be a stickler, but is telling someone to go back to their own country really a racial slur? Seems kind of a stretch to me.

 

[triedit]

I know how some snotty little brats can make it inviting to drill 'em a good one, but adults are supposed to know better. You don't hit kids with iron bars, no matter how bad they get under your skin. You just don't. Grab 'em by the ankle and swing 'em around some, maybe. :lol: But no iron bars.

Which is why I suggested they charge them BOTH.

 

[eh1eh]

Further, I'm sure he learned it at home.:-|

 

[Zzarchov]

Considering that this is in fact (in this case) NOT their own country (they aren't immigrants, they didn't get citizenship nor do they want it), It would seem to me its not racist.

It would be like me complaining of racism if I vacationed in Florida and someone said "go back to Canada".

It would be rude, but not racist.

 

[goat]

What the hell is going on over there man?

Good question.

Cameras everywhere, no smoking in your car, no talking on mobiles in your car, no speeding, no picking your nose and chewing it chewing it.

It is the beginning of the end

 

[Curiosity]

Sort of Big Brother with a twist of Nanny State???

Sounds like the inmates are running the place.

 

[Pangloss]

Not to be a stickler, but is telling someone to go back to their own country really a racial slur? Seems kind of a stretch to me.

It's not if your opinion is formed by concerns about social policy (ie, rate of immigration, availability of services/jobs/housing for the immigrants, the ability of the resident/immigrant populations to adjust to each other, for example) and not just about "race".

Pangloss

 

[Pangloss]

Sumbitch threw food at her and told her to go back to her own country. I can see why she did it. I hope they charge them both.

I can't see why she did it - the kid is 10 years old. Is smacking a ten year old with a two foot long iron rod ever appropriate?

Adults are supposed to be more mature, smarter and in control of their emotions than ten year olds.

Pangloss

 

[triedit]

What would you have her do instead? If she calls the cops they're going to laugh at her. Plus the kids would be gone. Im not suggesting it was APPROPRIATE, but certainly understandable.

 

[Pangloss]

Triedit:

I would have her walk away. I would have her talk to the boy's mother, I would have her yell at the boy, I would have her go to the school and talk to the class, I would have her talk to her immigration counsellor, her MP, a friend, a neighbour, the police (the fact the police are considering charging the boy gives the lie to your suggestion they would not take it seriously), the list goes on and on.

In short, she could have acted like an adult and not like the viscious thug everybody thinks her compatriots to be - only now they have a reason to think this.

Pangloss

 

[triedit]

Those sound reasonable. But if it were me, if a gang of boys threw food at me and yelled slurs, Im not sure I wouldnt snatch a knot in somebody's neck. Obviously talking to the parents (if she even knew who the parents were or what school he went to, etc) isnt going to help; as been said, that's probably where he learned it.

 

[Pangloss]

Just because doing the right thing is difficult is not a reason to do the wrong thing.

It is what we call maturity. We bitch and moan about the nanny state, and then we do exactly the thing that makes the nanny state necessary.

Sometimes fixing a problem takes courage and effort, qualities that are obligations of mature personhood - doing the right thing is not a virtue: it is the expected thing.

Pangloss

 

[triedit]

Absolutely. But that doesnt make what SHE chose to do unjustified.

 

[Pangloss]

It most certainly does remove any justification for her actions. If there were other, less harmful options available to her, she was reasonably and ethically, if not merely legally, obligated to take one of those other options.

If she were cornered or pursued, then the rules change, but I read no evidence of that.

Pangloss

 

[triedit]

Why do the rules change? A violence was done to her. Is the severity really an issue in the heat of the moment? Again, Im not suggesting she made the best choice. But I can certainly understand why she did it (justification)

 

[Pangloss]

Triedit:

To comprehend is not the same thing as to concur. I can understand the frustration and hurt of taunts, but that doesn't mean I then agree with what she did. Nor does that mean she was right. She certainly is deserving of sympathy for the abuse she suffered (one account is a blackberry (the fruit) was thrown at her while she was told to "Go back to your own country"), but she is equally deserving of condemnation and punishment for her out-of-proportion response.

Sticks and stones and all that. . .

Pangloss

 

[#juan]

Absolutely. But that doesnt make what SHE chose to do unjustified.

What possible justification can there be for hitting a ten year old (or anyone else for that matter)with an iron rod?