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Raw Story: Videos of US homeless beatings spike online

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Home » Discuss » Archives » General Discussion (1/22-2007 thru 12/14/2010)

Amerigo Vespucci

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Wed Aug-26-09 11:56 AM
Original message

Raw Story: Videos of US homeless beatings spike online

Videos of US homeless beatings spike online

WASHINGTON � Videos of homeless people being beaten or forced into humiliating acts are increasingly popular online, leading some US lawmakers to seek harsher penalties for hate crimes against the poor.

�They have become a new minority group that is okay to hate. If this would have happened to any other minority group, there would be some boycotts or protests,� said National Coalition for the Homeless director Michael Stoops.

Twenty-seven homeless people were killed in 2008 out of a total of 106 attacks, with the bulk committed by males who were 25 or younger, according to a report published earlier this month by the NCH.

The total number of attacks was less than the 160 recorded last year but still far higher than the 60 listed a decade ago. More incidents are thought to have occurred but gone unreported.

On the Internet, videos of �bum fights� are a growing trend, with their authors defending the practice just for the �fun� or the �thrill.�

In July, nearly 86,000 degrading videos of homeless people were posted on YouTube � 15,000 more than a year earlier � according to an NCH count.

http://rawstory.com/08/news/2009/08/26/videos-of-us-homeless/

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babylonsister

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Wed Aug-26-09 11:59 AM
Response to Original message

1. There's a headline I never wanted to read. How sick is that? nt

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Solly Mack

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Wed Aug-26-09 12:00 PM
Response to Original message

2. Sick fucks

K/R

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arcadian

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Wed Aug-26-09 12:00 PM
Response to Original message

3. Money is the ONLY thing that matters in this country.

Not religion, not your kids, not your parents, not your job, none of that matters as long as you have obtained large amounts of glorious money.

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Deja Q

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Wed Aug-26-09 12:06 PM
Response to Original message

4. Isn't our "New Normal" civilized society wonderful?

:sarcasm:

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guruoo

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Wed Aug-26-09 01:10 PM
Response to Original message

5. Two words:

Carry permits.

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frylock

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Wed Aug-26-09 02:02 PM
Response to Reply #5

6. wtf?!

for who? the homeless?!

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guruoo

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Wed Aug-26-09 04:18 PM
Response to Reply #6

10. Why not?

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frylock

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Wed Aug-26-09 05:15 PM
Response to Reply #10

31. a better question would be why..

followed by how?

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GreenPartyVoter

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Wed Aug-26-09 02:13 PM
Response to Reply #5

9. Even if this was a good idea, how could they afford the guns or ammo anyway?

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guruoo

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Wed Aug-26-09 04:32 PM
Response to Reply #9

19. I'm tempted to go and raise the subject in freeperland....

just to see how the carry permit expansionists would handle it.

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asdjrocky

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Wed Aug-26-09 04:23 PM
Response to Reply #5

13. Guns for the homeless?

What a great idea. Tell me you're not really that dense.

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guruoo

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Wed Aug-26-09 04:36 PM
Response to Reply #13

21. Give the freeper's nightmares...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=6395752&mesg_id=6397973

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OneTenthofOnePercent

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Wed Aug-26-09 04:37 PM
Response to Reply #5

22. The homeless are allowed to have carry permits if they wish.

Nothing's stopping them. I've always felt that if worst came to worst for me and I found myself on the street, my Springfield .45 (w/ carry permit) and wedding ring would be the last two possessions I would hold onto - both for obvious reasons.

If you're suggesting GIVING guns to the homeless... well that's just a dumb fucking idea for no other reason than it will be sold to the highest offer because it has significant value.

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guruoo

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Wed Aug-26-09 04:42 PM
Response to Reply #22

23. It's just a fantasy

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G_j

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Wed Aug-26-09 02:07 PM
Response to Original message

7. what's with youtube? that's criminal

:puke:

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bobbolink

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Wed Aug-26-09 04:21 PM
Response to Reply #7

12. You don't think it should hit the light of day? You think we should be in denial?

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G_j

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Wed Aug-26-09 04:30 PM
Response to Reply #12

18. these people shoot their own videos, to glorify their sadism.

doing it FOR the camera. the one flicker of light is that they may be traced down from the evidence

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bobbolink

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Wed Aug-26-09 04:34 PM
Response to Reply #18

20. They do it anyway. This goes back waaaay before youtube!

Edited on Wed Aug-26-09 04:41 PM by bobbolink

At least this way, maybe some people who see it will begin to understand.

Yet, here at DU, I doubt it will garner even ONE call/letter to a congresscritter.

edited to say....I appreciate your digust... but I don't think hiding this from view will lessen the occurrance. This has gone on by young thugs for so many years!

BTW, last year, almost TWICE as many women as men died on the street in Denvoid. Ain't that just fine? Yet, that's where people think I should go. I think I would prefer dying in others ways than being raped and beaten to death in Denvoid. But, it's not something that "progressives" get all worked up about.

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SidneyCarton

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Wed Aug-26-09 02:09 PM
Response to Original message

8. This is truly sick.

Though I'm sorry to say, it's not surprising. The homeless are invisible, they are stuffed beneath the protection of law and are exploited freely by monsters in our nation.

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bobbolink

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Wed Aug-26-09 04:26 PM
Response to Reply #8

15. Invisible to "progressives". If homelessness were more important to "progressives", there would be

LESS of this sort of thing.

:grr: :cry: :nuke:

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SidneyCarton

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Wed Aug-26-09 05:45 PM
Response to Reply #15

32. I agree.

Too many holes in the levee, not enough fingers. This should be a greater priority.

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bobbolink

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Thu Aug-27-09 09:57 PM
Response to Reply #32

42. HOW do we go about making it a greater priority? I've posted lots of ACTION requests at DU,

very little response....

I've called Air America shows...they don't want to hear it (and people like Thom Hartmann actually repeat erroneous "facts"!)

I've gone to clergy.... not interested.

And poor folks .....well, most don't want to speak up.

What does one do??????

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bobbolink

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Wed Aug-26-09 04:20 PM
Response to Original message

11. About damned fucking time it's recognized as the hate crime it is!

So, how many here will push their congresscritters on this?

Anyone?

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SoCalDem

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Wed Aug-26-09 04:25 PM
Response to Original message

14. Hooligans with cheap video cameras, just out making their own "reality tv shows"

hoping that someone will elevate their "actions" into a money-making scheme.. They need to be arrested..

At the root though, it's the same mentality that got that "Girls Gone Wild" freako started on his first million..

People will watch ANYTHING..especially if it's loaded with sex or violence..and even moreso if it has both.:(

Humans are voyeurs:(

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fascisthunter

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Wed Aug-26-09 04:26 PM
Response to Original message

16. forgive me all, if I ever see such a thing done in front of me

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bobbolink

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Wed Aug-26-09 04:53 PM
Response to Reply #16

27. thank you.

:yourock:

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OneTenthofOnePercent

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Wed Aug-26-09 04:30 PM
Response to Original message

17. Not a hate crime IMO. n/t

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asdjrocky

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Wed Aug-26-09 04:43 PM
Response to Reply #17

24. How is picking a single group of people to exploit and harm not a hate crime?

Oh please explain.

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OneTenthofOnePercent

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Wed Aug-26-09 04:48 PM
Response to Reply #24

25. The classification, and more severe punishment, of hate crimes exist

Edited on Wed Aug-26-09 04:50 PM by OneTenthofOnePercent

because the crime not only has intent to harm the immediate victims, but also has intent to send a terrorizing message to the victim's demographic.

For example, killing someone simply because they are gay or black send a message to the gay or black community that is meant to inspire fear. For that reason, culprits are sentanced not only for thier crimes against the victim, but for thier terrorism of the victim's demographic.

From my point of view, things like bumfights (paying homeless people to fight) does not exist to send messages to the homeless demographic or intimidate/effect anyone but the intended victim. So, while still a crime, it is not a "Hate Crime".

In short... to answer your question in one word: Motive.

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asdjrocky

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Wed Aug-26-09 04:50 PM
Response to Reply #25

26. You're 100% wrong.

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OneTenthofOnePercent

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Wed Aug-26-09 04:54 PM
Response to Reply #26

28. really? Explain why more stringent punishments for hate crime exists?

Edited on Wed Aug-26-09 04:55 PM by OneTenthofOnePercent

It's because a hate crime "sends a message" in addition to the crime committed.
Plain and simple.

If I am wrong, educate me. I'm open to your reasoning.

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bobbolink

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Wed Aug-26-09 04:55 PM
Response to Reply #26

29. Not to mention insensitive.

And this attitude is precisely why this HATE CRIME will continue.

yes, "progressives" really care about poverty and homelessness.

NOT

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OneTenthofOnePercent

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Wed Aug-26-09 05:03 PM
Response to Reply #26

30. An excerpt:

Edited on Wed Aug-26-09 05:05 PM by OneTenthofOnePercent

When it enacted the Hate Crimes Act of 2000, the New York State Legislature found that:

"Hate crimes do more than threaten the safety and welfare of all citizens. They inflict on victims incalculable physical and emotional damage and tear at the very fabric of free society. Crimes motivated by invidious hatred toward particular groups not only harm individual victims but send a powerful message of intolerance and discrimination to all members of the group to which the victim belongs."

In plain english... Crimes motivated by invidious hatred exist to "send a message".

I simply do not see homeless fighting crimes as sending any messages. Now, if people were attacking the homeless BECAUSE THEY WERE HOMELESS... then that is a hate crime. But from what I understand they are fighting each other for money. Still distgusting & still a crime, but not a "hate crime".

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asdjrocky

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Wed Aug-26-09 05:53 PM
Response to Reply #30

33. Did you even read the article?

It's not just assholes paying homeless people to fight. People are dying.

�They have become a new minority group that is okay to hate. If this would have happened to any other minority group, there would be some boycotts or protests,� said National Coalition for the Homeless director Michael Stoops.

Twenty-seven homeless people were killed in 2008 out of a total of 106 attacks, with the bulk committed by males who were 25 or younger, according to a report published earlier this month by the NCH.

The total number of attacks was less than the 160 recorded last year but still far higher than the 60 listed a decade ago. More incidents are thought to have occurred but gone unreported.

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OneTenthofOnePercent

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Wed Aug-26-09 06:04 PM
Response to Reply #33

34. Are these incidents regular people attacking the homeless

Edited on Wed Aug-26-09 06:05 PM by OneTenthofOnePercent

or homeless attacking the homeless? I could not find any reference to that and have to assume some of of each.

By all means, if regular people are going around attacking/killing homeless people simply because they are homeless... then that should be pursued and treated as a hate crime. I agree.
If bums are fighting/killing for the amusement of others via coersion/bribery... then it's just disgusting acts perpetrated by disgusting people. It's not a hate crime.

Hate crimes are not classified by the end nor the means - but by the motives. Nothing hurts a cause more than people waving around broad brushes painting everything in sight.

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asdjrocky

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Wed Aug-26-09 06:12 PM
Response to Reply #34

37. Do I have to read the fucking article and expalin it to you?

Fuck this, I'm done. Enjoy your stay.

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smokey nj

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Wed Aug-26-09 06:05 PM
Response to Reply #33

35. More from the article...

"Close to the Watergate apartment complex, known for a political scandal that led to the resignation of former president Richard Nixon, Yoshio Nakada, 61, was murdered in his sleep on Christmas Eve last year after suffering what police believe were hatchet blows that split his skull."

"In April 2008, a 16-year-old beat Brian Michael Myers, 49, to death with an aluminum baseball bat in Glen Burnie, Maryland, just outside Washington."

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L0oniX

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Wed Aug-26-09 06:11 PM
Response to Original message

36. Typical US sociopathic citizens ...fuck the poor ...fuck heath care for the poor ...fuck everyone.

If you don't have money ...fuck you ..looser. The US is sick with assholes ...everywhere you look ...assholes!

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katty

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Wed Aug-26-09 06:17 PM
Response to Reply #36

39. could not agree more...indeed it is-this is one major sick place

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katty

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Wed Aug-26-09 06:15 PM
Response to Original message

38. disgusting-not surprising in a country where GREED is God

where Banksters are protected at all costs and GIVEN Bailouts in the billions.

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RagAss

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Wed Aug-26-09 06:17 PM
Response to Original message

40. Freeper Children no doubt.

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Quantess

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Thu Aug-27-09 02:58 AM
Response to Original message

41. Disgusting.

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