Dreadful news

[Cloud]

It's a slippery slope between reading/watching the news in order to stay reasonably informed about current events and rubbernecking. I must admit I'm attracted to the dreadful. Like the woman who had a baby in a portapotty and just dumped it there while she went back to her BBQ (a few weeks ago) to the lady who hit a guy in her car, and parked the car in her garage--with the guy still alive stuck in the windshield for days until he died (that one gave me nightmares).

And this one about the recent rape of a 9 year old girl in Phoenix by a group of boys. This kind of stuff makes me FURIOUS! Cultural validity to rape does not make it right!

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/07/23/...ult/index.html

The victim and the boys charged are all from refugee families that have come to the United States from the war-torn West African nation of Liberia, police said.

the girl's 23-year-old sister, who said she was baby-sitting the girl at the time of the alleged attack.

The sister, who was not identified by name by the station, expressed mixed feelings about her sister's attack. "I came to her and said it's not good for you to be following guys because you are still little," the sister told KTVK. She also said that she wanted the suspects to be released from jail because "we are the same people."

"When she comes back I'm going to tell her don't ever do that again because all of us, we are the same family, we are from the same place. Now she is just bringing confusion among us. Now the other people, they don't want to see her," the sister told KTVK.

Tony Weedor, a Liberian who fled civil war with his family and now lives in the Denver, Colorado, area, told CNN that cultural aspects are deep in the case. In Liberia rape was not against the law until 2006, he said.

"The family [believes they] have been shamed by her, not a crime, but the name of the family has been degraded and news will get back to Liberia. And they're more concerned about that than the crime . . .

I hope those people are taught a lesson.

[sugarpop]

Damn. Some parts of the world are still so backward in their beliefs.

I thought that thing about the man in the windshield was just an episode of CSI! that really happened?

[Crimson Ghost]

Originally Posted by sugarpop

Damn. Some parts of the world are still so backward in their beliefs.

I thought that thing about the man in the windshield was just an episode of CSI! that really happened?

Well, yes and no.

[Cloud]

yeah, it really happened.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chante_Jawan_Mallard

[Cloud]

Here's the Snopes link--maybe it will work this time:

http://www.snopes.com/horrors/gruesome/bargrill.asp

[Crimson Ghost]

Thanks, Cloud.

Don't know what happened there.

[TheMercenary]

Pretty sad statement. I guess it just goes to prove that no matter how bad we want other people to be like us there are some cultures that just do things differently.

[Sundae]

Originally Posted by TheMercenary

Pretty sad statement. I guess it just goes to prove that no matter how bad we want other people to be like us there are some cultures that just do things differently.

Yup, I am shaking my head at Carla Vigneri and your culture.

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by Sundae Girl

Yup, I am shaking my head at Carla Vigneri and your culture.

I was speaking of Cloud's post. Where the father no longer wants his daughter because she was raped. Carla Vigneri problem does not seem to culturally based. That is just another deranged psychotic chick with major issues.

[Cloud]

Liberian leaders have publicly denounced the family's reaction. The Liberian president is female, which is interesting. It's very hard to change culturally ingrained practices, but maybe they're trying.

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by Cloud

It's very hard to change culturally ingrained practices, but maybe they're trying.

Yea, well we have a half-black President too, and I see only a small change.

[Cloud]

It takes a long time. A long time, and I do see a change in race relations, in gender equality, too--but slow change, and we all need to work harder at it.

[ZenGum]

Originally Posted by TheMercenary

Yea, well we have a half-black President too, and I see only a small change.

Ah, but can you believe in it?

What Cloud said. This kind of change takes generations to really achieve.

[Sundae]

Originally Posted by TheMercenary

Yea, well we have a half-black President too, and I see only a small change.

Ah Merc, don't do this to me!
You have a mixed race President (who was brought up in both an Islamic and a Christian culture) and you want to make a point that he wasn't able to snap his fingers and solve ALL race/ religious/ cultural problems instantly?

Isn't his election a massive thumbs up in favour of the original "melting pot" of early US policy?

I hated Margaret Thatcher's politics.
I still do - I will stand on her grave and tramp the dirt down.
But I am pleased the British public were able to vote in a female Prime Minister.
I celebrated the 20th/ 21st century moving forward, even across party lines.

[Shawnee123]

If there were a thread about, say, inferior tomato sauce, merc would say it's Obama's fault. It's his only agenda, and it's tiresome.

I like the merc, I've found he's a pretty good person in a lot of ways (Ha, bet you never thought I'd say that) but his constant negativity and broken record political crap is probably going to land him on ignore. I'm sure he cares but really, it's making me ill to read it ALL THE TIME.