WWII vet beat to death

[LexiaFira]

http://www.kxly.com/news/spokane-new...r/-/index.html

So many issues on this, makes me so angry.
So apparently its ok to beat your elders, especially someone who served in the war.
that is all I have to say

[Kelmon]

While this is tragic, wrong and all that, i don't really see how it matters whether the man that was killed was a WW2 vet, a butcher oder a taxi driver.

Besides, even if it was important, how would his attackers know that he was a war vetaran? I doubt he was in his old uniform at the time.

[Jester]

How is it okay?

Obviously you don't find it okay. I certainly don't. I imagine most of the people reading this don't. I am pretty sure the police and prosecutors don't.

Sure, the kids who did this found it okay, but one has been arrested, and the other almost certainly will be shortly. Clearly they are not right in the head, but that doesn't mean society as a whole now thinks such things are okay.

They don't, and as such, these scumbags will be be charged, tried, and hopefully convicted of this heinous act, than hopefully sentenced to a sentence somewhere between life and 4,000 years.

[Greenday]

Besides, even if it was important, how would his attackers know that he was a war vetaran? I doubt he was in his old uniform at the time.

Because the place he was at is specifically for veterans.

[HYHYBT]

Because the place he was at is specifically for veterans.

Well, first, again, why would his status as a veteran be relevant (unless they did it *for that reason,*) and second, that he was in such a place wouldn't necessarily indicate he was a veteran, much less that they knew him to be one.

I'm ticked at some irrationality on Facebook about this; a friend posted the story, and one of her friends then went off about how the media won't cover this. When I pointed out that the link was from an ABC affiliate, with stories also on CNN, CBS, and multiple other sites, his response was something nonsensical about the Treyvon Martin case.

[Nekojin]

I believe I know that song... it goes, "Something, something, something racist, something, I'm not a racist, they are."

[Nyoibo]

The fact that he was a veteran has little to no bearing on the case, unless they targeted him specifically because he was a veteran it's only put into the article to induce more rage at the culprits, same as when they says "mother of 3" or similar, unless they are specifically targeted because of it it's only there as rage porn.

[fireheart17]

The fact that he was a veteran has little to no bearing on the case, unless they targeted him specifically because he was a veteran it's only put into the article to induce more rage at the culprits, same as when they says "mother of 3" or similar, unless they are specifically targeted because of it it's only there as rage porn.

pretty much this. The media has this tendency to put certain groups up on a pedestal and while a number of them should rightly be placed up there, sometimes they get placed up there at the wrong time. This is one of those cases.

The right time would be if he was being targeted for being a veteran (this would include wanting to steal something that is relevant to him being a veteran ie medals)
The wrong time would be if he was targeted for any reason other than that he was a veteran (money, torture etc.)

Otherwise I'd have to agree with Nyoibo's statement.

[lordlundar]

Sadly it's not the only incident as of late:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/...ticle13872621/

For those of you unaware, three teens in Oklahoma who were bored one night decided "let's go shoot someone." So they got a gun, got in a car and drove around until they found someone then shot him. When questioned, one of the teens said they did it "for the fun of it."

[TheHuckster]

The fact that he was a veteran has little to no bearing on the case, unless they targeted him specifically because he was a veteran it's only put into the article to induce more rage at the culprits, same as when they says "mother of 3" or similar, unless they are specifically targeted because of it it's only there as rage porn.

"Mother of 3" or any mother for that matter can be relevant if the kids are left orphans because they have no father to go to. Such a case makes their individual lives even more difficult than if they at least still had a very close family member to take care of them. In a sense, the killer not only took the life of another, but caused emotional harm to children who will live with that for the rest of their lives.

For the man in this story, I think a lot of people, such as myself, think about the "innocence" of the man. He's just there to play pool with his friends which, at 88, is a gift. I'm sure his son believed when he was going to pass on, whether it was a few years from now or even over 10 years from now, it would be a peaceful death with his best friends and family at his bedside.

To have such a peaceful death stolen by a senseless and random act which as of right now appears to be a case of being at the wrong place at the wrong time, combined with the irony of serving in a very deadly war, getting shot but surviving, and then returning home for another 60 years only to get killed in a senseless act of violence by 16-year-olds that nobody has any motives for (so far), gets people angry.

I'm not saying people shouldn't get angry about any other murder. But we cannot control our emotions when we're faced with certain aspects of a murder that might make it appear "more tragic" than another. Objectively each murder is equally tragic, but we don't usually perceive it that way.

[Nyoibo]

Sadly it's not the only incident as of late:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/...ticle13872621/

For those of you unaware, three teens in Oklahoma who were bored one night decided "let's go shoot someone." So they got a gun, got in a car and drove around until they found someone then shot him. When questioned, one of the teens said they did it "for the fun of it."

Yup, that one's getting a bit of air time over here given the victim was Australian.

[Nekojin]

Yup, that one's getting a bit of air time over here given the victim was Australian.

That one's getting TOO MUCH airtime over here - that is, too much of the "misinformation for controversy's sake." Some people are spinning this to turn up racist divisions - "Why aren't people getting as outraged over this as the Martin case? Oh, right, it was a white dude killed by black kids..."

Except that it wasn't. The three kids were one black boy, one mixed-race boy, and one white boy. But that doesn't generally get explained, because they don't know how to spin that to get their base riled up.

[RedRoseSpiral]

That one's getting TOO MUCH airtime over here - that is, too much of the "misinformation for controversy's sake." Some people are spinning this to turn up racist divisions - "Why aren't people getting as outraged over this as the Martin case? Oh, right, it was a white dude killed by black kids..."

Except that it wasn't. The three kids were one black boy, one mixed-race boy, and one white boy. But that doesn't generally get explained, because they don't know how to spin that to get their base riled up.

I got blocked on Facebook by a guy I went to high school with for pointing out what a dumbass he was being when it came to both cases. He kept going on about how neither case is getting any attention.

I pointed out all the news stations and articles on both of them and, in the case of the veteran, how the man was murdered Thursday night, one of the suspects was arrested Friday, and, as of Saturday, the second suspect was being sot after. There is only so much news that can be covered in that little time.

[TheHuckster]

I got blocked on Facebook by a guy I went to high school with for pointing out what a dumbass he was being when it came to both cases. He kept going on about how neither case is getting any attention.

I pointed out all the news stations and articles on both of them and, in the case of the veteran, how the man was murdered Thursday night, one of the suspects was arrested Friday, and, as of Saturday, the second suspect was being sot after. There is only so much news that can be covered in that little time.

More often than not, I've found the people who complain about lack of airtime on a certain event are wrong.

[violiav]

It annoys me to no end when ever people take great pains to point out the race of those involved. Yeah, it's terrible crime, but it happens. People do commit crime. Am I supposed to be frightened of those races/age groups now?
Should we all be terrified of young white girls? They're crimes can be pretty grotesque. See Mary Bell and more recently Alyssa Bustamante. And those are just the most notorious ones.
What about nondescript white (usually) men?