The Facebook Comment That Ruined a Life • Hacker News Board

Re: The Facebook Comment That Ruined a Life

#251

Post by rmc » Thu, Feb 13, 2014, 7:16 PM UTC

xtrumanx wrote: post #114

rmc wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been to an Africa country. A friend was almost robbed by a member of an ethnic minority. The police brought the suspect in, beat the crap out of him until he confessed. My friends were down the hall while they heard the police beat him up and heard his cries. In the 1990s during the Rwandan Genocide, neighbours turned on neighbours and a million people were hacked to death with machetes. Get real.

I hope you're not implying situations found in the Rwandan Genocide are typical in Africa.

No, the Rwandan Genocide is not a common event. But my first example was the police beating a confession out of someone.

My objection is when people in USA think USA is as bad as that.

Re: The Facebook Comment That Ruined a Life

#252

Post by rmc » Thu, Feb 13, 2014, 7:17 PM UTC

minimize_me wrote: post #159

gyepi wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am afraid you don't know what you're talking about. Genocide is not common in Africa. It's happened, but it's not common.

But didn't you see that movie about the guy with the hotel?

BTW, "Beyond the Gates" (aka "Shooting Dogs") is another film about the Rwandan Genocide, but much more violent than "Hotel Rwanda". It also touches on a bit more of the white/black racism as well.

Re: The Facebook Comment That Ruined a Life

#253

Post by dnautics » Thu, Feb 13, 2014, 7:19 PM UTC

tbastos wrote: post #91

toyg wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In fairness, as an EU citizen, I'd say most justice systems the world over are just shit. Sure, the rich and connected will get all sorts of rights and protections, but if you are Mr. Nobody (and worse, you were not born and bred in the specific area where you're being accused) then some sort of abuse is almost guaranteed. Look at the news in places like UK, Germany, Spain, France, Italy, Canada: people "spontaneousl…

Sure, there are problems everywhere, but you cannot compare the level of bullshit in the states. Just look at the statistics on Wikipedia, and the many documentaries on YouTube and newspaper articles on it. Yeah if you're poor and vulnerable you're screwed anywhere in the capitalist world. But in the states you're screwed even if you are middle class (absurd bails) and have a good lawyer, because the government is so…

But otherwise many countries in Europe are incomparably safer.

You mean like how there was no protection against double jeopardy for Amanda Knox?

Re: The Facebook Comment That Ruined a Life

#254

Post by marvin » Thu, Feb 13, 2014, 7:23 PM UTC

Xdes wrote: post #192

D9u wrote: post #70

The Comal County District Attorney's Office did not intend for Carter to suffer what happened next, Flanary says, but it was reasonably foreseeable: He was sexually assaulted. The fact that prisoners are commonly subject to sexual assault, and that this consequence is trotted out as an acceptable deterrent to crime, illustrates just how uncivilized the US prison-industrial-complex is in this, the year 2014. Failure t…

Prison in the US isn't about rehabilitation it's about punishment. No one goes to prison thinking they're going to come out as a better person with a new outlook on life. They're going to come out war-torn and barely above functional with little to no prospects.

...and to make things worse, innocent people are often in jail for a considerable amount of time. If you're waiting for trial and can't pay bail...tough luck.

Re: The Facebook Comment That Ruined a Life

#255

Post by toyg » Thu, Feb 13, 2014, 7:28 PM UTC

triplesec wrote: post #238

toyg wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>just because people are more laid back and sane here than in the states. Are they? I distinctly remember the post-riot reactions in London last summer: people got sentenced to years of imprisonment for posting banter on Facebook and Twitter, with full support from mainstream public opinion. Because we're all cool until you touch private property, and then it's HANG THE THIEF! And if you think that's just Brits being…

The riots were in 2011. The punishments were for a different thing. Still, these were really bad punishments. http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2011/aug/16/uk-riots-four-year... . The UK policing approach is more of a middle-class order authoritarianism, "we want to stop this rotten bunch of oiks" rather than "my ego and promotion are founded on jailing anyone I can find", which seems to be the case in much of the US. No…

Apologies, my internal sense of time basically became just a long blur after my first child in 2009 :)

I take your point on sourcing.

Re: The Facebook Comment That Ruined a Life

#256

Post by will_brown » Thu, Feb 13, 2014, 7:30 PM UTC

watty wrote: post #234

will_brown wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am probably instigating a flame ware...but I strongly disagree. >here is someone who threatening them. Threatening them , who is them? As deplorable as his speech was, it was not an identifiable threat of some imminent danger to some specific victim. (ie. I would have a different opinion if he identified a school by name). A counter-argument to my opinion is that we could have people making very real, but vague thr…

I don't follow your first remark. Are you trying to say that because he said "kindergarten" instead of naming a specific kindergarten that it's no longer threatening or a threat?

It is still a threat under the definition, but because he said "kindergarten" instead of naming a specific kindergarten I am saying it is protected speech under the 1st Amendment.

There are exceptions, but generally, it is not criminal to discuss committing a crime, in order to constitute a crime there usually needs to be a substantial step in furtherance of committing the crime.

Re: The Facebook Comment That Ruined a Life

#257

Post by zacinbusiness » Thu, Feb 13, 2014, 7:36 PM UTC

arbuge wrote: post #247

zacinbusiness wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn't fear anything. But I'm white. If I were not white? I'd fear the corrupt cops, the corrupt legal system, and the corrupt banking system to name a few.

Banking system? How is the banking system in those states different than the one in the others?

Because the man at the desk that's in charge of giving personal and small business loans is more likely to be a daddy-tells-me-how-to-think redneck.

Re: The Facebook Comment That Ruined a Life

#258

Post by rayiner » Thu, Feb 13, 2014, 7:36 PM UTC

billyjobob wrote: post #9

Wow, I didn't realise US police were that bad. After reading this I don't think I could ever feel safe enough to visit the US. Sounds like you'd have a better chance of getting justice in an African dictatorship where at least the dont-rape-me bribe would be affordable. Tourists really should be warned about this, because it's not the image the US tourist boards present to us at all.

There are 300 million people in the U.S. They collectively have hundreds of millions if not mord of interactions with the law each year. Outlier events that happen one in a million times will happen hundreds of times a year in the U.S. and be broadcast at the speed of light around the internet.

Re: The Facebook Comment That Ruined a Life

#259

Post by fnordfnordfnord » Thu, Feb 13, 2014, 7:46 PM UTC

jff wrote: post #231

nervousvarun wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lived in the south my entire life (currently in Nola). There's definitely an I don't know...afterglow effect? with this stereotype at play in the south today. It certainly used to be highly isolated culture with it's own weird problems ("fanatics, racism, and overreaction"). These days though thanks to television, the internet, decades of immigration etc. it's pretty much the rest of the US...with better weather.

Don't tell people that, or the Californians will move in and ruin it.

The weather isn't that nice.

Re: The Facebook Comment That Ruined a Life

#260

Post by marvin » Thu, Feb 13, 2014, 7:49 PM UTC

DanBC wrote: post #37

For the people who think that this kind of direct threat needs a punishment: what would be suitable?

But it wasn't even a direct threat. Or a vague threat. It was obviously a joke. The "AND WATCH THE BLOOD RAIN DOWN AND EAT THEIR HEARTS" makes this crystal clear, in case it didn't appear to be clear enough from the first sentence that this was the case. I thought this was glaringly obvious.