Disabled man kidnapped and tortured

[CliffFletcher]

This isn't going to help race relations in the U.S.

Four arrested over Facebook Live video of man tortured amid anti-Trump taunts

[CaptainCrunch]

Enjoy prison scumbags.

[llwhiteoutll]

And according to two police commanders, this might not be a hate crime, “kids make stupid mistakes” and they are not sure if there was any political/racial motivation.

Reverse the races, but keep their comments and Chicago would be burning and the feds would be trying to bring the cops up on civil rights charges.

[Oling_Roachinen]

Yeah, just read the absolutely disgusting comments from the commander:

http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/04/us/chi...ing/index.html

"Although they are adults, they're 18. Kids make stupid decisions -- I shouldn't call them kids, they're legally adults, but they're young adults and they make stupid decisions," Duffin said. "That certainly will be part of whether or not... we seek a hate crime, to determine whether or not this is sincere or just stupid ranting and raving."

Why is this piece of absolute #### defending these other pieces of ####? Four 18 year olds kidnap and torture a disabled person. Under any condition or any races, the police should not be up there defending them as good kids who made a mistake.

[icecube]

Kidnapping and torturing someone isn't a silly mistake. A group of them and not one of them spoke up to say this is an insane idea? That's some evil ####. They deserve jail for a loonnng time.

[CliffFletcher]

Maybe the police are trying to downplay the racial angle of the attack to avoid ratcheting up the racial tension in the country. But seriously, if four white people kidnapped a disabled black man, tortured him, and made him drink toilet water while shouting "F*** n****rs!" and "F*** Obama!" is there any doubt this would be treated as a hate crime? Or that it would be getting far, far more media coverage, including dozens of columns and guest panels questioning what has gone wrong with America?

It's not as though the racist right-wing media aren't picking up this story and running with it anyway. By downplaying or ignoring it (CNN omitted the racist comments made by the accused, and the story hasn't appeared at all in the Huffington Post or Globe and Mail) the media is only betraying how partisan they've become. In their death-throes, the mainstream media have become indistinguishable from the polarized and blatantly biased amateurs who they hold in contempt. It's sad.

[Oling_Roachinen]

CNN's top headline right now is "Was this a hate crime?" in huge font.

And the story was posted with the stuff that was said in the video, including "#### Donald Trump" and "#### white people." As much as I love a good ol media hatefest, CNN's reporting was fine....initially at least.

[CaramonLS]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

Maybe the police are trying to downplay the racial angle of the attack to avoid ratcheting up the racial tension in the country. But seriously, if four white people kidnapped a disabled black man, tortured him, and made him drink toilet water while shouting "F*** n****rs!" and "F*** Obama!" is there any doubt this would be treated as a hate crime? Or that it would be getting far, far more media coverage, including dozens of columns and guest panels questioning what has gone wrong with America?

It's not as though the racist right-wing media aren't picking up this story and running with it anyway. By downplaying or ignoring it (CNN omitted the racist comments made by the accused, and the story hasn't appeared at all in the Huffington Post or Globe and Mail) the media is only betraying how partisan they've become. In their death-throes, the mainstream media have become indistinguishable from the polarized and blatantly biased amateurs who they hold in contempt. It's sad.

It is sad, because it isn't helping at all.

It will only continue to make things worse if media outlets omit facts like this. You know what would actually help race relations? If incidents like this were treated parallel to other white vs. minority violence.

When you continue to marginalize certain groups with accusations like "privilege", this is the type result you get, because now one group views another group as "lesser" than them or stealing what is rightfully theirs. So they use it as justification for their actions.

Equality is the way forward and will be the only way to heal damaged relations. It starts with charging people like this with hate crimes and not minimizing it.

[CaptainCrunch]

Waiting for the interview from their parents that they're good kids, always kind to neighbours and puppies and that the police are setting them up.

[CroFlames]

The facts should be reported. It'll definitely ratchet up race tensions in the US, but not reporting facts would ratchet it up even more.

Also, such despicable behavior. I didn't watch the video; the description was enough.

[llwhiteoutll]

Chicago PD is trying to spin this as an extortion attempt against the victim's family and they don't believe that there was any racial motivation. Despite the “#### white people”, “#### trump” and forcing him to say he loves black people parts of the video. I guess the part where a set of demands was sent to the victim's family is missing from all the reports and the video itself.

They are also refusing to confirm the races of the people involved.

[CroFlames]

Originally Posted by llwhiteoutll

Chicago PD is trying to spin this as an extortion attempt against the victim's family and they don't believe that there was any racial motivation. Despite the “#### white people”, “#### trump” and forcing him to say he loves black people parts of the video. I guess the part where a set of demands was sent to the victim's family is missing from all the reports and the video itself.

They are also refusing to confirm the races of the people involved.

Nice username, racist.

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by Oling_Roachinen

CNN's top headline right now is "Was this a hate crime?" in huge font.

And the story was posted with the stuff that was said in the video, including "#### Donald Trump" and "#### white people." As much as I love a good ol media hatefest, CNN's reporting was fine....initially at least.

That wasn't the case at the outset last night. CNN must have realized social media had got ahead of the story and changed their coverage.

[icecube]

Originally Posted by CaramonLS

It is sad, because it isn't helping at all.

It will only continue to make things worse if media outlets omit facts like this. You know what would actually help race relations? If incidents like this were treated parallel to other white vs. minority violence.

When you continue to marginalize certain groups with accusations like "privilege", this is the type result you get, because now one group views another group as "lesser" than them or stealing what is rightfully theirs. So they use it as justification for their actions.

Equality is the way forward and will be the only way to heal damaged relations. It starts with charging people like this with hate crimes and not minimizing it.

Yes equality is the goal and these people should be prosecuted with a hate crime if this person was targeted based on race, but can you elaborate what you mean by "marginalizing certain groups with accusations of privilege"?

Is pointing out privilege a bad thing, when it is surely there and "certain" groups (as you put it) benefit from the very real marginalization of minorities?

Are hurt feelings more important than the facts?

[CaramonLS]

Originally Posted by icecube

Yes equality is the goal and these people should be prosecuted with a hate crime if this person was targeted based on race, but can you elaborate what you mean by "marginalizing certain groups with accusations of privilege"?

Is pointing out privilege a bad thing, when it is surely there and "certain" groups (as you put it) benefit from the very real marginalization of minorities?

Are hurt feelings more important than the facts?

The idea that certain groups are automatically more privileged than others based on an arbitrary set of characteristics (i.e. skin color) is wrong. It leads to marginalization and dehumanization of the "privileged" group.

It also conveniently ignores that there are many people inside that group that don't have that privilege, such as the victim in this crime, who has some significant disabilities.

If you wish to point out "privilege", direct it at a person. Not a race or a gender.

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by icecube

Is pointing out privilege a bad thing, when it is surely there and "certain" groups (as you put it) benefit from the very real marginalization of minorities?

Individuals benefit and individuals suffer, mostly for reason that have nothing to do with race or gender. The notion that an impoverished, out of work white dude with a grade 10 education living in a trailer in the Appalachians has privilege over a black woman at Yale who is the daughter of a surgeon and a college professor is lunacy.

And marginalisation isn't all due to power structures controlled by the elite. Sub-cultures and individuals vary tremendously in their values and behaviours, and not all lead to healthy and prosperous lives. We all recognise that from looking around at people we know.

Treating people first and foremost as members of groups, not individuals, and trying to re-balance the outcomes of those groups is bewildering folly that can only lead to bitter conflict and violence. People have been warning about this for years, and it's appalling to see those warnings coming true.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

The other, less philosophical thing about it is that it's almost never used in the benign, self-reflection sense, and is usually just used to dismiss the viewpoint of people you disagree with on the basis of their race / sex / sexual orientation.

Which in turn leads a lot of smart people who aren't particularly confrontational to just avoid discussions about controversial or difficult subjects (even more than they would normally), when we could probably use more input from them and less from self-righteous, certitudinous idiots at the moment.

[icecube]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

Individuals benefit and individuals suffer, mostly for reason that have nothing to do with race or gender. The notion that an impoverished, out of work white dude with a grade 10 education living in a trailer in the Appalachians has privilege over a black woman at Yale who is the daughter of a surgeon and a college professor is lunacy.

And marginalisation isn't all due to power structures controlled by the elite. Sub-cultures and individuals vary tremendously in their values and behaviours, and not all lead to healthy and prosperous lives. We all recognise that from looking around at people we know.

Treating people first and foremost as members of groups, not individuals, and trying to re-balance the outcomes of those groups is bewildering folly that can only lead to bitter conflict and violence. People have been warning about this for years, and it's appalling to see those warnings coming true.

I disagree. Marginalisation of minorities has had almost everything to do with power structures created and controlled by the elite. Treating people as individuals would be fine in theory, if they weren't deliberately marginalized as groups in the first place. The white supremacy status quo (yeah that is what it is, period. end of story.) is no longer cutting the mustard for people.

How can you make it all about individuals when it has been groups that have been purposely marginalized? That doesn't compute.

[icecube]

Originally Posted by CaramonLS

The idea that certain groups are automatically more privileged than others based on an arbitrary set of characteristics (i.e. skin color) is wrong. It leads to marginalization and dehumanization of the "privileged" group.

It also conveniently ignores that there are many people inside that group that don't have that privilege, such as the victim in this crime, who has some significant disabilities.

If you wish to point out "privilege", direct it at a person. Not a race or a gender.

Every measurable statistic on poverty, health outcomes, etc. says that YOU are wrong about privilege.

Marginalization and dehumanization of white people? What topsy turvy reality do you live in?

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Originally Posted by icecube

The white supremacy status quo (yeah that is what it is, period. end of story.)

Guys, I found Ta-Nehisi Coates's CP account.