Resident in the USA? Help these schoolkids.
Aug 9th 2007, 8:04 pm
#16
BE Forum Addict
Thread Starter
Joined: Jun 2007
Location: One foot in Calgary, one in London
Posts: 1,102
Re: Resident in the USA? Help these schoolkids.
I would have liked to add my name to the ACLU petition for an investigation but I'm not a US citizen or a US resident and so cannot.
So it occurred to me post on one of the political discussion forums on this site. I joined BEC some weeks ago after finding it when I was googling for an answer on a problem I had with my Canadian immigration application. It was an eye-opener and since then it's become a daily ritual for me to read up, and surf a little and sometimes offer my six ha'porth on a post. From all I'd seen so far, it appeared most people on this site (at least on the Canada thread) were really nice and I thought that perhaps people with a link to Britain, who might share my shock at the events in Louisiana, but who were actually in the USA, might feel moved to voice a protest. You can check back - this was my first post on the US side of the BEC site.
Why did this particular case strike me as worthy of protest? I'm a mother of three, one of them a 16 year old boy who was once the victim of a group of bullies at his London comprehensive school. After months of persecution (ripped books, scissored tie, spit in his food, being jostled into walls in the corridor and so on) he realised that to stop it, he would have to defend himself. The next time the ringleader went for him (shouldered into a wall) he picked himself up and punched the gloating bully in the solar plexus. Guess who was excluded for "violent behaviour"? And yet our personal experience of how a situation can get out of hand fortunately had an extremely positive outcome, thanks to good communication and coordinated action between the school, parents, children and a teacher who gave up his free time to mentor the boys. Just transpose this incident to Jena, LA and imagine I or my son were of the minority ethnic group. As a result of that punch my son could have been the one remanded in custody for seven months awaiting trial on trumped-up charges in front of a hostile jury which included none of his peers, only to be sentenced to 22 years in prison. So it struck a chord.
By the way, southern comfort, I would never stoop to quoting one-sided Communist Party propaganda or for that matter any other political party's massaged figures to try and smear someone. The old tag of "lies, damned lies and statistics" comes to mind. In fact, I'm not the type to smear anyone - if I have an honest criticism I would make it but I would strive not to be offensive about it. I've been a BBC journalist for 24 years - one of the backroom types who checks facts, subs down other peoples' copy, devises programme running orders and so on, an unimportant drone in the larger scheme of things, but it has given me some insight into how to conduct research, corroborate evidence and make an informed opinion based on facts.
A respected senior colleague, Tom Mangold, authored a long-form documentary on this case on the BBC in May - my original post referred you to the BBC news website story which is a summary of his findings. There are plenty more sources, some biased, some incomplete or distorted. If you have the time and inclination you can spend days or even weeks trawling through (as I did) and then form your own opinion. If you think it's acceptable to be part of a society that condones this, you absolutely have the right to disagree with me and take no action whatsoever.
To those who have read this far - thank you for your patience at this rant.
Last edited by newshoney; Aug 9th 2007 at 8:19 pm. Reason: to add southern comfort's comment from TTP
Aug 9th 2007, 8:04 pm
#17
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Oct 2004
Location: Mother Land.
Posts: 14,858
thats rich coming from you, Tit for Tat as always.
Aug 9th 2007, 8:07 pm
#18
Account Closed
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 15,019
Re: Resident in the USA? Help these schoolkids.
Aug 9th 2007, 8:07 pm
#19
Account Closed
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 700
Re: Resident in the USA? Help these schoolkids.
I am gobsmacked.... for a start he is a she and my intentions were as stated. When I come across injustice in the UK where I have citizen's rights there are many options open to me and I exercise see them where and when I see fit.
I would have liked to add my name to the ACLU petition for an investigation but I'm not a US citizen or a US resident and so cannot.
So it occurred to me post on one of the political discussion forums on this site. I joined BEC some weeks ago after finding it when I was googling for an answer on a problem I had with my Canadian immigration application. It was an eye-opener and since then it's become a daily ritual for me to read up, and surf a little and sometimes offer my six ha'porth on a post. From all I'd seen so far, it appeared most people on this site (at least on the Canada thread) were really nice and I thought that perhaps people with a link to Britain, who might share my shock at the events in Louisiana, but who were actually in the USA, might feel moved to voice a protest. You can check back - this was my first post on the US side of the BEC site.
Why did this particular case strike me as worthy of protest? I'm a mother of three, one of them a 16 year old boy who was once the victim of a group of bullies at his London comprehensive school. After months of persecution (ripped books, scissored tie, spit in his food, being jostled into walls in the corridor and so on) he realised that to stop it, he would have to defend himself. The next time the ringleader went for him (shouldered into a wall) he picked himself up and punched the gloating bully in the solar plexus. Guess who was excluded for "violent behaviour"? And yet our personal experience of how a situation can get out of hand fortunately had an extremely positive outcome, thanks to good communication and coordinated action between the school, parents, children and a teacher who gave up his free time to mentor the boys. Just transpose this incident to Jena, LA and imagine I or my son were of the minority ethnic group. As a result of that punch my son could have been the one remanded in custody for seven months awaiting trial on trumped-up charges in front of a hostile jury which included none of his peers, only to be sentenced to 22 years in prison. So it struck a chord.
By the way, southern comfort, I would never stoop to quoting one-sided Communist Party propaganda or for that matter any other political party's massaged figures to try and smear someone. The old tag of "lies, damned lies and statistics" comes to mind. In fact, I'm not the type to smear anyone - if I have an honest criticism I would make it but I would strive not to be offensive about it. I've been a BBC journalist for 24 years - one of the backroom types who checks facts, subs down other peoples' copy, devises programme running orders and so on, an unimportant drone in the larger scheme of things, but it has given me some insight into how to conduct research, corroborate evidence and make an informed opinion based on facts.
A respected senior colleague, Tom Mangold, authored a long-form documentary on this case on the BBC in May - my original post referred you to the BBC news website story which is a summary of his findings. There are plenty more sources, some biased, some incomplete or distorted. If you have the time and inclination you can spend days or even weeks trawling through (as I did) and then form your own opinion. If you think it's acceptable to be part of a society that condones this, you absolutely have the right to disagree with me and take no action whatsoever.
To those who have read this far - thank you for your patience at this rant.
I would have liked to add my name to the ACLU petition for an investigation but I'm not a US citizen or a US resident and so cannot.
So it occurred to me post on one of the political discussion forums on this site. I joined BEC some weeks ago after finding it when I was googling for an answer on a problem I had with my Canadian immigration application. It was an eye-opener and since then it's become a daily ritual for me to read up, and surf a little and sometimes offer my six ha'porth on a post. From all I'd seen so far, it appeared most people on this site (at least on the Canada thread) were really nice and I thought that perhaps people with a link to Britain, who might share my shock at the events in Louisiana, but who were actually in the USA, might feel moved to voice a protest. You can check back - this was my first post on the US side of the BEC site.
Why did this particular case strike me as worthy of protest? I'm a mother of three, one of them a 16 year old boy who was once the victim of a group of bullies at his London comprehensive school. After months of persecution (ripped books, scissored tie, spit in his food, being jostled into walls in the corridor and so on) he realised that to stop it, he would have to defend himself. The next time the ringleader went for him (shouldered into a wall) he picked himself up and punched the gloating bully in the solar plexus. Guess who was excluded for "violent behaviour"? And yet our personal experience of how a situation can get out of hand fortunately had an extremely positive outcome, thanks to good communication and coordinated action between the school, parents, children and a teacher who gave up his free time to mentor the boys. Just transpose this incident to Jena, LA and imagine I or my son were of the minority ethnic group. As a result of that punch my son could have been the one remanded in custody for seven months awaiting trial on trumped-up charges in front of a hostile jury which included none of his peers, only to be sentenced to 22 years in prison. So it struck a chord.
By the way, southern comfort, I would never stoop to quoting one-sided Communist Party propaganda or for that matter any other political party's massaged figures to try and smear someone. The old tag of "lies, damned lies and statistics" comes to mind. In fact, I'm not the type to smear anyone - if I have an honest criticism I would make it but I would strive not to be offensive about it. I've been a BBC journalist for 24 years - one of the backroom types who checks facts, subs down other peoples' copy, devises programme running orders and so on, an unimportant drone in the larger scheme of things, but it has given me some insight into how to conduct research, corroborate evidence and make an informed opinion based on facts.
A respected senior colleague, Tom Mangold, authored a long-form documentary on this case on the BBC in May - my original post referred you to the BBC news website story which is a summary of his findings. There are plenty more sources, some biased, some incomplete or distorted. If you have the time and inclination you can spend days or even weeks trawling through (as I did) and then form your own opinion. If you think it's acceptable to be part of a society that condones this, you absolutely have the right to disagree with me and take no action whatsoever.
To those who have read this far - thank you for your patience at this rant.
Aug 9th 2007, 8:07 pm
#20
Peace onion
Joined: Jul 2006
Location: Denver
Posts: 5,686
Re: Resident in the USA? Help these schoolkids.
Yes, but was it a diesel engine?
Aug 9th 2007, 8:11 pm
#22
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Oct 2004
Location: Mother Land.
Posts: 14,858
Re: Resident in the USA? Help these schoolkids.
I am gobsmacked.... for a start he is a she and my intentions were as stated. When I come across injustice in the UK where I have citizen's rights there are many options open to me and I exercise see them where and when I see fit.
I would have liked to add my name to the ACLU petition for an investigation but I'm not a US citizen or a US resident and so cannot.
So it occurred to me post on one of the political discussion forums on this site. I joined BEC some weeks ago after finding it when I was googling for an answer on a problem I had with my Canadian immigration application. It was an eye-opener and since then it's become a daily ritual for me to read up, and surf a little and sometimes offer my six ha'porth on a post. From all I'd seen so far, it appeared most people on this site (at least on the Canada thread) were really nice and I thought that perhaps people with a link to Britain, who might share my shock at the events in Louisiana, but who were actually in the USA, might feel moved to voice a protest. You can check back - this was my first post on the US side of the BEC site.
Why did this particular case strike me as worthy of protest? I'm a mother of three, one of them a 16 year old boy who was once the victim of a group of bullies at his London comprehensive school. After months of persecution (ripped books, scissored tie, spit in his food, being jostled into walls in the corridor and so on) he realised that to stop it, he would have to defend himself. The next time the ringleader went for him (shouldered into a wall) he picked himself up and punched the gloating bully in the solar plexus. Guess who was excluded for "violent behaviour"? And yet our personal experience of how a situation can get out of hand fortunately had an extremely positive outcome, thanks to good communication and coordinated action between the school, parents, children and a teacher who gave up his free time to mentor the boys. Just transpose this incident to Jena, LA and imagine I or my son were of the minority ethnic group. As a result of that punch my son could have been the one remanded in custody for seven months awaiting trial on trumped-up charges in front of a hostile jury which included none of his peers, only to be sentenced to 22 years in prison. So it struck a chord.
By the way, southern comfort, I would never stoop to quoting one-sided Communist Party propaganda or for that matter any other political party's massaged figures to try and smear someone. The old tag of "lies, damned lies and statistics" comes to mind. In fact, I'm not the type to smear anyone - if I have an honest criticism I would make it but I would strive not to be offensive about it. I've been a BBC journalist for 24 years - one of the backroom types who checks facts, subs down other peoples' copy, devises programme running orders and so on, an unimportant drone in the larger scheme of things, but it has given me some insight into how to conduct research, corroborate evidence and make an informed opinion based on facts.
A respected senior colleague, Tom Mangold, authored a long-form documentary on this case on the BBC in May - my original post referred you to the BBC news website story which is a summary of his findings. There are plenty more sources, some biased, some incomplete or distorted. If you have the time and inclination you can spend days or even weeks trawling through (as I did) and then form your own opinion. If you think it's acceptable to be part of a society that condones this, you absolutely have the right to disagree with me and take no action whatsoever.
To those who have read this far - thank you for your patience at this rant.
I would have liked to add my name to the ACLU petition for an investigation but I'm not a US citizen or a US resident and so cannot.
So it occurred to me post on one of the political discussion forums on this site. I joined BEC some weeks ago after finding it when I was googling for an answer on a problem I had with my Canadian immigration application. It was an eye-opener and since then it's become a daily ritual for me to read up, and surf a little and sometimes offer my six ha'porth on a post. From all I'd seen so far, it appeared most people on this site (at least on the Canada thread) were really nice and I thought that perhaps people with a link to Britain, who might share my shock at the events in Louisiana, but who were actually in the USA, might feel moved to voice a protest. You can check back - this was my first post on the US side of the BEC site.
Why did this particular case strike me as worthy of protest? I'm a mother of three, one of them a 16 year old boy who was once the victim of a group of bullies at his London comprehensive school. After months of persecution (ripped books, scissored tie, spit in his food, being jostled into walls in the corridor and so on) he realised that to stop it, he would have to defend himself. The next time the ringleader went for him (shouldered into a wall) he picked himself up and punched the gloating bully in the solar plexus. Guess who was excluded for "violent behaviour"? And yet our personal experience of how a situation can get out of hand fortunately had an extremely positive outcome, thanks to good communication and coordinated action between the school, parents, children and a teacher who gave up his free time to mentor the boys. Just transpose this incident to Jena, LA and imagine I or my son were of the minority ethnic group. As a result of that punch my son could have been the one remanded in custody for seven months awaiting trial on trumped-up charges in front of a hostile jury which included none of his peers, only to be sentenced to 22 years in prison. So it struck a chord.
By the way, southern comfort, I would never stoop to quoting one-sided Communist Party propaganda or for that matter any other political party's massaged figures to try and smear someone. The old tag of "lies, damned lies and statistics" comes to mind. In fact, I'm not the type to smear anyone - if I have an honest criticism I would make it but I would strive not to be offensive about it. I've been a BBC journalist for 24 years - one of the backroom types who checks facts, subs down other peoples' copy, devises programme running orders and so on, an unimportant drone in the larger scheme of things, but it has given me some insight into how to conduct research, corroborate evidence and make an informed opinion based on facts.
A respected senior colleague, Tom Mangold, authored a long-form documentary on this case on the BBC in May - my original post referred you to the BBC news website story which is a summary of his findings. There are plenty more sources, some biased, some incomplete or distorted. If you have the time and inclination you can spend days or even weeks trawling through (as I did) and then form your own opinion. If you think it's acceptable to be part of a society that condones this, you absolutely have the right to disagree with me and take no action whatsoever.
To those who have read this far - thank you for your patience at this rant.
Aug 9th 2007, 8:18 pm
#23
Account Closed
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 15,019
Re: Resident in the USA? Help these schoolkids.
and there you go again, you can't stop can you? all ray was saying was the article you pulled up was 5 yrs old and written for political gain....yes of course there is racism in the uk...errr how old are you, do grow up!
Aug 9th 2007, 8:19 pm
#24
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 1,442
Re: Resident in the USA? Help these schoolkids.
Still have a collection of NF badges and other stuff in a drawer somewhere..........any offers? 
.........whistling through the graveyard........
.........whistling through the graveyard........
Aug 9th 2007, 8:33 pm
#25
WTF?
Joined: Aug 2003
Location: Homeostasis
Posts: 79,367
Re: Resident in the USA? Help these schoolkids.
I'm American and I'm outraged by the situation in Louisiana (I was aware of it before the OP posted it) and I have no problem with a British person being outraged by it FFS. 
It will be a cold day in hell when I stop being outraged by mistreatment of people ANYWHERE on the planet. Compassion for the human condition should not have borders - God knows cruelty doesn't.
I also think that bringing attention to the situation is hardly shit stirring. It really is happening and it really is disgusting. Why would anybody oppose it being exposed?
It will be a cold day in hell when I stop being outraged by mistreatment of people ANYWHERE on the planet. Compassion for the human condition should not have borders - God knows cruelty doesn't.
I also think that bringing attention to the situation is hardly shit stirring. It really is happening and it really is disgusting. Why would anybody oppose it being exposed?
Last edited by Leslie; Aug 9th 2007 at 8:36 pm.
Aug 9th 2007, 8:38 pm
#26
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Oct 2004
Location: Mother Land.
Posts: 14,858
Re: Resident in the USA? Help these schoolkids.
I might need one when I get home according to SC. No it's not funny not funny at all.
Aug 9th 2007, 9:43 pm
#30
Septicity
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 23,762
Re: Resident in the USA? Help these schoolkids.
Don't worry! You posted while the chattering classes were on their -- as usual -- extended lunch break and managed to pick up only those who'd just finished listening to the Limbagh show. The red brigade is now all present and ready to go into action.