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[orts]

I have been reading the comments on news sites, and find it informative but really discouraging. Every crime report brings out cries of "scum"! as though some people (not us, heaven forbid! always "them") are irredeemable. Many people seem to want to believe this for some reason -- probably because it absolves everyone else of responsibility

Comments

[sizztheseed]

OK--here's my chance to be racist. There are more races in Africa than there are in any other part of the world. Some of the most egregiously violent events I can think of have originated there. Really loathsome things, trust me.

But for violence on the grand scale? Europeans are the masters of that. Someone once told me that Switzerland was such a violent country that when it finally settled down and started making cuckoo-clocks and chocolate, it was only because they had exhausted all other possibilities.

For violence, though, the hat goes out to the celts. No, really. I don't think I need to support that claim.

[monkey6079]

I see that same "scum!" reaction on my local newspaper's comment sections. And in local news, they're more often than not reporting on investigations or trials, but the "innocent until proven guilty" thing is apparently a fad that has passed.

I wonder how the "scum!" reaction affects (or is affected by) people's feelings on incarceration. Prison was once viewed as punishment, and then as rehabilitation. I don't think the popular view holds either of those anymore - it seems to be more of a "just get them away from here!" response. Out of sight, out of mind, with no concern for what happens afterward, positive or negative.