When times are tough, Americans display unmerciful cruelty
August 11th, 2009 by onepooldladyA single mom and her son got lost in Death Valley while camping. The 8 year old boy died. It was printed in the Las Vegas Review Journal and while it is early in the morning, the following comments begin the thread..you can see where this conversation is going to go..
11-year-old’s death in Death Valley ruled accident
The death of an 11-year-old boy stranded in Death Valley National Park last week has been ruled an accident by the coroner’s office in San Bernardino County, Calif.
Allen wrote on August 10, 2009 11:24 PM:@Questions,
Most places in Death Valley don’t get cell service. Amazing, isn’t it? Sprint won’t build a cell tower to cover areas that may go weeks without vehicle traffic? Shocking, I know.
They had enough water to last them 2 days, max. (Initial reports said she had 24/16 oz bottles.) They weren’t expecting to be out there for more than 4 days. It was inexperience and unpreparedness that caused this tragedy.
ERT wrote on August 10, 2009 11:10 PM:What do you call a doctor who graduated at the bottom of his class?
DOCTOR!
Ask for creditials wrote on August 10, 2009 09:50 PM:If any Dr. license is from an off shore medical facility…move on.
Big red flags wrote on August 10, 2009 09:22 PM:Dave, sweetie heart, the mommy is a registered nurse, working for a hospital in Las Vegas.
I think there are bigger problems here than illegal immigration.
There will be more of her incompetence under Obama’s health care plan.
Even now I won’t let CNA’s, RN’s or Doctor’s with third world names treat me.
I’ve had to many bad experiences with third world named medical staff. No shee-at.
Like the Dr. who hasn’t even been identified by the Desai investigation. But why did I have to go get blood tests…And instinctively didn’t like his medical discrimination. Right back at him, he asked for it, he earned it.
Questions UnAnswered! wrote on August 10, 2009 09:11 PM:Of course it’s an accident, no trauma! Duhh, when you don’t give the kid water and the kid dies of dehydration…what all of a sudden its okay cause there was no trauma.
The mom is a nurse, so she gets paid well…so a phone?..cell phone?
She had GPS, assuming a cell phone, call in 911 and gps location.
Things just don’t add up, but I guess to San BURNadino, a Death Valley Campout in the middle of August is not a question of sanity and pyschological normality!
Dave wrote on August 10, 2009 08:25 PM:And just who paid for this Mexican’s hospital visit? I guarantee you she didn’t have insurance. Throw this broad in prison!! Her stupidity killed her son.
Two weeks ago a child was left in the car seat and mom went into work. She had been rushing around getting her kids to day care, etc and forgot about the child. Yes, it is horrible. It has happened-I have worked in emergency rooms and have seen it happen more than once.
It is a tragic and horrible situation, one in which the parent will punish him or her self far more than any prison sentence ever will-in the fact the suicide attempt rate for parents in situations in which they clearly feel to blame is about 90%
Over 100 comments in the TC Palm about this incident were written and I don’t think Stephen King could have developed a story line as horrible as the voices read in the comments.
Americans have become exceptionally cruel and the anonymity of the Internet has created a frightening culture.
I have to ask-is this who we really are? Or is it bad behavior which can be corrected?
As I was about to write this an article just happen to be written which spoke to my concerns-by the editor of the TC Palm-I share it with you and hope you will think about this and contribute to changing our self destructive and alienating behaviors.
Mark Tomasik: Taking aim at hate-filled rhetoric that poisons, rather than enhances, community dialogue
By Mark Tomasik
Monday, August 10, 2009
Recently I participated in a community panel conducted by a fine Treasure Coast academic institution, The Pine School.
The panel was asked its opinions on a variety of topics, including advice for students as they prepare for college or the workplace.
Among the comments made by two colleagues on the panel — one, a Realtor; the other, a literacy advocate — were these:
Learn critical thinking. Specifically, develop an ability to analyze and reflect upon both sides of an issue.
Respect the office of a political leader. Even if one disagrees vehemently with an office-holder, learn to express your view respectfully.
The wisdom of those remarks resonated with me. I share them here in the hope such wisdom will resonate with those who write hateful letters to the editor and who provide hurtful comments on TCPalm.com.
Free speech is a right of every American. Abuse, however, is not. And, unfortunately, a segment of letter writers and online commenters abuse the right of free speech with remarks whose only purpose is to hurt.
We’ve taken steps in the past to restrict those who abuse others with their opinions. We will intensify those efforts because the level of hate-filled rhetoric poisons, rather than enhances, a community dialogue on issues and scares off reasonable voices from participating in the debate.
As we continue to develop processes for how to facilitate a civil forum for opinion, I will keep readers informed of our progress.
I believe a significant reason for the harsh tone in some letters and comments comes from the example set by the TV and radio entertainers on both extremes of the political aisle who masquerade as political analysts. These blowhards are paid to build audience by topping one another with outlandish comments and by creating feuds. Their interest is in lining their pockets and enhancing their influence by tapping into your emotions and getting you to watch or listen.
Because they try to out-shout each other, draw attention (and ratings) and shock with their words, they have, over time, made their behavior appear, to some, to be acceptable.
I think that has filtered down now to letters and comments. Some letter writers and online commenters believe they, too, have to shock with their words and write outlandish statements in order to get attention. It’s created a level of noise and rudeness that is unacceptable.
We need to change that at this newspaper and Web site. And we will, though it’s a process that will occur in stages and not instantly or all at once.
A reader communicated some thoughts to us on this topic recently. He asked that we not publish his letter, so we won’t. But I will summarize his thoughts here:
We continue to publish letters claiming President Barack Obama wasn’t born in the United States. We know that the claim is untrue. No evidence exists to support that claim. Yet we continue to publish such letters. Why publish opinions we know to be false?
We continue to publish letters suggesting currently proposed health care reform legislation will result in euthanasia of the elderly. It’s untrue. Yet we give credence to this falsehood by allowing letter writers to state this as fact. Why publish a known falsehood?
It’s one thing to publish an opinion based on something that might be true. It’s wrong to publish an opinion that states as fact something that is known to be untrue.
