<p>I have more faith in my country and humanity if I avoid reading those.</p>
<p>jonri, can you summarize your point?</p>
<p>
You’re suggesting motive, which is kind of surprising, sally.</p>
<p>Maybe you meant something else entirely?</p>
<p>Jonri,
The names of the perpetrators are hard to keep straight. From what I have read, there is no one named “Evans” involved. I think you mean “Edwards,” but it is making your posts confusing.</p>
<p>Bay, I’m sorry. Yes, I misspoke. I meant Edwards, not Evans.</p>
<p>riprorin, My post # 139 was addressed to californiaaa (in response to post #134). It was not addressed to you.</p>
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</p>
<p>not sure why you keep repeating the above…punks is not racists…I bet more white kids are called punks than black kids. That statement is not racist one bit.</p>
<p>catahoula, I am suggesting motive only as it relates to putting up the tweets. Presumably his prior experience with white people left him not fond of them. </p>
<p>If I used Twitter to say “I really hate aggressive drivers” and later am in an accident that is my fault, does that mean my tweet demonstrates motive to go after aggressive drivers?</p>
<p>And by the way–I am not ruling out the idea that race was a motivation in this case. I am just suggesting that it is not clear at this time, and that people shouldn’t jump to conclusions.</p>
<p>What do you think about the Georgia school shooting, where the white shooter went after a predominately black student body? Would you assume it was racially motivated or would you like to learn more? I would like to learn more.</p>
<p>^ shouldn’t jump to conclusions like some did in the Martin case…right Sally?..</p>
<p>That’s what I just said, geeps.</p>
<p>Of course, you were the first person to interject race into this thread, way back in post #33…</p>
<p>^Yup…sure did…just showing the hypocrisy of the mainstream media.</p>
<p>Sally305 said, "…I said “have a little empathy for why a black youth in OK might not be very fond of white people…”</p>
<p>WHAT!! I love to play the racism game by replacing the races in the sentence with others and see if it comes off racist, if it does then it’s probably not a good rule to live by. So here goes…</p>
<p>“have a little empathy for why a white youth in Harlem might not be very fond of black people”</p>
<p>If you think one is racist and the other isn’t, you might be racist. You can make an argument either way, but you should be consistent.</p>
<p>It works both ways for me, raiders. If the white person in Harlem thinks his race is the reason why he gets hassled/demeaned/singled out by black residents, then I think sending tweets about disliking them would be understandable. Would I encourage my kid to do that or do it myself? No. (And I also think twitter is stupid.)</p>
<p>Beyond understanding these boys harbored terribly depraved minds, perhaps on several levels, we really don’t know what their true motivations were. The behavior here was insane, and as such, open to all kinds of speculation as to the causes. However, the flurry of comments decrying media racial bias appear to be a latent sentiment, firmly entrenched, vigilantly looking for a story – and apparently, this one will do – to serve its own purpose of being passionately expressed.</p>
<p>Oklahoma. Plain and simple.</p>
<p>From “The Blaze”, it’s to the point with almost no conclusions or opinions, just reporting something that might have relevance. </p>
<p>[?HATE</a> THEM?: Here?s What Teen Accused of Murdering Australian Student Had to Say About ?White? People, Guns and Killing on Twitter | TheBlaze.com](<a href=“http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/08/21/hate-them-heres-what-teen-accused-of-murdering-australian-student-had-to-say-about-white-people-guns-and-killing-on-twitter/]?HATE”>http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/08/21/hate-them-heres-what-teen-accused-of-murdering-australian-student-had-to-say-about-white-people-guns-and-killing-on-twitter/)</p>
<p>Does the racism/hate have to be the motive for the crime for it to be a hate crime? When does it turn into a hate crime? I still think it’s hard to prove intent for racism being the motive.</p>
<p>Crimes like this, “thrill kills”, are actually on a decline as with all crime around the country; yes including gun crimes. It seems like it is happening more often because you hear about it more. No one pays attention until it’s sensationalized. Then they start to believe crimes of the sort are on the rise.
Sources:
<a href=“http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/htus8008.pdf#page=27[/url]”>http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/htus8008.pdf#page=27</a>
<a href=“http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/vvcs9310.pdf#Page=7[/url]”>http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/vvcs9310.pdf#Page=7</a></p>
<p>And what was the prison population growth from 1980 to 2008?</p>
<p>That’s not quite fair because of the increasing total pop. Just my .02</p>
<p>Also not to mention nonviolent crimes. Enron and such</p>
<p>In 1980 there were about 500,000 incarcerated Americans, and in 2006 there were about 2,400,000. That far exceeds the growth in population.</p>