Teen Suspects in Burning of Homeless Man

[flashl]

A homeless man was critically injured Friday after he was set on fire outside a church where he had bedded down for the night.

Police were searching for three teenage boys in what homeless advocates say was one of the most severe and senseless attacks on a homeless victim in recent memory.

"I haven't heard of an incident like this in many years in New York," said Mary Brosnahan, executive director of the Coalition for the Homeless.

The torching of Felix Najera, 49, bewildered and stunned residents around Bethany Christian Church in upper Manhattan's East Harlem. The victim was a heavy drinker who would bum cigarettes from passers-by but otherwise was a harmless fixture.
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There are far too many of these stories.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

1. I notice in every story it's usually the same thing:

1) The attackers are male;
2) They are attacking someone helpless.

THAT is very scary.

[flashl]

2. Displaced anger? n/t

[Sarah Ibarruri]

3. About what tho? Sometimes I think this culture promotes violence.....

.... the movies that sell are violent, the promotion of sports in intense, violence is admired, video games are violent, 1/2 of TV shows are unbelievably violent, the workplace is violent, the weak are despised, etc. etc. etc.

[flashl]

6. Definitely everything seems to be expressed in “war” terms. Its fight or flight. n/t

[On the Road]

7. They Seem to be the New Rakes

It wouldn't surprise me if some of the attackers in cases like this came from privileged families.

[BoneDaddy]

9. And your global conclusion about men is what?

Nice agenda.


I despise what these youths did, but don't turn this into your gender jihad.

[tomreedtoon]

10. I'll see and raise your agenda...they all play Halo 3.

They were caught up in these popular video games that are nothing but slaughterfests. Supported by the big corporations jointly. I'd never seen one of these kill-em-all games cosponsored by so many other companies. It must be Republican Corporation Approved.

Okay, your turn now.

[Chulanowa]

11. I blame Olive Garden

[BoneDaddy]

15. I agree

it must be there never ending pasta dishes.

[tomreedtoon]

17. Yes, their food is so lousy I'd want to kill, too.

"Real Italian?" And here I thought America was the biggest maker of waste plastic. Try their marinara sauce; "the flavor of Italy" is obviously polyethylene.

[BoneDaddy]

14. So you are suggesting that Halo 3

made them set a homeless man on fire? Wow.

[tomreedtoon]

16. Hell, YES, BurnDaddy!

Anything that makes violence "fun" can teach that wonderful lesson to kids. Freddy Krueger, one of the three icons of Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights, is the patron saint of child abusers and teachers everywhere. Halo, Doom and Quake are lessons in "kill first and...oh, why bother asking questions? That just makes your head hurt and takes too much time."

For decades, the people who make big commercial money at violence - videogame and movie makers - have been disclaiming any and all negative connotations for their products. They've pooh-poohed any responsibility for what they create, using the most Republican argument possible: "it's popular, so the people want it, and therefore they've voted with their wallets."

Anytime somebody insists that you should never think, that "if it feels good, do it," it's a trap. And, getting back to the original post, that also includes people who get too much visceral and unthinking joy out of churchgoing.

[KansDem]

19. I'm reminded of the "Silence of the Lambs" series.

"Manhunter," "Silence of the Lambs," then "Hannibal." By the time "Hannibal" arrives on the scene, we're rooting for a man who kills and eats people!

"Red Dragon" and "Hannibal Rising" are the next two. I haven't seen them yet, but after the first three, I think I've seen enough.

[BoneDaddy]

20. Ah name calling

and illogicity. You don't know me well enough to call me names. As saying that Halo 3 is the reason these youths did this is about as accurate as saying rap music invokes violence. Sure, it might be one of hundreds of desensitizations of today's culture but my guess is the hallmarks of this kind of violence has quite a history with these individuals that dwarf anything Halo 3 could do.

[marmar]

4. When society treats the homeless as it does, and people view them as somehow less than human....

... this kind of vile crap happens.

[Chulanowa]

12. That's exactly it

The perception that homeless people aren't actually people, that they have committed some heinous crime, or some huge moral failing in order to become homeless, fuels shit like this. Any town you go, drifters and the homeless are always public enemy #1, harassed, legislated against, attacked and driven off. Often for no reason other than the town has an "image to keep"

The root problem is our society's view of poverty as a state earned by moral failure - that if you are poor, you did something to deserve that poverty and should be shunned for it.

[flashl]

13. Before I knew better, I thought about the homeless the same way

That's when I decided that I was going to show them the "error" of their ways. They taught me so much. I met former company execs, PhDs, veterans, and plain old Jane and John Does. Each told their story about the crisis that changed their lives.

They gave me an attitude adjustment.

[flvegan]

5. Setting another human on fire. SOMEONE has issues.

Three teenage boys. I hope those fuckers, if guilty, spend a lot of quality time in lockup.

[emilyg]

8. Amen.

[B3Nut]

21. Issues hell...

...more like the whole focking subscription! Sad and scary...

Todd in Cheesecurdistan

[CreekDog]

18. I guess this is (not) society's fault

As opposed to last week's incident where people stole the groceries of a man hit by a truck and the man who helped the man who was hit --that was society's fault.

At least according to some of the posts I read.