Happy slapping a great ad opportunity
—Posted by Steve McClellan |
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April 26, 2005 | Permalink |
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One minor point:
Rugby matches do not "incite riots" in the UK. They never have done. There is quite enough physicality going on on the pitch, thank you very much.
Crowd violence associated with rugby is virtually unknown, here, mainly because it's not the main sport.
Furthermore, 'soccer' matches don't incite riots, either. Those who perpetrate violence at those matches find the game somewhat secondary to their pursuit - which is just having a fight.
In several countries in Europe, the problem associated with football matches is far worse - Italy being a prime example, with several fascist groups actually being actively encouraged by club owners.
That being the case, why hasn't "happy slapping" taken off in these countries, too?
Posted by: Alan White | May 10, 2005 5:30:51 AM
To paraphrase yourself: Only in a land where anyone is allowed to carry a gun could "Drive-by shootings" catch on.
Would I rather be slapped than shot?
Yes.
Would I rather live in a country were football is the national sport not "rounders", sorry baseball. A pastime so dull the most exciting thing to happen in years is a fan catching the ball?
Yes.
Would I rather live in a country whose economy, world image and original creative output are on the slide? Ruled by a half-wit fundamentalist-Christian tyrant? Where obesity is on the national curriculum?
No.
Posted by: | May 12, 2005 6:26:48 AM
i (L) happy slaps
Posted by: hana | May 14, 2005 6:45:11 AM
hu agreez?
Posted by: hana | May 14, 2005 6:46:00 AM
SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO SAD GET A LIFE
Posted by: steph | May 19, 2005 9:15:49 AM
Well said Alan. I couldn't have put it better myself. England has its problems but nothing compared to the problems of the so called, "Land of the free."
Posted by: Oneofthemany | Jun 8, 2005 10:49:14 PM
You damn limeys are just pathetic. I ask you, what kind of country is it that presumes to deny its citizens the basic right of self defense? Are you really a citizen or just a serf?
The occasional encounter with an armed criminal is unfortunately sometimes a fact of life in the U.S., but at least if we are confronted with it we have the right and the ability to fight back to protect ourselves and our loved ones. What the hell could you do? And don't tell me that gun violence never occurs in that little wannabe utopian country of yours. I happen to know better.
Seems to me you could use a little half-witted fundamentalist tyranny yourself.
Posted by: L. Green | Jun 20, 2005 1:14:49 PM
The 'happy-slapping' craze has been going on in a different form in the US for much longer, and a damn sight more disturbingly - I think it's called 'wilding', isn't it? I can't remember anything in the news about the victims pulling out any sort of weapons and defending themselves, but instead being gang raped and beaten into a coma in some cases....
hmmmmmmm :o/
As it happens, we do have the right in the UK to defend ourselves, using what's called "reasonable force". That means if someone trespasses on your front lawn, you don't have the right to shoot them dead.
And I really don't like the idea of an "occasional encounter with an armed criminal" being "a fact of life". Why is it that other countries that arm the general populous (like Switzerland, for example) don't use those arms to murder each other?
Don't think me Anti US - I'm just intrigued...
Posted by: BinBags | Jul 3, 2005 11:43:33 AM
Allow me to apologize for my harsh tone. I'm not anti British either, but I get a little incensed sometimes when I hear some of the wild and unfounded assumptions many Brits make about our country.
First of all, the possession and use of firearms in the U.S. is regulated to the hilt, even in the more gun-friendly states. In nearly all circumstances that I can think of, it would not be legally permissible to shoot someone simply for stepping on your lawn. It isn't the Wild West over here any more.
In my view, laws allowing for self defense are meaningless unless you are also allowed to possess the tools for such activity. The best self defense tool that can be used across the age spectrum is the firearm. Sure, I might be able to chase a ruffian out of my house with a broom handle, but I wouldn't expect my 86-year-old grandmother to do the same.
As far as encounters with armed criminals being "a fact of life", this is probably an overstatement on my part. In most areas of the U.S., one is more likely to never have this happen, which brings me to my main point.
The real value of firearms ownership and their use in self defense is the deterrent value. If criminals think their potential victims are armed, they are much less likely to attempt to perpetrate their acts on you than they would be otherwise, plain and simple.
In short, we are not a bunch of trigger-happy cowboys who like to go around shooting people for the sport of it. But we refuse to live at the mercy of the whims of the criminal element in society. If anyone's going to live in fear, it will be the criminals and not us.
Posted by: L. Green | Jul 5, 2005 2:54:05 PM
Im British and I am sick and tired of our yob culture and all talk no action government. In fact maybe they are ideologically agaist fighting thug culture. WE NEED MORE POLICE RECRUITED it cured New Yorks problems! But our socialist government thinks it would make us like a police state. If extra police saves lives is that not worth while? (He who saves one life saves the world entire)
Im sick of happy slappers, drunken thugs who turn our towns into violent no-go areas, carloads of yobs who scream abuse and throw lager and missiles at pedestrians and the massive rise of unprovoked violent assaults.
Ok in Places like New York there was lots of muggings "once" but not now people got fed up and thousands of cops were recruited and now NYC is safer than many UK towns. In any case a happy slapper is worse than a mugger. Muggers dont intend to upset their victims they only want money, happy slappers want to hurt and upset their victims physicaly and mentally. People who commit unproviked attacks are not nice people at all and should be spending their time in jail.
And Stop knocking the USA, their laws protect their innocent citizens unlike ours.
Posted by: MountainRunner | Jan 13, 2006 2:54:45 PM
