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Last time you cried? I'm 28, consider myself a man's man, not moved to tears, strong like bull, you know the score.

But reading about Jon Venables and Robert Thompson, that unholy crime which happened only a few miles from where I lived back when I was 11 (I remember the whole thing like it was yesterday), because its been dragged back up in the paper over the last day or two:

I am sitting here with tears in my eyes. I don't know what the hell is wrong with me. I'm completely distraught and it happened 16 years ago. Jesus Christ.

I find the whole James Bulger thing harrowing. The whole thing is evil to me. The cctv pictures are paticularly horrifying. Saying that it hasn't brought me to tears, not that other things don't though.

If you ever had a toddler of your own you know why.

Yeah, I remember when that happened.


fething awful.

At the end of a particularly messy breakup, age 17. I'm now nearing 22, and haven't shed a tear since. Now don't think I'm being all manly man, coz I'm not. I consider it a problem. A big one. See since then, my mother has died of a sudden aneurysm, and both my grandmother and grandfather on her side have died since. I was pretty close to all three, but a combination of the dramas I went through in my teens combined with the shock of my mothers' sudden death means I can't actually cry. So I assume ALL of that's still bottled up inside. :/

I've just sank a large brandy, I feel a bit calmer now, that was totally weird. Strange sometimes how something will just sit up and smash you in the chops *frown*

That incident in Edlington took place behind my old house. They kept showing it on the news and in the papers. It's weird when these things happen so close to where you've lived.

Could someone vaguely describe or accurately link to some info on the UK incident you guys are talking about?

Been arrested for drugs and violence related crimes, should never have let him out

As requested:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_James_Bulger

It makes for extremely unpleasant reading.

Ktulhut wrote:Could someone vaguely describe or accurately link to some info on the UK incident you guys are talking about?

James Bulger, a todler seperated from his parents in a shopping centre got taken by two kids in their early teens and was tortured to death by them in 92. They got locked up and were released a few years back. Been in the news recently because one of them has breached their released terms and is back in prison, hasn't been released what exactly he has done yet.

Ah, yes. I believe I read about this some years ago, on another forum. Someone who was a member of the community it happened in posted there too, I think around the time the two got out of prison. It goes to show what effect one or two people can have on a whole town/city, with just one awful act. :/

Oh merciful god above..... This tore my heart out, I mean how in the name of all thats still is good in this world could it happen? Man this made me weep. Sad and depresing indeed

Wow...pretty messed up what these kids did...anybody even know why? kids sound like an insanity case to me...

Been endless debates over why. Think the biggest case was 'Child Play 3' had influenced them, one of the boys father's owned the film and it has a scene where a victim is splashed with blue paint, similar to what they did to James Bulger.

Well.

I'm not even 20 and i've given up hope on humanity.

Am I alone dakka?

I still have faith in humanity, just because I'm a hip rebel.

Shadowbrand wrote:Well.

I'm not even 20 and if given up hope on humanity.

Am I alone dakka?

Not really, that is SOP for that age range.

I'm not even 20 and if given up hope on humanity.

don't give up
there are a lot of good people out there too mate.
These incidents are thankfully rare. When they happen they are big news- partly because they are seen as abnormal.

Back on topic. These events don't move me to tears. I just feel like everything switches off. ok it's happening so signing off

Blitza da warboy wrote:Wow...pretty messed up what these kids did...anybody even know why? kids sound like an insanity case to me...

Who the hell knows why anyone does anything? Cases like this very rarely had any kind of logic behind them, and are crimes of opportunity.

I think it probably started as a slightly nasty game, and got nastier and nastier until they couldn't stop each other.

I dunno man, in that wiki article I posted, it said that their original plan was to take a kid and push him into oncoming traffic outside the shopping centre. Not sure of the source, though.

Orkeosaurus wrote:I still have faith in humanity, just because I'm a hip rebel.

My excuse is Christianity.

I don't understand what's with all the kids coming on here and posting they've "lost faith in humanity".

What the hell are you kids doing to each other to make humanity look bad?

In the good old days, any kids who lost their faith in humanity had it beaten back into them by the headmaster.

George Spiggott wrote:It's weird when these things happen so close to where you've lived.

As much as I'd love to agree with you, some of us live in or grew up in places where murder(for the slightest imagined offense or none especially) is relatively commonplace, such as New York, New Orleans or many other big cities with high crime rates. Except for the occasional extreme case(like the Bulger case mentioned here), you kind of get used to seeing areas you know on the news(you know, when they warrant a news slot and aren't buried in the later pages of the papers).

Keyasa wrote:Last time you cried? I'm 28, consider myself a man's man, not moved to tears, strong like bull, you know the score.

But reading about Jon Venables and Robert Thompson, that unholy crime which happened only a few miles from where I lived back when I was 11 (I remember the whole thing like it was yesterday), because its been dragged back up in the paper over the last day or two:

I am sitting here with tears in my eyes. I don't know what the hell is wrong with me. I'm completely distraught and it happened 16 years ago. Jesus Christ.

Wow, maybe I'm totally out of tune with the rest of humanity, but I find the case no more horrible than all the other horrible stuff we see on the news on a weekly/daily/hourly basis. I would have capitalised the second part of that sentence were it not for the fact that I dislike when people do that stupid emphasis thing.

Really though, was it any more terrible? Yes I remember it well (also late 20s). If anything I find it less terrible, as the perpetrators clearly weren't fully responsible for their crime in any real "adult" sense, as opposed to the sick acts that are carried out by sane, adult, often intelligent people every day. No matter what emotive terms like "evil" and the like are bandied about in a case like this.

It's was/is sensational, no doubt. Doesn't move me to tears though, much like other sensational mass-participation events of mourning ala Diana. I'm more likely to feel a lump in my throat when I see child victims of war (and only when I really dwell on it, due to the inevitable effects of de-sensitisation), something event that happens to millions of children around the globe every year, often w/o so much as a glance or thought from the public.

Poor kid met a tragic demise yes, but what's done is done and at the risk of sounding heartless, there is no point crying over spilt milk.

I'm getting genuinely worried at the state of Britains emotions these days. Take Madeline McCann, a toddler who has been missing for years due to her Parents gross negligence (they left her in a hotel room, with the door open and went to dinner with frends. When they got back she was gone). There are people unrelated to the McCanns who sought councilling to deal with their grief. WTF man?

And now the very right wing gutter press who hounded the guys responsible for the death of James Bulger, are now trying to stir up a gak storm about the £250,000 cost of yet another new identity. This whole story is bullgak sensationalism, and had they left the story alone after the initial conviction, Britain would be the better for it.

I agree with the new identities fro the Bulger murderers as they were only 10. one year younger and they could not be charged under law at all.

However their second chance is 100% used up if they re-offend, and that ought to mean their identity. If Huntley ever gets released he wont be able to walk down the steets, just as Glitter cannot. I dont have a problem with that, they can mail order. So long as their house isn't burned down or they are lynched I have no problems with them being pariahs.

Now Venables has reoffended his changes are gone used up, its a crime and the public have the right to know, yes a right as the processes of law must be held in public unless the case is itself a matter of national security, and even those cases are rarely fully closed.
If this has a cost to Venables or his future quality of life thats his problem.

Maxine Carr has the same protection, she only lied, she didnt murder, but its a lie that will earn her hatred. She also gets her second chance, but if she blows it (and we have no indication she has) then that chance is used up.

Fair is fair. Venables has had his chance, if the press want to make an example of him thats ok by me. Perhaps it will encourage Thompson to behave.

Orlanth wrote:I agree with the new identities for the Bulger murderers as they were only 10. one year younger and they could not be charged under law at all.

However their second chance is 100% used up if they re-offend, and that ought to mean their identity. If Huntley ever gets released he wont be able to walk down the steets, just as Glitter cannot. I dont have a problem with that, they can mail order. So long as their house isn't burned down or they are lynched I have no problems with them being pariahs.

Now Venables has reoffended his changes are gone used up, its a crime and the public have the right to know, yes a right as the processes of law must be held in public unless the case is itself a matter of national security, and even those cases are rarely fully closed.
If this has a cost to Venables or his future quality of life thats his problem.

Maxine Carr has the same protection, she only lied, she didnt murder, but its a lie that will earn her hatred. She also gets her second chance, but if she blows it (and we have no indication she has) then that chance is used up.

Fair is fair. Venables has had his chance, if the press want to make an example of him thats ok by me. Perhaps it will encourage Thompson to behave.

I sincerely disagree with giving new identities to anyone accused of murder. It's ridiculous that they're given the protection of anonymity that some victims of serious crimes can't even get.

I really don't get why people seem to have this sympathy for the two. What did these kids expect to happen when they hit a toddler with a rock? Candy to fall out? And the supposed connection to one of the Chucky movies was adorable. "They splattered the body with blue paint, just like in the movie!"...what a bunch of tools the shrinks that examined these two kids are.