The follow-up to this incident, Steve, was that a group of Sunni Kurds killed 11 Yezidis in retaliation. There's a cellphone-video of the original event making the rounds, if you're interested (I wasn't but I thought it should be mentioned).

Don't worry, thanks to the US occupation stuff like this is going to stop happening any day now!

This is indeed a tragedy, but...

How many kids die by violence in our country every day?

It is much easier to point a finger at others then it is to look in the mirror. We have become very, very good at it.

But our culture doesn't condone it, indeed our culture does not promote it. That is the difference anjin-san. When a parent goes off the deep end and kills his/her child(ren) just about everybody who hears about it is horrified. In this case, it was just the opposite. People consider it a just outcome.

Well, while it is certainly (thankfully!) not indicative of our culture, there is a disturbing number of people who think what happened to Matthew Shepherd was also a "just outcome"...

"there is a disturbing number of people who think what happened to Matthew Shepherd was also a "just outcome"..."

And if those people admitted it in polite society they would be shunned and ostracized as the assholes they are.

One person would be a "disturbing number of people".

The perfect remains the enemy of the good. As long as you hold up a person exhibiting aberrant behavior as some sort of avatar of what we are all really like we can never achieve your utopian idea of justice. Sometimes, that seems to be entire raison d’être of this particular method of argument. And, of course, there will always be people whose attitudes, behaviors or opinions are beyond the pale, no matter where you draw the line or what you think you can do to fix human nature.

We're doomed! Doomed!

But our culture doesn't condone it, indeed our culture does not promote it.

well, they didn't used to, at least. However, I think you'll find that situation is changed, rather markedly. For example, have you listened to an urban radio station recently?

Steve,

I would argue the point that our culture does not promote it. Watch much TV? What percentage of it is violent?

(BTW my argument includes all children who die by violence in our country, not just cases where family is involved).

How many times a week do we hear about a 14 year old killed in a drive by on the news? It happens so much it is just background noise to most of us now.

Before we spend too much time concerning ourselves with the awful violence perpetrated by those awful Muslims, we might want to tend to our own garden.

Our society is one of the most violent in the world. We have, if I am not mistaken, more people in prison then any other country in the world. Maybe we should focus on violence right here at home.

Well, while it is certainly (thankfully!) not indicative of our culture, there is a disturbing number of people who think what happened to Matthew Shepherd was also a "just outcome"...

What lunacy said. That kind of position is one that our society would find abhorrent. Fred Phelps gets treated as a low life scum bag by just about everybody save for his small cadre of followers.

I would argue the point that our culture does not promote it. Watch much TV? What percentage of it is violent?

Are you telling me that make-believe violence of telesvision shows (which is usually there to help the story along) is equivalent to a real time stoning death of a girl where everybody stood by and did nothing? I'm sorry, but that is just simply bravo sierra.

(BTW my argument includes all children who die by violence in our country, not just cases where family is involved).

My point is that we don't condone it. When we find out that a parent has done something horrific to their child our society doesn't consider it just, we consider it horrific and usually lock up the offending parent(s).

Our society is one of the most violent in the world. We have, if I am not mistaken, more people in prison then any other country in the world. Maybe we should focus on violence right here at home.

Please, even if this were true, and I doubt it, I don't see how this compares to this new story. People don't condone this kind of violence. That is the difference and nothing you have written even hints at me changing my mind.

Are you telling me that make-believe violence of telesvision shows (which is usually there to help the story along) is equivalent to a real time stoning death of a girl where everybody stood by and did nothing? I'm sorry, but that is just simply bravo sierra.

Steve... try harder. That would be a weak comeback in a high school debate. The point is, violence, real and fictional, permeates our culture. If focusing on those scary Muslims helps take your mind of what goes on in your own backyard, well enjoy your bromide.

One thing I know for sure is that I live in a neighborhood where houses cost 600k, and there are places a few minutes drive from here where my life would be in danger. Americans are so good at focusing on problems in other countries while papering over those at home.

Oh, BTW, do you remember the guy who lit his kid on fire when he was involved in a custody dispute a number of years back? When he GOT OUT OF JAIL, the state hired bodyguards for him while he was on probation. Yea, we don't put up with violence against kids. Seen the Easter Bunny recently Steve?

BTW Steve, have you checked out Infant Mortality stats here in the richest, most advanced nation in the history of the world? Our suck. Oh yes, we are all about the children here! Not like people in those other, bad countries.

Anjin-san, it has something to do with freedom. In a free society some people make really bad choices. That's one of the downsides of freedom, but it still beats any variant of utopia you want to advocate.

High infant mortality is a byproduct of freedom? Sorry, not tracking...

High infant mortality is a byproduct of including stillbirths and prematures in your mortality rates.

Fake violence and real violence are completely different in the same way that daydreaming about flying and jumping off a building are different.