Pet peeve: when a criminal is called a "victim"

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thefitzvh

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I read this article:

http://www.wxyz.com/wxyz/nw_local_news/article/0,2132,WXYZ_15924_2795206,00.html

It pissed me off... here's my response to them:

Anyways, does this piss any of you off like it did me? Victim, my rear!
Just finished reading this article...

http://www.wxyz.com/wxyz/nw_local_news/article/0,2132,WXYZ_15924_2795206,00.html

May I ask why the hooligan who broke into that poor mans house was continually referred to as "the victim?"

He was the one committing the crime, not the homeowner. Self defense is not a crime.


James Fitzer
Click to expand...
 
It's happening everywhere, I'm afraid...

Key phrase here is "Self-defense is not a crime." I'm seeing it happen right here at home... a recent shooting where perps were beating up (and brandishing knives) on a couple of guys, one of whom was already on the ground being kicked to bits. The remaining guy standing (trying to stay out of the way of the knives) finally drew a gun and shot the perp in both his own defense and the defense of his friend being beaten. The perp is suing. Oh yeh, right. Like he deserves any rights after that!!!! What the hell was he doing attacking these innocent folks for in the first place!!!?????
:cuss:

I'm not so sure it's entirely just 'the liberal media' so much as it is entirely flawed LAWS...! :banghead:
 
Inept Reporting and Poor Command of the Obvious

The perpetrator is the actor commiting the crime agaisnt the vicitm. Should the victim defend him/herself against the perp with necessary and appropriate force, he/she does not cease to be the vicitm of the crime, the perp remains the aggressor. Had the perp not bothered the victim, there would be no issue. This shouldn't be too hard to grasp.
 
And off goes the email to [email protected]
In your web posted story, "Homeowner Kills Alleged Intruder," the 20-year-old who threatened a family and then kicked in their door, is repeatedly referred to as "the victim."

I wasn't there when the incident occurred (nor were your reporters), but by all accounts, the homeowners were the victims. The 55-year-old father simply defended himself and his family.

It would behoove your news organization to amend your stylebook to avoid referring to perpetrators, even dead ones, as victims.

Matthew Payne
Graduate, School of Journalism and Mass Communication
University of Minnesota
Click to expand...
 
The perpetrator is the actor commiting the crime agaisnt the vicitm. Should the victim defend him/herself against the perp with necessary and appropriate force, he/she does not cease to be the vicitm of the crime, the perp remains the aggressor. Had the perp not bothered the victim, there would be no issue. This shouldn't be too hard to grasp.
Click to expand...

Oooh. Mike, that is very good and very succinct. Ya gotta email that to them, word for word!

Everyone, the press is like Congress. if you don't try to change their minds, you don't get to gripe.

If enough of us send in comments, eventually the media will, even if they don't change their minds, at least realize that we are an ad-watching, newspaper-buying segment of the population, and worth keeping as viewers and readers.

So send a polite note to correct these ignorant shlubs. It's not their fault -- they've been brainswashed by the Bradyites for too long.
 
Indeed ..... oh for correct terminology!:rolleyes:

The ''victim'' is the person in receipt of aggression from the aggressor ... the criminal ..... perpetrator of the crime.

Even if the perp gets blown away he/she is STILL not a victim .. they are the recipient of the victim's defence method.

One day perhaps ... they will get it right. Peeve agreed with!
 
If you're ever unfortunate enough to have to shoot someone in self-defense, you can bet that the local fishwrapper is going to paint the deceased as the second coming of Jesus.

You'll end up getting royally boned in the press.
 
Reminds me of a story Lewis Grizzard had.

LEO pulls over a vehicle and asks for DL and Registration. Driver has an attitude and asks why he is being ticketed. Officer explained he ran a Stop sign. Driver with attitude quips he "slowed down" at the Stop sign,asks whats the difference.

LEO starts wailing on the driver's head with his billy club and then asks the driver " you want me to stop - or slow down?" :)

Perhaps if a reporter were to be a victim , the terminology would be easier to understand.
 
Ugh... it's in Detroit so I'm not surprised.

Could somebody in Canada please draft some plans to annex that half of my state? Maybe then I could get a senator or two that doesn't stand for everything I'm against.
 
That's disgusting. Perpetrators and criminals are not victims. They are aggressors.

The circumstances of life might hand you a lemon but it is up to each individual to turn the lemons into lemonade the best that they can. If you're not willing to undertake the obligations of self improvement through education, job training, working, etc then you deserve what you get.

-Jim
 
The choice of words by the media do not surprise me. I am, however, disturbed and more concerned by a warrant actually being drawn up in this case. And now it's left to the discretion of a local prosecutor as to whether charges will be filed against the homeowner. Guess we'll find out soon if this D.A. is up for re-election in the near future.:banghead:
 
Unfortunately it's not only the liberal press that runs these stories of how the poor criminal was stopped from further criminal action by the victim or a citizen but the money-grubbing, ambulance-chasing lawyers that further this kind of stupidity.

Once a lawyer protrays his criminal client as some down-trodden victim of society or simply a mis-guided person who was only trying to survive in a tough world, a sympathetic jury will cry with him and completely forget about his original crime and the true victim.
 
I'm with Harpeth... Whyinthehell did the cops type up an arrest warrant? Somebody kicks my door in violently, what am I supposed to do? Kiss 'em?
 
There is a bright side, at least the "victim:rolleyes: " isn't around to sue on account of bein' permanently rehabilitated;)
 
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