Unwashed Village
General Discussion => Unwashed Village => Topic started by: The SysMan on August 07, 2007, 10:54:26 PM
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'Three minute silence' call against child abuse
3:50PM Monday August 06, 2007
People are being asked to stop what they are doing and stay silent for three minutes on Wednesday in a nationwide stand against child abuse.
Pressure groups said the three minutes represented each of the three years of the latest fatally abused victim's life.
Nia Glassie died in Auckland's Starship Hospital on Friday from head and abdominal injuries.
She had been in a coma and on a life support system since she was transferred from Rotorua Hospital the Sunday before.
Today the Sensible Sentencing Trust, Family First, and For the Sake of Our Children Trust, asked people to stop what they were doing at 12.12pm on Wednesday for three minutes.
They said people should "come out onto the street, outside the office or classroom, stop their car or truck and stand outside their vehicle -- and make a symbolic stand against child abuse for three minutes at 12:12pm."
The number 12 was significant because it represented the average number of child abuse deaths each year.
"The three short minutes is an opportunity for each person to reflect on what each one of us can do to be part of the solution to our unacceptable rate of child abuse."
They also asked all radio stations to play the Destiny Child song, Stand Up For Love, during the three minutes. The song was the Anthem for the World Children's Day in 2005.
The three trusts said each week another New Zealand child's "precious life is extinguished or damaged because violent parents or caregivers will not meet or can not cope with their responsibilities.
"We are sick and tired of doing nothing while our babies and children are being beaten and murdered.
"We have allowed violent adults the right to silence, bail and parole, while babies' rights go undefended."
They said political correctness had got in the way of speaking the truth and even after numerous inquiries and a government commissions appointed to oversee and intervene, New Zealand still had one of the worst rates of child abuse in the world.
The trusts launched a five-point action plan:
* The setting up of a non-political commission of inquiry consisting of community leaders already working with at-risk families to identify effective and achievable solutions to child abuse
* An immediate increase in support for grass-root community organisations working with at-risk families
* Increased investment in parenting and marriage programmes;
* A media-based anti-child abuse campaign
* Tougher sentences for those who abuse or kill children.
- NZPA
Is it just me, or does this strike anyone else as stupid?
Oh, I mean the italic part, btw. Child abuse is wrong, yes, but this? This is going waaaay overboard.
Stopping your car and getting out into the COLD for 3 minutes isn't going to help anything. In fact, all its really going to do is to give the road-rage people something else to focus on for a while. Namely, your face.
Grr.
Yep. I have alot of pent up road-rage, but thats not the point.
How can stopping what you are doing for 3 minutes achieve anything? I mean, really. If you're that morally outraged by people who abuse children, put on a damn mask and go fight some crime the old fashioned way. Standing on the road aint gonna do anything. The child beaters will still beat children whether you drive past or stop. Seriously.
Child abuse is wrong, yes. Pretending to be the government and doing nothing is just stupid.
I, for one, am going to keep working.
That is all
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Well, it seems I'm not the only one.
Good.
I thought my country was going barking mad. But at least I'm not alone in this train of thought >.>
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10456445
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I'm usually for the "a moment of silence" to honor the dead kinda thing. Like shortly after 9/11 etc.
But this is just as pointless as online petitions.
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Yeh, stupid.
So they are like implying that if you don't do this, you are supporting child abuse? Probably not but still...
I mean how many people think child abuse is a 'good' thing.
Fucking stupid.
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I'm usually for the "a moment of silence"
me too - as long as it's only a moment. I have things to do.
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I agree with the other approch, a moments silence is one thing, but to sit down and talk about it, and to honour those who lost thiere lives to shits who dob't deserve children/should be allowed near them is a lot more pro-active IMO
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I dunno maybe I'm cynical but would the moment of silence be better spent working to stop future child abuse? Like taking those two or three minutes to write an e-mail to your elected officials to put pressure on law enforcement, or help to educate people about the dangers of it?
I mean if someone's dead you can't resurrect them, and remembrance is one thing. But if I died because of a faulty seat belt I'd want my family getting that taken care of so less people die, not standing outside staring around to remember my untimely and probably awkward death.
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I dunno maybe I'm cynical but would the moment of silence be better spent working to stop future child abuse? Like taking those two or three minutes to write an e-mail to your elected officials to put pressure on law enforcement, or help to educate people about the dangers of it?
Yes, considering that each complaint letter is considered equal to 10 or more people. eg. Only one out of ten people that feel that way will take the time to write a letter so each letter received means 10 more people feel similar. (This assumes the number is still ten. I've seen the number fluctuate.)
Even better would be to cut and paste the letter into the various blogs and online forums with links to the government officials e-mail or contact information.
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I'm agreeing with most people who have replied and tend to think that shows of silence or online petitions are a waste of time.
when Madeleine went missing, there were a million petitions going about for people to show their support and to draw attention to her case. HOwever, what about all the other little kids who go missing every day? just cause she's got blonde hair and blue eyes she's more worthy of attention?!
people sitting about thinking isnt going to help any of the kids who are missing and if they really cared that much, they would go and actively do something about it.
I hate online petitions and shows of silence and i've written several blogs showing what a waste of time they are. they're just a shallow remedy to the fact that people are too lazy to go and do something about the problems of the world.
my friends and family dont send me forwards for petitions anymore cause i used to reply-all, change the heading to 'stop wasting my fucking time with this shit' and tell everyone they were all a lazy bunch of bastards who were just putting their name at the bottom of a fake petition to appease themselves so they think they're doing some good.
people used to reply back and call me a heartless bitch but at least i'm out there trying to change things
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people used to reply back and call me a heartless bitch but at least i'm out there trying to change things
:o
'Heartless bitch'?? How cruel.
I'm pretty sure you have a heart...
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It's like incessant swearing - the more you swear, the more you devalue swear words until they have no power any more.
Same is going on with this ridiculous sentiment thing. Pretty soon it'll become so devalued that you'll be having a minute's silence in memory of someone stubbing a toe. And worse, everyone will feel compelled to go along with it like sheep, because it would be unpatriotic or inhuman not to...wouldn't it?
Meh. :furious3:
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my friends and family dont send me forwards for petitions anymore cause i used to reply-all, change the heading to 'stop wasting my fucking time with this shit' and tell everyone they were all a lazy bunch of bastards who were just putting their name at the bottom of a fake petition to appease themselves so they think they're doing some good.
I've had friends who used to send me the depressing e-mails. I told them: "Please don't send this to me. You're really depressing me."
eg. "Little Timmy has AIDS. But he has no Mommy or Daddy to take care of him. They both died in a Auto Accident. Little Timmy is now a ward of the state waiting to die. He's also missing a leg."
Or e-mail forwards of women being raped and beaten in Afghanistan. I don't want to read that. I already know it's happening. I don't need more reminders. That's why I don't watch Lifetime.
My response was greeted with: "Well... you just have to read it. They have to live it!"
I then sent stories of my own.
The stories stopped. =)
Do what I did. Go work with the elderly or welfare recipients or shelters if you want to help people. Typing your name doesn't help.
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Do what I did. Go work with the elderly or welfare recipients or shelters if you want to help people. Typing your name doesn't help.
That's right; ruin it for the rest of us.
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It's like incessant swearing - the more you swear, the more you devalue swear words until they have no power any more.
And yet some people still look at me angrily for it.
I mean come on! Its like saying "toast" to me now. Just another word.
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Toast Fucker!
Um...
Shock value? Anyone?
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My favorite is to use curse words where they don't belong, eg
"SON OF A COCKSHITS!"
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Every week I take a relatively normal sounding word or phrase and use it as a swear word.
Usually its "Fig Nuts", but this week its been "biscuits".
"Baby, I'm gonna butta your bread."
Well, to keep with the toast theme, you understand...
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I, for one, am for...
Child Abuse.
Killing puppies.
Banning pizza.
Shaving Kittens.
Racial purity.
Yeah... right. These things are stupid. "If you don't reply to this, then YOU TOO are for killing puppies!"
OMFG! I better respond to this/give a moment of silence right away, or else I am part of the puppy-kill problem!!!
Idiot shit.
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The pizza one is kinda disturbing.
Sort of Freudian, I suspect...
*calls the Pizza Police*
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"OMG why do you not partake of silence, lolz?"
"Uhh, because I'm actually doing something productive?"
"lolwut?"
>.<