Spring Break
Hate crimes against the homeless
Robert Sanchez
Issue date: 7/18/07 Section: Forum
The "Homeless Pound Transport" attacks people with stun guns, ropes, crossbows and snares. Upon capture, the homeless person is put in a straightjacket, locked in a cage in the back of a pickup truck, and driven around town while being mocked and abused by the filmmakers. This is the new entertainment: shocking and brutal enough to reach a desensitized and over-stimulated youth.
Other clips are equally disturbing. Several individuals attack a man's face while he screams in pain. A man drinks Windex for a dollar and is later shown vomiting. A homeless man runs into a sheet of glass and is shown bleeding. People step on each other while trying to reach a twenty dollar bill atop a slippery pole. A man who is drunk is given a "beer" that is really urine.
Mainly sold over the internet, major retailers like Tower Records, Barnes and Noble, Amazon, Borders, Target, Best Buy, and Blockbuster once sold Bum Fights. Most have stopped due to protests from outraged citizens and human rights groups, but the fact that mainstream retailers would even consider selling these films says something about our culture.
Not only is Bum Fights accepted [it's free speech, right], it is growing in popularity. More and more bored teenagers are engaging in "bum hunting" and "sport killing." It makes me wonder what's next. Will we see Bum Fights on Fox TV? Who will be the next target of our unfocused frustration? How do we address this trend? What are our children learning, and is it what we want them to learn?
As horrifying as it is to me, I am forced to see that people think it's alright to kill homeless people. It is thrilling, it reminds people that they are alive, and the there is less risk than murdering someone with a job, with money, with people to watch out for them. It's also more socially acceptable. Bum Fights portrays the homeless as less than human, a kind of exotic talking animal, not deserving of the dignity afforded people simpley because they are people. I don't know where to begin, it so boggles my mind that people can find entertainment in brutality and cruelty.
Other clips are equally disturbing. Several individuals attack a man's face while he screams in pain. A man drinks Windex for a dollar and is later shown vomiting. A homeless man runs into a sheet of glass and is shown bleeding. People step on each other while trying to reach a twenty dollar bill atop a slippery pole. A man who is drunk is given a "beer" that is really urine.
Mainly sold over the internet, major retailers like Tower Records, Barnes and Noble, Amazon, Borders, Target, Best Buy, and Blockbuster once sold Bum Fights. Most have stopped due to protests from outraged citizens and human rights groups, but the fact that mainstream retailers would even consider selling these films says something about our culture.
Not only is Bum Fights accepted [it's free speech, right], it is growing in popularity. More and more bored teenagers are engaging in "bum hunting" and "sport killing." It makes me wonder what's next. Will we see Bum Fights on Fox TV? Who will be the next target of our unfocused frustration? How do we address this trend? What are our children learning, and is it what we want them to learn?
As horrifying as it is to me, I am forced to see that people think it's alright to kill homeless people. It is thrilling, it reminds people that they are alive, and the there is less risk than murdering someone with a job, with money, with people to watch out for them. It's also more socially acceptable. Bum Fights portrays the homeless as less than human, a kind of exotic talking animal, not deserving of the dignity afforded people simpley because they are people. I don't know where to begin, it so boggles my mind that people can find entertainment in brutality and cruelty.
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Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
Tony
posted 7/18/07 @ 3:52 PM PST
This is an outrage! The makers of those videos and ridiculous shows should be put in jail and serve the same sentence the teenagers are serving. Why would anyone ever want to intentionally harm another helpless person? I'll never know. (Continued…)
Brett
posted 7/18/07 @ 4:31 PM PST
Unfortunately, this sort of "entertainment" goes beyond the homeless. How many "girl fights" or fights involving young kids get looked at on youtube every day?
I'm just glad Robert branched out a little instead of writing about how sensitive he is. (Continued…)
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