I know a lot of people from Thailand, mostly second gen Thai Americans, but some Viet, Mong, and Cambodians whose parents were in refugee camps in Thailand or who worked at those refugee camps. I don't live in Thailand though, so I'm giving a second/third person account, but several of my friends who have Thai influences laugh and joke about the Hitler thing. Nothing shocking to someone who lived in BKK or had parents who did. I feel thankful for having grown up with Thai people, all of whom i met in honors and AP classes in high school.

But basically what that means is, I don't know any of these misinformed Thai people, just those that left Thailand for America and tell tales of their homeland.

@MilkmanDan, thanks for filling in some the gaps of my knowledge with your exp!

I don't think the joke part at the end did anything to lessen the intimidation factor, if anything, it heightened it. The fact that characters like the one Depp is playing can murder someone in cold blood and then laugh and joke about it a second later just illustrates how much of a psychopath this guy is.
Notice that the guy he was "joking" with, wasn't laughing at the end of this trailer, that's because he knows what this guy is capable of.

That's absolutely not what's been reported. The reports have repeatedly said his hyoid was severely injured and he asphyxiated.
Also, we can not take the word of the public coroner when it comes to officer involved death. Like the DA, they work with the cops daily, and bend over backwards to 'help' them repeatedly. Independent prosecutors and coroners are needed on EVERY officer involved death, without them we'll see you all as members of a deadly, powerful gang of thugs.
Cops should have TALKED to him instead of deciding 'he's not complying fast enough, get him fellas' and dog piling on him, starting from behind with a hold specifically disallowed by the department. (I'm glad you didn't try to say he wasn't choked, because that would just be ridiculous). That's really overboard for someone selling loosies, and was really, obviously about contempt of cop.

It might be a good idea for them to not laugh and joke about it while the body is still lying on the sidewalk and the family is filming them too, btw. (I've seen the extended video)

Perhaps he should have cooperated, but in no way would that ensure he'd be alive. The 77 year old man cooperated fully, (when a cop just nastily grabs at your papers for no reason and without saying a thing, pulling away is expected and acceptable) and was beaten and tasered for his trouble. Cooperation simply means the cops won't be hurt, not the citizen. Many many people are injured and killed cooperating with police and in full custody yearly. You somehow put the blame 100% on them and 0% on the police that have them under their control and have the duty to protect them. The rest of us have lost all trust in cops lately, and we feel if you have a duty you should perform it.

EDIT: How did 'cooperating' work out for this guy?
http://videosift.com/video/South-Carolina-cop-shoots-man-for-getting-license

I do not often feel the urge to state my admiration for a comment, but this time, I think, I must. Nice one.

In reply to this comment by dystopianfuturetoday:
Brothers and sisters.

As an atheist, and a fairly outspoken one at that, I don't feel like Hedges trying to mischaracterize myself or my atheism. I feel like he is trying to challenge me, to keep me from being hypocritical and to make sure that my anger is turned only towards those who do harm, regardless of faith.

I think his criticism of Harris and Hitch have more to do with American attitudes on the middle east than atheists attitudes. Most Americans, myself included, know very little about that region, and what little I/we do know is all negative - sexism, genital mutilation, death threats against cartoonists, jihad, terrorism, Islamic fundamentalism, etc. I assume a more realistic picture of the middle east would more closely resemble people of any country. I assume they love their friends and family, that they wish for a better life and a better world for their kids, that they enjoy art and music, that they have skills and hobbies and struggle to make ends meet, that they laugh and joke and mock and criticize the extremists of their country the way we do in ours, that they are frustrated with politics and the power the privileged few lord over them... but portraying humanity of the people in the middle east is something that is simply not done in American media.

I believe that we atheists, who value tolerance, should be making these arguments ourselves, and not trying to brush it under the rug when one of our public figures gets called out. I'm sure if you go through my comments over the years, I've probably made countless fruitless, unproductive and spiteful things about religion. I'm going to make an effort to do and say things differently in the future.

I'm down for coexisting with good people of all walks of life. We all have a common enemy in the powerful individuals who have seized control of our country. I don't want to fight with well intentioned Christians anymore; I want to fight along side them. I want to embrace the social justice that has long been a tradition of both liberalism and Catholicism - among other religions. I want to embrace throwing the money changers out of our democratic temples. I want a society that can be judged on how it treats the least among us. I want to live in a tighter knit, more connected and stronger society; not a selfish, paranoid and weaker one.

I think Hedges sees the problems of our time with remarkable clarity. I'm not threatened by him.

Brothers and sisters.

As an atheist, and a fairly outspoken one at that, I don't feel like Hedges trying to mischaracterize myself or my atheism. I feel like he is trying to challenge me, to keep me from being hypocritical and to make sure that my anger is turned only towards those who do harm, regardless of faith.

I think his criticism of Harris and Hitch have more to do with American attitudes on the middle east than atheists attitudes. Most Americans, myself included, know very little about that region, and what little I/we do know is all negative - sexism, genital mutilation, death threats against cartoonists, jihad, terrorism, Islamic fundamentalism, etc. I assume a more realistic picture of the middle east would more closely resemble people of any country. I assume they love their friends and family, that they wish for a better life and a better world for their kids, that they enjoy art and music, that they have skills and hobbies and struggle to make ends meet, that they laugh and joke and mock and criticize the extremists of their country the way we do in ours, that they are frustrated with politics and the power the privileged few lord over them... but portraying humanity of the people in the middle east is something that is simply not done in American media.

I believe that we atheists, who value tolerance, should be making these arguments ourselves, and not trying to brush it under the rug when one of our public figures gets called out. I'm sure if you go through my comments over the years, I've probably made countless fruitless, unproductive and spiteful things about religion. I'm going to make an effort to do and say things differently in the future.

I'm down for coexisting with good people of all walks of life. We all have a common enemy in the powerful individuals who have seized control of our country. I don't want to fight with well intentioned Christians anymore; I want to fight along side them. I want to embrace the social justice that has long been a tradition of both liberalism and Catholicism - among other religions. I want to embrace throwing the money changers out of our democratic temples. I want a society that can be judged on how it treats the least among us. I want to live in a tighter knit, more connected and stronger society; not a selfish, paranoid and weaker one.

I think Hedges sees the problems of our time with remarkable clarity. I'm not threatened by him.

If you want to do something more productive than just laugh and joke about it, send a message to the Mayor.

http://www.norwalkct.org/forms.aspx?FID=90

Here is what I wrote:

A homeless woman was arrested for trying to educate her child in your city. This is disgusting. How do you expect her to attempt to break the cycle of poverty without an education for her child. It is your duty as an elected official to keep this kind of injustice from happening in your city. If you have some basic humanity in you, you will do something to fix this.

@peggedbea

Madam, That was actually a very well stated post, my hat's off to you.

I'll agree (and was actually thinking of this before reading it in your post) that perhaps I have been de-sensitized to the fact that these people have lost a certain set of emotion. Nothing can really phase my dad or stepmom just because after years they have had to pull back and keep a certain mindset, otherwise they'd never be able to do what they do.

The life is actually a little sad, not many people realize it but cops can only ever really socialize with other cops because of this effect. Now, there's a few that still retain themselves and those people excell at public speaking and whatnot.. but a vast majority of them are only really able to connect with other people in the same situation (Ambulance drivers, doctors, etc.)

Not to mention that the instant you put on a badge, you're always the party joke as it is. People laugh and joke about how "Oh, better not break the law or (x)'ll take you away!" at parties and people act awkwardly around them just because they know the person is a cop.

Cops sacrifice a lot more then people know.. That's generally why I'm first in line to stand out and defend those who deserve it.

>> ^rougy:
>> ^charliem:
I didn't say it wasn't fair because they are in the military, Im saying that judging these guys actions without any idea as to what theyve been through, isn't fair.
So, basically, you're saying that it's okay for them not to know right from wrong.
You're saying it's okay with you if they laugh and joke with each other as they watch a woman walking to her death, instead of taking some kind of action to warn her and save her life.


Not at all.

Im saying that those who shout up and down about how abhorrent behavior it is coming from the troops, are far too often the ones who stop the blame game at the troops feet, and fail to realise that these guys are acting out like this because of the uniquely fucked up situation that the politicians have put them in.

Its bad enough that they are submitted to seeing their mates get legs / arms blown off, women and children innocently blown to pieces by air ordinance, or rotting carcasses of babies in the streets, I don't give a shit if you are the fucking pope himself, if you are subjected to those circumstances for long enough, you'd be lucky to only be laughing at that kind of a situation.

The actions of the troops in this vid are not a surprise to me. Im not saying its right, I'm saying I totally understand it.

If these guys were a fresh rotation out of Bragg, I suspect it would of gone down a lot differently.

>> ^charliem:
I didn't say it wasn't fair because they are in the military, Im saying that judging these guys actions without any idea as to what theyve been through, isn't fair.

So, basically, you're saying that it's okay for them not to know right from wrong.

You're saying it's okay with you if they laugh and joke with each other as they watch a woman walking to her death, instead of taking some kind of action to warn her and save her life.

One thing always bothered me about this particular scene: if these guys know each other well enough to laugh and joke around with each other (so much that Joe's gotta straighten them out), then how could they not know anyone's names yet? How often do you joke around with perfect strangers without giving them your name?

I always figured they were instructed not to give each out their names by whoever brought them all together for the job. Also, Joe tells them not to refer to each other by their christian names, which shows a couple of them might know each other's name already.

>> ^shuac:
Good flick.
One thing always bothered me about this particular scene: if these guys know each other well enough to laugh and joke around with each other (so much that Joe's gotta straighten them out), then how could they not know anyone's names yet? How often do you joke around with perfect strangers without giving them your name?
I mean, it's not a showstopper for me, I still enjoy the movie very much but I think this scene should have been split into two entirely different scenes: 1) assigning their names and 2) yelling at them for joking too much. Chonologically-in-the-story, they need to occur in that order but thru editing, they can be switched around, as Tarantino likes to do.
Just a thought.


Actually, I quite often joke around with strangers. I believe it's called social skills...

Good flick.

One thing always bothered me about this particular scene: if these guys know each other well enough to laugh and joke around with each other (so much that Joe's gotta straighten them out), then how could they not know anyone's names yet? How often do you joke around with perfect strangers without giving them your name?

I mean, it's not a showstopper for me, I still enjoy the movie very much but I think this scene should have been split into two entirely different scenes: 1) assigning their names and 2) yelling at them for joking too much. Chonologically-in-the-story, they need to occur in that order but thru editing, they can be switched around, as Tarantino likes to do.

Just a thought.

Oh its all laughs and jokes now! Just 5 years ago you would be sucking his Presidential penor.