More youngsters believed targeted in assaults on redheads

More youngsters believed targeted in assaults on redheads

latimesblogs.latimes.com

As many as four youngsters were targeted in Calabasas by at least a dozen middle-school students after a Facebook group urged them to beat up redheads, authorities said.

The first reported incident occurred Friday morning when a 12-year-old boy was kicked and hit in two incidents on the campus of A.E. Wright Middle School by a dozen of his classmates, Los Angeles County Sheriff's investigators said.

Further investigation led detectives to confirm a second attack in the city, and they now believed there may be two more victims, said Steve Whitmore, a department spokesman.

The students

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Apparently it doesn't take much to get humans to attack others they perceive as different. It seems ridiculous to discriminate against and attack people with red hair and freckles, but maybe no more ridiculous than other prejudices.

Human beings are apparently inexhaustible in finding things to object to in others. I know when I was growing up, the kids made fun of me because I'm left-handed. I lived through the experience, of course, but it helped to make me wise in the ways of foolishness.

latimesblogs.latimes.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Prejudice has never made any sense to me.

It seems like this is just violent people looking for an excuse to lash out at others. What's sad is the victims seem to have been picked at random.

Is the National Kick A Ginger Day making a come back on November 20th again this year?

Are people really taking the "disease" Gingervitis seriously?

Are people really blindly listening to that neo-Nazi jerk Cartman from South Park again as if he were the Messiah (or at least Lou Dobbs/Bill O'Reilly/Glenn Beck)?

When will people stop listening to blowhards (especially fictitious ones) and stop senselessly acting out in hatred and violence for no reason other than because someone else said they should?

When will the madness end?

/face_palm

RCMP investigating Facebook group over 'Kick a Ginger' day

Sometimes jokes do go too far...

It makes you wonder if Anti-Semitism, or Anti-Masonry, or any other Anti- movement all began from a joke that was either misconstrued or taken far too seriously.

[edit on 23-11-2009 by fraterormus]

This sounds eerily similar to a South Park episode...

Hope they don't get pinned for it, just for a lack of attention from parents.
Doubt it...but wait and see, I bet it comes into play.

ETA beat me to it........

[edit on 23-11-2009 by Doc Holiday]

My 12 yr. old son told me about this last week. Student's at his school were calling the redhead student's " Ginger's " I asked him why they were saying this and he said "because they are soulless ". I wonder where this is comming from ? Perhap's some online game ?

Originally posted by trueset
My 12 yr. old son told me about this last week. Student's at his school were calling the redhead student's " Ginger's " I asked him why they were saying this and he said "because they are soulless ". I wonder where this is comming from ? Perhap's some online game ?

It's from "Ginger Kids" episode #911 (season 9, episode 11) of the Comedy Central series South Park. It originally aired on November 9, 2005 in Canada but didn't air until November 20th, 2005 in America (thus the date chosen for National Kick a Ginger Kid Day).

reply to post by fraterormus


It's just an escapism for their violent tendencies. I've watched south park, I don't think hippies congregate in basements or that family guy is written by a pool of intelligent manatees.

Pointing at some show or a video game as a way to explain violence misses the chance these people need to get help with their problems. Thete's some serious anger management problems going on here and they need to be addressed.

reply to post by Sestias


What a bunch of Crap.
Leave the Carrot tops alone!
Man....

Is this what's popular now going on? In my day it was egg the teachers car now it's beat up kids over something they have no control over.

Just goes to show, you can remove the primary given reasons (religion, racism, ethnicity)for hatred, war, crime, etc., and we as humans as a whole will always find another reason to continue what we have always done.

This is discrimination against whites to the upmost. I mean whose whiter than redheads with freckles? Of course even if a non white started this, they'll keep it under wraps, but I am quite sure it was I mean it was in California...nuff said!

The media is making a hilariously big deal out of this, talking about kids being "violently assaulted" and such...

Kids beat on each other and make fun all the time, if not for one thing, than for another. If your kid is acting like a douche to other kids, smack some learn into them. Why does the national news media need get involved? They must be terribly bored.

Unfortunately the Anti-redhead movement is pretty old and persistent.

It stems from the attempts to Christianize the lands of the Celtic peoples. The Catholic Church perpetuated myths about the Celts that generated widespread animosity towards those with red hair (a common trait amongst the Ancient Celts). Because of this, people would oftentimes throw their newborn children that had red hair into the sea, and even today, in Ireland (which has the largest percentage of redheads in the world) it is still considered unlucky to even see a redhead, and superstition says that if you should see a redhead on the street, turn around and go straight home because your day has supposedly been cursed with bad luck.

Personally, I think redheads are hot. I know a lot of girls that grew up on Harry Potter think they're pretty hot too (although Lindsay Lohan having red-hair doesn't make her any less a skank).

It is ridiculous that people would hate another for their ethnicity or their physical appearance. That is the premise behind Racism, and this should be treated a "Hate Crime" just as any other that is based on a person's skin color, race, or ethnicity.

I do agree that this is just a case of misdirected anger and violence, and if it had not been directed at Gingers it would have been directed at some other demographic of people. However, I also think that it should be nipped and given zero tolerance, just as any other Hate Crime.




[edit on 23-11-2009 by fraterormus]

Originally posted by trueset
My 12 yr. old son told me about this last week. Student's at his school were calling the redhead student's " Ginger's " I asked him why they were saying this and he said "because they are soulless ". I wonder where this is comming from ? Perhap's some online game ?

its coming from a tv show called south park. i can forsee it going off air because of this.

reply to post by Sestias


Gingers extinct in 100 years, say scientists

The current National Geographic magazine reports that less than 2 per cent of the world's population has natural red hair - created by a mutation in northern Europe thousand of years ago Read more: www.dailymail.co.uk...

Global intermingling, which broadens the availability of possible partners, has reduced the chances of redheads meeting and so producing little redheads of their own. Read more: www.dailymail.co.uk...

It may become even rarer over the next century.

--------------------------------------------------------

The incident does sound like it was inspired by South Park , but ultimately its the parents responsibility . Children are exposed to worse thing than south park on a daily basis, they need only watch the news.

This is the kind of thing that happens when we raise an entire generation of bored directionless sociopaths.

They hurt people for fun.

Originally posted by badgerprints
This is the kind of thing that happens when we raise an entire generation of bored directionless sociopaths.

They hurt people for fun.

Yup!

Not enough Dad and Mom!

Too much X-Box, PS3 and TV/Internet.

I have red hair, and it is also true we hold quite a bit of a temper...

It is easily noticeable when someone is joking with me, and then "taking it to the next level".

First person to take it to the next level? Black eye.
Second? Broken jaw.
Third? Some bumps on their head.

No one pressed charges, and the most punishment I received were some days off of school and a friendly talk with an officer.

All happened as a pre-teen/teenager.

Never have problems now that I am bit older...in fact, many people like me and I always have a good time with others.

Yes, I have also heard of kick a ginger day...the funny thing is that no one tried kicking me haha.

Do I classify this as racist? Yup. I am not the stereotypical red head in the sense of freckles and albino skin, but I still have felt the pressure. For MANY kids, it can easily break one down...but the rewards are enormous if such kids can break through this aging process of bullying.

Just remember folks...you kick this ginger, and you will get a mouthful. It is a shame so many people in this world do not stick up for themselves any more.

I never had a problem with red head jokes growing up but recently it seems that it's another group to make fun of for sociopaths... Well I'm a natural red head and I'm 6'5" 300# and somebody tried to kick this "ginger" I would have broken their legs off....

Has any of you seen the spanish movie "Cobardes"? It's about a redhead boy who gets bullied and decides to stand up for himself.

Now, on the topic, sigh...
Why is it that people believe that being different is a bad thing? And where were the parents of these children? Don't they monitor the time their offspring spend online? How irresponsible is that? I'm not saying sit next to him all the time, but check his social network sites!

I hope these youngsters get charged. Community service will do them good. And perhaps a visit to a Holocaust Museum or other places where they can actually see how much intolerance harms mankind.