It Had To Happen: Blame Craigslist Gang Comes Out
from the learn-to-differentiate... dept
You knew it was going to happen. Following the stories about the guy in Boston who was allegedly killing women he found via Craigslist (leading some to refer to him as "the Craigslist killer," eventually people were going to start incorrectly suggesting that Craigslist deserves some of the blame. Mark sends in the news that Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley has stepped up to the challenge. While she starts off by noting how helpful Craigslist can be in tracking down criminals, she quickly changes tone and suggests the company may be a part of the problem:"I can't say they haven't been helpful. On the other hand, they are the enablers. It's all well and good to say we'll help when we're called upon . . . but in light of what's happened in Boston and around the country, it may be time for a little closer look or oversight."Of course, that makes no sense. Crimes of this nature have gone on for ages. In fact, the details sound quite similar to the famous Jack the Ripper story. Correct me if I'm wrong, but Jack didn't use Craigslist, did he? Nor did anyone think to blame the street corners where Jack the Ripper found the prostitutes he murdered. So why are we suddenly blaming the digital equivalent?
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Filed Under: blame, boston, martha coakley
Companies: craigslist
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Oversight
Take a situation like this one: what exactly would oversight have done anyway? How exactly would the watchmen have known that this woman was about to meet a guy that was about to kill her?
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Re: Oversight
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More importantly
In summary, if anyone is an "enabler", it is society at large. But we can't actually institute real CHANGE when there is such an easy scapegoat, can we?
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Re: More importantly
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Re: More importantly
Really? So, your version of misplaced blame is okay, but another isn't. The blame belongs in one place only: on the jackass who committed the murder. Period. I get so sick of everyone looking for explanations, excuses, or sob stories to shift the blame from a cold-hearted murderer to some other aspect of society. Your blaming of "society at large" is not only vague and useless, but a dangerous and misguided distraction that could be viewed as justification by the killer and others like him.
I also think the media jumped to demonize and convict this guy a bit quickly. The original evidence was very circumstantial, and the media is risking destroying another life, like they did with that poor security guard at the Atlanta Olympics. I'm not saying that, if this guy is guilty, he doesn't deserve our full derision. However, jumping to convict him in the press based on an "electronic trail" (we know how solid that evidence is for the RIAA) and some casino visits (where there were also hundreds of other people) seems risky and misguided.
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Re: Re: More importantly
For instance, I would blame Al Quaeda for their terrorist actions, and think they are responsible. However, I also see some American foriegn policies as enabling terrorism to grow/fester/etc.
On one hand, we can justly blame the person committing the despicable actions, but that doesn't preclude us from trying to fix the conditions that might have allowed it/they to come about in the first place.
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Re: Re: Re: More importantly
Besides, society is what it is--any beneficial and effective societal change will be made only at the behest of society itself, and as a grassroots movement. Any top-down change would be to an aspect of society, with the hope that an alteration to societal paradigms would be an incidental result, and would not be for the general benefit of all society's members(a necessary motive for any beneficial change).
For instance, you seem to think that the economic divide between the wealthy and poor created the conditions that led to the Jack the Ripper murders(even though it was an isolated incident that could've--and has--occurred in all types of societies, and we don't even know who the killer was or to which financial class he belonged). The solution there would most likely be to modify the system to create more general economic opportunity, a change that would benefit nearly everybody including "high society".
Simply passing laws at the expense of "high society" with the intention of improving "low society" will ultimately help neither, would not be a de facto societal change, and most likely would have a negative impact on crime rates.
In any case, using an isolated incident as evidence that society at large is faulty is terribly deficient thinking.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: More importantly
True, but I didn't bring up the example, I was just furthuring it along the lines of The Maz's usage.
"For instance, you seem to think ...who the killer was or to which financial class he belonged)."
Two quotes to consider, both from "The Complete Jack The Ripper" by Donald Rumbelow, Penguin Putnam:
"...it nevertheless remains fundamentally true to say that Jack the Ripper inaugurated the age of sex crime."
"We know little of Jack the Ripper...but always there is the feeling of a man totally cut off from society. Alienation craves to express itself..."
What I take away from the reading is that Jack the Ripper was something NEW, not something that has always occurred, and the Victorian society played an enormous role in alienating certain members, particularly when it came to sexual expression, as Victorian society was notoriously prudish. Also, that alienation causes a need to express itself, which leads to a direct causation from the prudish society. Hence, with an educated change in that society, one could affect a change that would have lessened the chance of producing a Jack the Ripper.
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Re: Re: More importantly
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Goat!
(Or were you talking about the G.eneral O.ccupational A.ptitude T.est?)
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Re: Goat!
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Criminal enablers
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You idiots, can't you see the message?
/sarcasm.
Funny how this action resembles the much talked about debate over TPB's verdict.
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Re: Oversight
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All this fore planning is possible because you have many controlled variables going into it. A heck of a lot safer than meeting in a bar or a park by chance.
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its wrong to blame CL
any technology can be used in any way people see fit. there were no automotive or airline accidents b4 cars and planes were invented, so why not blame the inventors of cars and planes too, as they enabled these accidents in the first place
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I'm talkig about a serial killer. I'm talking about correlating multiple (as in, with a threshold of 4-6) and correlating it by region to murder reports.
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Re: Oversight
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Re: Oversight
And the proponents of my data mining application would argue that finding the killer before he meets his next victim, and saving just one life, will be worth the slight erosion to our privacy.
Maybe it is, I honestly don't know.
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Re:
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newspaper classifieds oversight
if they develop a universal oversight system for newspapers, I'll gladly take the government funding to build that app.
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This attorney general woman should blame women
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Re: This attorney general woman should blame women
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Re: Re: This attorney general woman should blame women
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Yellow Pages - Let Your Fingers do the Hoaring
I'm not a fan of the sordid business but I would rather see a world where prostitutes are safer and pay taxes than one where pimps are free to abuse and enslave and pocket the cash.
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It's Not To Blame But.....
Of course, newspapers were not ever implicated in such problems for one reason - they had a filter. The live classified order-taker and the fact that the ad insertion required payment made this type of crime very rare for the newspaper business. Yes, it's true, classifieds have been used to rob people, but such a crime has been rare.
Craigslist has a reputation of being a seedy, shady place to do business. They can stand on the principle that they are just a service. But, at some point, CL will lose its appeal as a free and quick way to sell your car or musical instrument, particularly if similar crimes continue to occur. The only people posting there will be scammers and desperate sellers of adult services.
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Re: It's Not To Blame But.....
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Coakley
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Crimes are committed by criminals
That argument is stupid for one reason: criminals break the law, regardless of what the law allows!!
Craig's List is designed for people to buy/sell/search/find something that they want/need cheaply and easily. If we blame CL for this TO ANY DEGREE, then we need to completely shut down ALL TRADE CENTERS. Those trade centers are currently known as "shopping malls", "strip malls", "grocery stores", etc.
START BLAMING THE FUCKING CRIMINAL INSTEAD OF THE VENUE, PEOPLE!! WAKE UP!!
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Re: Crimes are committed by criminals
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Like what? Will there be a check box asking you to verify that you're not intending to murder somebody?
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It's the fault of Microsoft.
We all know that if it weren't for the existence of just one of these tools, this killer wouldn't be a killer today. Right? This is obviously an attempt by certain companies that couldn't innovate their way out of a wet paper bag and compete with craigslist.com. And shame on mainsteam media for putting the blame on the website for this persons actions. But then again, I'm not surprised. Television sucks anyway.
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Lets blame it on the schools...
If you didn't catch the sarcasm, let me state it for you.. THAT WAS SARCASM. Why can't people accept the blame for themselves and their own actions. This whole argument is about blame and who is an enabler. Everyone, and everything enables, and no one is to blame, but the people who commit the crimes. My set of steak knives at home enable me to hack up anyone or anything, but do I? No.
How about instilling a little responsibility, respect, and sense of consequence in your children by allowing them to be punished without having to worry about being hauled off to jail. This stems a lot more debate on several different unrelated issues...
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Pass the blame
He also posed as a union employed plumber to gain entrance to an apartment and killed a girl, so I say the unions are to blame.
Massachusetts AG is posing as a politician rather than a law enforcement agent to gain entrance into a higher political office, so I say the voters are to blame.
"it may be time for a little closer look or oversight."
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Explanation
Well, that pretty much explains it. Feminazism.
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Craigslist
If they ignore that fundamental rule, well I'm afraid they are just asking for trouble....Over and over again, people looking for a rendezvous have been urged to meet the other person in a well lit public place. Please don't pillory Craigslist and the many great services it provides for the ill advised decisions of the few.
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maniputive site
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Innocent until proven guilty
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