Completely Fucked Up Shit

[Junghalli]

I wonder if that woman is some sort of sociopath or something. Seriously, how fucked in the head do you have to be to see somebody lying on the floor unable to get up and in pain from a massively infected leg in your living room and go "buck up and stop being a big baby, you'll get over it!"?

I mean, yeah sure people are callous dicks all the time, but the sort of callous dick who can just sit there and watch somebody rolling around on the floor in obvious agony for hours and not give a shit is something special.

It's like those Christian scientists or whatever the hell they were who let their kid die of a preventable infection because they don't believe in modern medicine, but at least with them it's because of their retarded religion. She doesn't even have that excuse.

[Stark]

You can dodge that simple truth all you want. Engage in strawmen, I dont give a damn. But it remains the truth

Hilarious! So you're implicitly conceeding that your only real problem is how she phrased the question? I mean, in context, the question is a serious one - who else in Darwin DOES have 17 people (probably multi-family) living in one three-bedroom house? Can you answer this question?

And Junghalli, a lot of people - especially poorly educated - have really stupid ideas about health. I've seen people declare that it's best to just ignore serious concussions, because no visible damage was done. Right?

[Darth Wong]

I wonder if that woman is some sort of sociopath or something. Seriously, how fucked in the head do you have to be to see somebody lying on the floor unable to get up and in pain from a massively infected leg in your living room and go "buck up and stop being a big baby, you'll get over it!"?

You have to think life is cheap. That's a common attitude among people in socio-economic classes which have high mortality rates, whether they be from disease, starvation, drugs, carelessness, or violence.

[loomer]

It was the girl's aunt. Besides, who other than aborignies lives with 17 people in a 3-bedroom house?

Though it now seems more likely you are right, I'll throw it out there anyway - aunt does not necessarily mean aborigine in this case, and I've seen the latter in a completely white foster family before (well, actually 15 people. Fuckers were just in it for the money. The prime carer's son impregnated a fifteen year old girl in their care, which is just all kinds of fucked up.)

[Flash]

But saying "Who else but..." is an inherently racist statement unless the behavior in question only (or almost only) occurs in one demographic group.

Except in this case, she is most likely right. As pointed out in the 2006 Census data for Darwin (available here), if your household has more than 6 people living in it, your are far more likely to be of Aboriginal descent. You are also more likely to live in a smaller dwelling than non-indigenous households. So, while it may be an unfortunate statistic that you find distasteful, it is still true.

[Lusankya]

So you don't contest it's factual accuracy, then? I mean, you're Captain Obvious who thinks it's a big revealation that Australia is racist (even though pretty much all the Australian posters say this semi-constantly). The situation of aboridgines in Australia is appallingly broken, and if I said any family camped out under a tree in front of a liqour store at 10am drinking beer together is probably aboridginal, this is just a sad reflection of the utter failure of social policy.

Oh, I will give you that. On the other hand to have someone reinforce that kind of stereotype, on this board... that is what I found shocking. Had she said "You know, there is a significant non-zero chance that this family is aboriginal due to our broken system and entrenched racism" or something similar that would be one thing. That would be acknowledging a problem.

Saying the quote I repeated above, in response to an alternative scenario (foster care system abuse) is another matter entirely, and displays low-level closet-racism on the part of the poster. I was trying not to be to obtuse about it, and call Lusankya a racist, but there it is.

Fuck off. Had you bothered reading my first post, you would have noticed that I had addressed the issue of racism in Australia. Your issue is that I didn't namby-pamby around and say, "Well, statistically speaking most people who live in large kinship groups (especially in Darwin, where there is a high aboriginal population) are aboriginal." Or maybe you would have rather I said "other than aborignies lives with 17 people in a 3-bedroom house in statistically significant numbers?" You know - the same way Mr Coffee likes to make a stink when people call the American South a bunch of inbred racist fuckwits. If you can't fucking understand a generalisation when it's read, then sod off and go somewhere else. Maybe Fox News. I hear that a good understanding of the word 'context' isn't necessary for people to get a job there.

If you had any knowledge of the aboriginal situation in Australia, then you would realise that they have incredibly complex kinship groups, which (surprise!) does mean that it's not uncommon to have a large number of them living in one house. If you had any real knowledge of non-aboriginal Australian culture, then you would realise that such a situation is incredibly rare amongst non-aborigines. If you knew squat about Australian demographics, you would also realise that approximately 30% of the NT's population is aboriginal anyway. My guess was completely based on facts, and not on some kind of dislike of aborigines.

Though it now seems more likely you are right, I'll throw it out there anyway - aunt does not necessarily mean aborigine in this case, and I've seen the latter in a completely white foster family before (well, actually 15 people. Fuckers were just in it for the money. The prime carer's son impregnated a fifteen year old girl in their care, which is just all kinds of fucked up.)

Man, what a bunch of ferals.

I also figured that two two aunts in the house (with different names, so one was probably married) as well as a bunch of other people, in Darwin, suggested 'aboriginal'.

Except in this case, she is most likely right. As pointed out in the 2006 Census data for Darwin (available here), if your household has more than 6 people living in it, your are far more likely to be of Aboriginal descent. You are also more likely to live in a smaller dwelling than non-indigenous households. So, while it may be an unfortunate statistic that you find distasteful, it is still true.

Actually, if you look at those data, it actually says that in 2006 there were no 3-bedroom households of 10 or more people that had no indigenous residents. It doesn't guarantee that she's aboriginal, but I reckon that if she were white, the social workers would have taken her out of that house. After all, it's not Stolen Generationing to put white children with white foster parents.

[thejester]

But saying "Who else but..." is an inherently racist statement unless the behavior in question only (or almost only) occurs in one demographic group.

I would bet my life savings that the only demographic group that would be in such a situation would be indigenous Australians. Seriously, 17 people in a three bedroom house? That would have been extreme around Federation, let alone now.

[Strider]

If it was in the States, this is definitely Second Degree Murder, maybe even First Degree if you argue that the Aunts are reasonable people, and that any reasonable person would understand that torture in this manner would certainly eventually result in death (making this a long term, planned, deliberate murder). It could be argued that the concern they showed as she was dying was feigned to deflect away some blame. Honestly, I would support the use of the death penalty in a case like this, murder by torture of a twelve year old girl.


Also of consequence:

"(She told me) that FACS had been to the residence the previous day and seen Deborah and said she was fine," said first class constable Kim Dye, who questioned the aunt on the night of the death.

I find it hard to believe that a girl can be considered "fine" in any way, shape, or form the day before her death by such an infection. The FACS person is probably in Ass-Covering land, because I'd think this is a pretty serious thing in his lap too, definitely enough to get fired and probably even enough for criminal charges.