# Shot by a crossbow - the media twists



## Bill Mattocks (Aug 31, 2011)

I was just going to post the story itself, but when I read all the various twists and spins the media put on the story, I decided to post about that instead...

Here's the deal.  A couple kids were throwing rocks at passing cars from an overpass in San Diego.  Someone shot one of the kids in the stomach with a crossbow bolt from one of the cars they were throwing rocks at.  Kid is in the hospital with non life-threatening wounds, no one has been arrested for anything as of yet.

Please understand if you did not know already that people can and have been killed by rocks thrown from overpasses; it happens all the time.  So even if it's a 'prank', it can and has been deadly.  This is not joke, it's life-threatening if you have a rock thrown down on your car as you drive underneath at high speed.  We're not talking broken windshield and scratched paint, we're talking rock through the windshield and dead person inside.

Now read the headlines.  Ranges everywhere from _'child shot with arrow in drive-by shooting'_ to _'crossbow attack'_ to _'child shot for throwing rocks at a car'_.  All of them paint the child as the victim.  Not that I think it is appropriate to shoot anyone with a crossbow for throwing rocks from an overpass, but none of them see to spend much time discussing what it was that this child was doing that would have resulted in being shot with a crossbow...

Yeah, the media never slants anything...


http://news.google.com/news/more?hl=en&gl=us&q=crossbow&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ncl=dcr4y0RKPF11FvMa10JZxqZBiZ-hM&ei=dCxeTpzeHcnh0QHb9viYAw&sa=X&oi=news_result&ct=more-results&resnum=1&ved=0CDgQqgIwAA



> Teen shot by crossbow in drive-by
> Ninemsn - &#8206;6 hours ago&#8206;
> By ninemsn staff A San Diego boy has been taken to hospital after a passing driver fired an arrow into his stomach. The teen is believed to have been throwing rocks at passing cars in the Linda Vista neighbourhood with a friend when they got into a ...
> San Diego boy throwing rocks hit by crossbow
> ...


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## granfire (Aug 31, 2011)

there are so many questions and comments that come to mind....
Pity for the rock thrower is actually not one of them...

Shows how sick 'journalism' has become.


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## Bill Mattocks (Aug 31, 2011)

granfire said:


> there are so many questions and comments that come to mind....
> Pity for the rock thrower is actually not one of them...



My first reaction on reading the story was that the kid got what he had coming.  But of course, that's just a visceral reaction.  In reality, I do not support vigilante justice.  Additionally, one must wonder how one would feel if the crossbow bolt had missed and hit an innocent person, or if the kid throwing the rocks had been killed instead of injured, etc.  I suspect that the rock-throwing didn't mean to kill anyone by throwing rocks, but whether or not he intended it, he certainly might have; throwing rocks off an overpass can and has killed people before.



> Shows how sick 'journalism' has become.



Well, it does show that they present the part of the story they want in order to guide the reader to an opinion, instead of just presenting the facts.  All of the headlines are 'technically' correct; but each paints a different picture, doesn't it?  Depends on the slant of the newspaper or journalist in question as to how they present it.   And I'm not aiming this at the left or the right; they all do it.


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## cdunn (Aug 31, 2011)

Piss poor coverage, but, let's face it, 'teen throws rocks at cars, gets shot' is 'dog bites man' level head line, and 'teen shot with crossbow' is 'man bites dog'. The media doesn't need to report, it needs to SELL.


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## Bill Mattocks (Aug 31, 2011)

cdunn said:


> Piss poor coverage, but, let's face it, 'teen throws rocks at cars, gets shot' is 'dog bites man' level head line, and 'teen shot with crossbow' is 'man bites dog'. The media doesn't need to report, it needs to SELL.



Very good point!


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## granfire (Aug 31, 2011)

Bill Mattocks said:


> My first reaction on reading the story was that the kid got what he had coming.  But of course, that's just a visceral reaction.  In reality, I do not support vigilante justice.  Additionally, one must wonder how one would feel if the crossbow bolt had missed and hit an innocent person, or if the kid throwing the rocks had been killed instead of injured, etc.  I suspect that the rock-throwing didn't mean to kill anyone by throwing rocks, but whether or not he intended it, he certainly might have; throwing rocks off an overpass can and has killed people before.
> 
> 
> 
> Well, it does show that they present the part of the story they want in order to guide the reader to an opinion, instead of just presenting the facts.  All of the headlines are 'technically' correct; but each paints a different picture, doesn't it?  Depends on the slant of the newspaper or journalist in question as to how they present it.   And I'm not aiming this at the left or the right; they all do it.



well, if I had been in the area I would have wanted to know who on earth carries a loaded cross bow around, handy to shoot little cretins...paired with a 'damn, if he shot that from a moving vehicle, that was a damn good shot!'


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## MaxiMe (Aug 31, 2011)

granfire said:


> well, if I had been in the area I would have wanted to know who on earth carries a loaded cross bow around, handy to shoot little cretins...paired with a 'damn, if he shot that from a moving vehicle, that was a damn good shot!'


I think I might have to get a new archery coach...
Seriously tho I thought this story actually happened about 2 years ago, unless this is a new one.


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## Bill Mattocks (Aug 31, 2011)

MaxiMe said:


> I think I might have to get a new archery coach...
> Seriously tho I thought this story actually happened about 2 years ago, unless this is a new one.



I believe it is new.  The AP news report and all the links in the Google News search I put above all seem to indicate that it just happened.


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## MaxiMe (Aug 31, 2011)

Bill Mattocks said:


> I believe it is new. The AP news report and all the links in the Google News search I put above all seem to indicate that it just happened.



Could be, weird it wasn't on the local lastnight or this morning.


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## Nomad (Aug 31, 2011)

Bill Mattocks said:


> My first reaction on reading the story was that the kid got what he had coming.  But of course, that's just a visceral reaction.  In reality, I do not support vigilante justice.  Additionally, one must wonder how one would feel if the crossbow bolt had missed and hit an innocent person, or if the kid throwing the rocks had been killed instead of injured, etc.  I suspect that the rock-throwing didn't mean to kill anyone by throwing rocks, but whether or not he intended it, he certainly might have; throwing rocks off an overpass can and has killed people before.
> 
> 
> 
> Well, it does show that they present the part of the story they want in order to guide the reader to an opinion, instead of just presenting the facts.  All of the headlines are 'technically' correct; but each paints a different picture, doesn't it?  Depends on the slant of the newspaper or journalist in question as to how they present it.   And I'm not aiming this at the left or the right; they all do it.



Regardless, I'm guessing that kid (or his friend) won't throw any more rocks at cars.  

And yes, people have been severely injured and/or killed by thrown rocks.  Recently.  In San Diego.  So I tend to think it's a pretty serious incident as well.

What the shooter was doing driving around with a loaded crossbow is indeed another matter, and I certainly don't condone his actions.  Pretty rough neighborhood with lots of gang activity... he may have been on his way to some other drive-by crime (or it could have been for "protection"... who knows?)

And for MaxiMe... nope, this one was ~2 days ago.


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## granfire (Aug 31, 2011)

Nomad said:


> Regardless, I'm guessing that kid (or his friend) won't throw any more rocks at cars.
> 
> And yes, people have been severely injured and/or killed by thrown rocks.  Recently.  In San Diego.  So I tend to think it's a pretty serious incident as well.
> 
> ...



cross bows are not known for rapid fire....(watching CSI marathon...sorry)


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## CanuckMA (Aug 31, 2011)

granfire said:


> cross bows are not known for rapid fire....(watching CSI marathon...sorry)



Clearly you've never seen 'Van Helsing'.


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## granfire (Aug 31, 2011)

CanuckMA said:


> Clearly you've never seen 'Van Helsing'.


hehehehe, nope ^_^


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## CanuckMA (Aug 31, 2011)

granfire said:


> hehehehe, nope ^_^



http://www.imfdb.org/w/Van_Helsing#Gas_Operated_Automatic_Crossbow


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## granfire (Aug 31, 2011)

seems like I must watch it now, for the armory scenes at least! ^_^


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## CanuckMA (Aug 31, 2011)

granfire said:


> seems like I must watch it now, for the armory scenes at least! ^_^



It's a couple of hours I'll never get back.


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## granfire (Aug 31, 2011)

CanuckMA said:


> It's a couple of hours I'll never get back.



Netflix....
fast forward FTW (but the actor for Helsing is kinda cute...might be worth while, even if the movie sucks)


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## David43515 (Sep 1, 2011)

I owned a crossbow when I was younger, they`re legal to hunt with during the archery season in Ohio. Odds are he didn`t have it loaded driving around. A hunting crossbow doesn`t take any time to load. I`m assuming he stopped the car, loaded it, (about 10 seconds if that) and let fly out the window. Shooting out of a moving vehichle would just be too tough. Just my opinion, your milage may vary.


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## granfire (Sep 1, 2011)

(in ten seconds I can empty the clip of my 9mm)


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## Sukerkin (Sep 1, 2011)

CanuckMA said:


> It's a couple of hours I'll never get back.



Kate Beckinsale in cool clothes with a sword ... why would you ever regret seeing that?!


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## granfire (Sep 1, 2011)

Sukerkin said:


> Kate Beckinsale in cool clothes with a sword ... why would you ever regret seeing that?!



The Missus was fawning over Hugh Jackman?


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## MJS (Sep 1, 2011)

Bill Mattocks said:


> I was just going to post the story itself, but when I read all the various twists and spins the media put on the story, I decided to post about that instead...
> 
> Here's the deal.  A couple kids were throwing rocks at passing cars from an overpass in San Diego.  Someone shot one of the kids in the stomach with a crossbow bolt from one of the cars they were throwing rocks at.  Kid is in the hospital with non life-threatening wounds, no one has been arrested for anything as of yet.
> 
> ...



Yup, this is why 99.99% of what we read in the paper and see on the news should be taken with a grain of salt.  Amazing how they twist those words, as you said, to make it sound like theres some nut driving in around in a car, taking random shots at people with a crossbow.  Not the case at all, so either the media is too stupid to see how this sounds, or they just want to make the kid the victim, which they're doing a good job of.

Should this have happened?  Of course not.  I'd rather have read that the driver stopped and beat the **** out of the little bastard, rather than shooting him. No, I'm not saying this was right at all.  These kids have zero idea of how dangerous their actions were.  Yet in many stories like this, its the driver thats the bad guy, and the kids are innocent angels.  No, in this case, ALL parties were in the wrong.


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## MJS (Sep 1, 2011)

cdunn said:


> Piss poor coverage, but, let's face it, 'teen throws rocks at cars, gets shot' is 'dog bites man' level head line, and 'teen shot with crossbow' is 'man bites dog'. The media doesn't need to report, it needs to SELL.



Agreed.  Its just sad that they have to fabricate and make changes, to make those sales.


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## CanuckMA (Sep 1, 2011)

Sukerkin said:


> Kate Beckinsale in cool clothes with a sword ... why would you ever regret seeing that?!



True


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## punisher73 (Sep 1, 2011)

granfire said:


> (in ten seconds I can empty the clip of my 9mm)



Magazine.  Rifles have clips, not handguns.

Sorry, we had to do LOTS of pushups if we ever called our 'magazine' a 'clip' in the academy. :ak47:


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## MaxiMe (Sep 1, 2011)

punisher73 said:


> Rifles have clips.
> 
> Sorry, we had to do LOTS of pushups if we ever called our 'magazine' a 'clip' in the academy. :ak47:


Don't you mean shoulder fired...... opperated weapon?


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## Bill Mattocks (Sep 1, 2011)

punisher73 said:


> Magazine.  Rifles have clips, not handguns.
> 
> Sorry, we had to do LOTS of pushups if we ever called our 'magazine' a 'clip' in the academy. :ak47:



A magazine is the appropriate term for a metal box that has a spring in it and holds ammunition for either a rifle or a pistol.  A clip is a device that holds ammunition together but does not have a spring to push each round up to be fed into the weapon.  An M1 Garand has a clip.  An M16 has a magazine.  Most pistols have magazines also.

http://www.thegunzone.com/clips-mags.html


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## granfire (Sep 1, 2011)

punisher73 said:


> Magazine.  Rifles have clips, not handguns.
> 
> Sorry, we had to do LOTS of pushups if we ever called our 'magazine' a 'clip' in the academy. :ak47:



how many for the first offense?


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## punisher73 (Sep 1, 2011)

Nothing new with the media and how they twist things for their political views.

I remember watching a program that was aired during the first round of Congressional hearings about "assault rifles".  They showed a watermelon getting shot with an AK-47 round and you see this HUGE exit hole and the melon pretty much exploded on impact to show how "deadly" these weapons were.  The problem?  It was later found out that when the melon was shot with the AK-47 it didn't do any visible damage really because the round was so fast with it's passthrough, the footage shown was what happened when the melon was shot with a 12 gauge shotgun.  They purposely switched the footage to suit their purposes and story.

One of our own local channels (very anti-police) did this with a news clip awhile ago also.  A dark colored sedan is driving towards a police car and starts shooting at the officer.  He spins the car around and attempts to give pursuit and calls in other units.  He looses the car while making the turn around and makes a guess at which way the car went and sees a dark colored sedan in a driveway with the passenger door open, engine on.  The car you see in the drive looks to be the same make and model that was shooting at the police.  The officers give several commands for the woman to exit the vehicle and she refuses to comply.  Eventually, the officer starts to lose his cool and uses a couple of swear words in telling her to exit the car and get on the ground.  The officers end up storming the vehicle with guns drawn and quickly remove her and put her on the ground.  It was eventually found out that the car was the same kind they were looking for, but wasn't the actual suspect vehicle.  The first time the clips was shown at the morning news show they showed everything and wasn't much public outcry because people understood the mistake and the woman became beligerent before it got escalated.  The evening news story (same channel) cut out all the previous footage of the story and only ran it as the police swearing at her and pulling her out of her car at gunpoint with no mention of the preceeding events.

Some of the best advice I ever got in college from one professor was anytime you get a newspaper to read (this would apply to news channels now as well) read/watch the editorial pieces and you can quickly see which way the slant will go on all the news stories.


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## granfire (Sep 1, 2011)

punisher73 said:


> Nothing new with the media and how they twist things for their political views.
> 
> I remember watching a program that was aired during the first round of Congressional hearings about "assault rifles".  They showed a watermelon getting shot with an AK-47 round and you see this HUGE exit hole and the melon pretty much exploded on impact to show how "deadly" these weapons were.  The problem?  It was later found out that when the melon was shot with the AK-47 it didn't do any visible damage really because the round was so fast with it's passthrough, the footage shown was what happened when the melon was shot with a 12 gauge shotgun.  They purposely switched the footage to suit their purposes and story.
> 
> ...




yeah, media...

We had a case back home. 
In one of the popular rags they had a story of a guy from the next village...the poor sap, somebody blew his house of the foundation while the family was on a camping trip. How mean everybody in the village was to them, etc, complete with the sad face picture....

The real story:
The man was one of 8 candidates for the last lot in a new subdevision, across from the soccer field and the multi purpose center. He got is because he was a local....
he build his house, imposing on the soccer club many times for water for the construction site, they had to drag his drunk butt home several times int hat period...
As soon as the house was finished all hell broke lose: Too much traffic for the sporting events and the multi purpose hall. People parking too close or what not.
The kicker came when he tried to slap an injunction on the annual Fastnacht/Carneval dance! The whole village hated him! The local supermarket made him persona non grata, he was not to come through the door representing the company he was a salesman for. THAT bad.
he had the according nickname in town, too  Leineweber turned into Schweineleber - pork liver....

I can only imagine the est of the village laughing at the magazine article.
Taught me to never believe such sap ever again! :lfao:


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## Em MacIntosh (Sep 1, 2011)

A politician's primary job is to tell people what they want to hear so they can keep their job.  This severely interferes with formulating and implementing effective policy and governance, which should be their job but it's the people's fault they shoot the messenger for bearing bad news.

It's the same thing with media.  Without sensationalism, the story is usually bland.  If the media reported the news without bias, few would identify with it and they would lose ratings.  It's the people who listen to/with their hearts and not their heads.  This creates a self-propogating pattern of support for biased media.  With only so much space for the taking and with biased media recieving more support than unbiased media honesty loses market share.  With the increasingly polar political climate it's going to get worse before it gets better.


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## David43515 (Sep 1, 2011)

granfire said:


> (in ten seconds I can empty the clip of my 9mm)



I was imagining ten seconds to pull the car over, put it in park, grab the bow, cock it, insert the bolt and be ready to fire. In your case just change that to park,change gears, grab an empty pistol, insert the mag, and work the slide. For both of us the time to pull the trigger would be the same Gran. You`d have more shots, I`d have better long rang accuracy (statistically speaking, nothing against your skill as a shooter).


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## granfire (Sep 1, 2011)

David43515 said:


> I was imagining ten seconds to pull the car over, put it in park, grab the bow, cock it, insert the bolt and be ready to fire. In your case just change that to park,change gears, grab an empty pistol, insert the mag, and work the slide. For both of us the time to pull the trigger would be the same Gran. You`d have more shots, I`d have better long rang accuracy (statistically speaking, nothing against your skill as a shooter).


LOL I said _empty_, I didn't say hit anything! ^_^ (my pistol is a good one, but the operator is a rogue beginner)


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## Nomad (Sep 2, 2011)

Thought this was a beautiful addition to the thread this morning from my good buddies over at Fail Blog (with the ad from Amazon coming in):
*




*


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## granfire (Sep 2, 2011)

LOL the ad is FTW!! And epicly so!:lfao:


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