brisbane autistic boy's hands blown by sadistic mate

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I'm sorry, that's not innocent fun and I do not think it is necessarily harmless. Naturally, from the perspective of the prankster you're going to make excuses for and rationalize what you did, but I notice you sidestepped the whole thing with the wasps in the soda can.



Setting someone up to swallow wasps is not a harmless joke. Also, what you call a harmless joke could be construed as harassment or aggravated assault.



Yet it's not being taken seriously, and the guy is apparently making arguments virtually identical to your excuses for giving people inedible or otherwise unpleasant food.

Anyway, I didn't say it was bullying. I said it was being treated like bullying, which means it is taken far less seriously than it should.

Anyway, I would not be quick to separate bullying from aggravated assault and attempted murder, given that bullying has been known to drive children to suicide, and that children have been seriously injured - sometimes permanently - and even killed by bullies. Don't try to minimize the harm that bullying represents. This situation can be bullying, attempted murder, and causing grievous harm all at the same time.

This is very true.

Once again, I do not understand those people, once again I have that question in my mind: Why?
There is no excuse for what has been done to that boy.

I even lack words to describe my thoughts regarding this incident - or rather: I lack words to describe my thoughts regarding this attempted murder.
I have to add one thing though: What would the criminal do if sich a ball was given to him?

^^^
it happens often in the rest of nature, when Darwinian forces compel animals to compete for relatively scarce natural resources, and that is an atavistic hangover on humanity which behaves as though scarcity is the present law of the land, when in actuality down under is a land of plenty. that does not excuse the act, of course, but it might make it seem a bit less mysterious.

That's a reasonable explanation.
Yet there is still something about that kind of behaviour that I will never truly understand...

This actually has nothing to do with what Darwin wrote about. Darwin's talk about "survival of the fittest" didn't mean "survival of the strongest." Fittest refers to "most adapted to the environment" not to "Who can be the biggest as*hole to everyone around him."

Both hands damaged enough to require amputation [or blown away completely] (haven't read it), generally means there's more power there than a simple prank/joke (plus someone mentioned missiles). Making a small explosive charge from propellent that functions reliably generally means the maker knows enough about what's "fun and games" and what's "potentially lethal".

One psychopath down.

Can we bring back cutting off people's hands for certain crimes? No? In that case can we bring back something that will actually send a message to those who do this crap?

Urgh! Stories like this just make me loath people all that much more. How long are we going to have to put up with other people's stupidity? Are we awake? Are we breathing? Yes? Then let's do something about this crap instead of sitting on the sidelines waiting for it to happen to the rest of us! We have to tell people that this is just unacceptable. Their crimes must be met with the fullest extent that the law will provide.
At this point we need to make it clear that this sort of thing has become commonplace against us, it is a hate crime at this point and it needs to be treated as such.

Sorry for the rant, but honestly I absolutely loath people who do this crap and I'm sick of it happening to those on the spectrum, it has to stop and no-one is going to make it stop unless we do it ourselves.

lol I don't think there is a single thing we agree about, Verdandi.

Yes, it is innocent fun. Anyone getting upset over anything like that seriously needs to grow a thicker skin.
I was once challenged to eat pure margarine and I took the dare. It nearly made me throw up of course, like I suspected it would, but it was all innocent fun and I laughed along with the person who had dared me. It's not exactly the same as the spicy chips pr chili caramels, but it's similar to the salt pills I mentioned, since we both knew what we ate at first. But if anyone had given me something spicy like that, I would have laughed about it.
It's just normal innocent fun no matter how you choose to look at it. No harm done.


To reply to your last sentence first: Only in a society gone amok forbidding anything that over sensitive people might not like could the act of offering someone spicy potato chips or caramels be seen as harassment. It most certainly isn't though, and I hope no court in the world ever caves in to overly sensitive and allow it to be punished. Wikipedia defines harasment as

I'm sure there are over sensitive people who would be upset or disturbed by the aforementioned pranks, but they seriously need to lighten up. It'd be a very dull life if we can't make jokes and do innocent pranks.

No one would ever call it aggravated assault though. this is the legal definition of aggravated assault:



As for the wasp part, I didn't ignore it, I forgot it. I meant to say that the wasp thing is more serious, because if the bug stung and the person was allergic, the consequences could be very serious, even resulting in death. Even a person who hasn't been allergic in the past can turn allergic, so this is a prank that could turn serious. If the wasp stung in the throat area it would very likely be lethal.
So that would not be a fun prank.

Putting a wasp in someone's drink might qualify as aggravated assault since it's common knowledge that wasp stings are dangerous for allergic people.


I'm sure he is, and I fear the judge will fall for it, like they did in the case of the boy who was put on fire, because they take a 'boys will be boys' approach despite the serious nature of the case.
I stand by everything I said above. Innocent pranks are fun; bombs, fire etc is not fun or innocent.


Oh, I wasn't referring to your post when I wrote that "it's not even bullying". I referred to the article you posted a link to. It mentioned that the boy had been bullied, and therefore I wanted to make clear that bombs are not part of bullying someone.


Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. I should probably post this under "post your unpopular opinions" but just the same: I'm unable to feel sympathy for those who commit suicide over temporary problems. No matter how much some call it bullycide (which doesn't even make since; bullycide should mean someone killing a bully, just like patricide means someone killing their father), no one can make someone else commit suicide. That's something they come up with as a "solution" themselves. No one is ever responsible for anyone committing suicide other than the person who commits suicide. Your life, your choice, your responsibility. All I think when someone's suicide is blamed on bullying is "way to go to confirm their view of you being loser". It's not PC or sensitive or empathic, but it's what I honestly think.
"No one can make you feel inferior without your consent." - Eleanor Roosevelt
This blog says it like it is IMO
http://philosiblog.com/2012/10/11/no-on ... r-consent/

Just for the record, yes, I have been bullied, both physically, verbally and sexually. Their words meant nothing to me, the only effect of the verbal bullying was me being annoyed that they wouldn't leave me alone. The sexual bullying was humiliating and sometimes scary, and the physical type was very scary despite not being very serious. I never one thought suicide (or school massacre for that matter) would be a good solution, or even a solution.


That's true, and something that needs to be taken very seriously.
It wasn't bullying, but in the case where 2 10 year olds killed a two year old (the James Bulger case), the boys were sentenced to custody until they reached adulthood, initially until the age of 18, and were released on a lifelong licence in June 2001. I think the same kind of punishment for similar actions should be taken even when the offender is young. Where I live the age of criminal responsibility is 15 years, so if those boys had been Norwegian, they would become a case for child care services, not the justice system. I don't know what the age of criminal responsibility is in Australia, but a 17 year old should be old enough to be tried as an adult for making and selling a bomb.


auntblabby is right. Bullying all comes down to survival of the strongest. Those who are seen as weak are a waste of resources, so they will be attempted culled. Some baby animals prevent one of their siblings to eat so the rest become stronger while one dies. It's not a conscious thing in humans (or other animals) but the issue is the same. That which is Weak or Other is a waste of resources and to preserve Us, They must perish. It's an evolutionary thing but has nothing to do with Darwin or his observations. It's not that long ago that abnormal children would be killed off or abandoned by their own parents and said to be changelings.

That is horrible. No one, but no one has a right to do that to another person and no one, but no one, deserves it.

That person who did it sounds like a psychopath and I hope they will be put in prison for a very long time.

I also hope his parents sue the man or his family, although I don't normally believe in lawsuits, this was deliberate maiming for no reason at all! (I could almost understand something like revenge, even though it would be just as bad.) Just maiming an innocent, trusting person.

Yes this is attempted murder, successful maiming, and the perpetrator shows complete disregard for human life, and psychopathy.

What the authorities are saying in their lack of action on this, is, 'he doesn't matter.' Well even if that is the case in their minds, do they think a person like that perpetrator is safe for society??

I can't help but think of the Boston bombings, or the guy who shot up the Batman viewing.

If I were in charge I would immediately lock the perpetrator away in a darkened room with only a tiny bit of light coming from overhead.

I would leave him there alone, for life.

I would not remove his hands, as I did say and mean that no one deserves that. But, I would make his environment such that he would have to think about what it is like to live without use of hands.

For instance, no eating utensils and food at the bottom of a very shallow and deep bowl or tube. It would be too heavy or slick or weighted strangely so that he couldn't just tip it to get the food out.

Shower, toilet, everything would be the same way: Very difficult to use, even if you have hands, those wouldn't help you use them. For the rest of his life.

That is what he's sentenced this innocent person to, so it seems fitting.

Aye, this.

There are times when I think the punishments for stuff is either not enough, or just not the right punishment.

For example, sexual crimes like rape. Some guy does that? NEUTER HIM. It'll certainly be a better deterrent than "may or may not be locked in a room for awhile".


For a crime as completely evil as this one? In addition to being locked in a box forever, have a horse kick him in the kneecaps a bunch of times. Then, maybe a few to the crotch. Later on, when he's healed up sufficiently.... back to the horse for more kicks. And then back in the box. And maybe you have this huge guy go in to randomly punch him every now and then.

Instead, even if the guy had been caught red-handed, the screwed up law system still might not send him to prison like he should be, or they might not send him for long, or stuff like that, because DERP. And because lawyers. Sigh.

And you're right, this really does seem to happen alot to people on the spectrum. They're often seen as easy targets by bullies and other nasty types. Bloody stupid, the whole thing.

I remember refusing to take offered food and drink when I was a kid because I was scared of people trying to do things like this to me. I don't remember any actual incident of this happening except for someone offering a stick of gum with a little mousetrap thing on it, a little weak one like something you would buy in Spencers. Annoying but not really bullying or dangerous.

I do believe things like this are or can be bullying. It's one thing if it's a harmless prank among good friends as a "fun" little joke amongst many positive interactions but doing this to someone who you barely know or don't really like (such as the kid at school that everyone bullies and hates) is definitely bullying.

Telling people to "grow a thicker skin" is just an excuse to continue and get away with bullying. Not everyone can just "grow a thicker skin." For some people that is about as realistic as asking them to stop being autistic.

Yeah, but there'd be one difference: The autie kid is used to dealing with a crazy world set up for people who aren't him. I bet, just to survive, he's already had to be creative and probably a lot tougher than he knew he could be--even before he lost his hands. I just hope his family doesn't treat him like a helpless baby. They're doing a lot of good things with prosthetics nowadays and if he's given time to experiment, a decent PT to teach him, given time, he'll be okay. Whereas, if there's any justice in the world, the guy who did this to him is going to prison and will forever have "Felon" stamped on his forehead.

the real justice will be when the perpetrator of this outrage is out of this world dealing with a higher court.

Is it just me or have these little jokers these days lost their mind? I'm in my late 30s and I don't remember kids being this sadistic back when I was young. Yeah, they would bully but to do something so injurious to someone was just not thought of. These kids sound like little socio-paths who needed reigning in a long time ago but their parents were too irresponsible or in denial to do anything.