Randy Cassingham's Blog

Posted by Neil, Cheshire, UK on November 5, 2011:

Well, for what it's worth, I saw this a while ago (I see it crops up in an list e-mail dated 23rd December last year, with the item dated November 27th 2010 and attributed to the AP) and immediately dismissed it as a joke, assuming no intelligent person would think that that was an account of an actual event.

Interestingly, that version gets the manager's name right and doesn't give the criminal's name, so if there was an agenda, it presumably wasn't the same one as in the case you saw.

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Thanks for the data points. It apparently has morphed over time, just as the Ed Freeman item has. -rc

Posted by Bonnie, Florida on November 5, 2011:

Too right. It is a shame but there are many people in this country who only see black people on the six o'clock news, on the daily perp walk. Unless the suspect is still loose it is irrelevant what color he is. Color is a helpful descriptive term when searching for someone. And please use color to mean color only and not as an indication of a foreign race of strange creatures. We are all members of the Human Race. We just have different levels of melanin present in our skins. And the Marines could have been of any color. It is their merits that make them MARINES.

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Exactly. I knew the suspect was black before the story came out, and ignored it because there was no relevance. Just as the reporter of the original story didn't comment on the Marines, who well could have been black, Asian, Hispanic, etc. -rc

Posted by Sue in Bremerton on November 5, 2011:

Well I bought into it the first few times I got it as an e-mail, because I TRUSTED the people who sent it to me. And I learned my lesson when other people didn't TRUST the things I sent them. Now I check almost everything I get that even sounds 'off'. Not surprisingly, THEY are bringing up things that should have been gone and forgotten, as though it was just today. Humans are too trusting, and some are just loving stirring the pot.

Posted by Bob - Victoria, BC on November 5, 2011:

"is there a hidden agenda behind it?" -- With the increasing frequency of these types of email stories of late, I am concerned that there is indeed a driving force with a hidden agenda behind them. Thank you for bringing this to our attention, and I urge everyone who receives these kind of emails to not just shrug and ignore them, but to correct them and send them back up the line. "For evil to triumph, all that is necessary is for good men to do nothing."

Posted by Erik, Charlotte, NC, USA on November 5, 2011:

This write-up epitomizes why I've followed you since I first read "Dumbth News" in my first issue of Skeptic back in 1999. Bravo, Randy, keep it up.

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I enjoyed doing the "Dumbth" column, originated by Steve Allen. -rc

Posted by Mike from Dallas on November 5, 2011:

For some unfathomable reason, there seems to be a widespread belief that our military is comprised of wild,uncontrollable hooligans that we "turn loose" upon the enemy and HOPE for the best. Witness the myth that a puppy is issued to each Marine in boot camp to care and nurture throughout the process. And upon graduation, one of the requirements is that the Marine be able to kill the dog that he's nurtured, to prove that he's sufficiently trained as a cold-blooded killer suitable for war.

The press is full of incidents in which individuals have engaged in improper, illegal, and criminal conduct in military service. They are punished, as are civilians, when it's found out. The military, out of necessity, is a highly disciplined force, and most enlistees adhere to the discipline. Or are summarily discharged quickly, often under dishonorable conditions.

NJP (non-judicial punishment, in lieu of court martial) in the Corps is particularly more severe than the other branches, which does not imply that any of them take it lightly. Even if civilian authorities did not charge Marines for excessive force, you can bet that their gunny sgt would! Article 134 of the UCMJ, Conduct prejudicial to the good image of the armed forces. Stockade time, and hefty fines, such as 3 months forfeiture of pay, not to mention demotion in rank, are all possibilities under NJP.

Just to add, for some reason again, there is an attitude that only social or intellectual rejects, those unable to acquire "real" jobs, are the only ones to enlist. Given that the US military is the most technologically advanced in the world, there is no room for dummies who can't learn. Since most enlistees typically have no college degree, the military invests in a LOT of training to bring them up to skill. Said training being the equivalent in many cases to an Associate or even Bachelor Degree in civilian life. It has been decades since civilian courts offered a defendant the choice of incarceration or enlistment in the Army. Today, a lack of high school diploma, or even a misdemeanor conviction, is sufficient to prevent one's chances for enlistment.

Posted by David, Virginia on November 5, 2011:

I get your point, and it's a shame someone felt the need to manipulate the story. I admit to passing this along, but to add another "data point": I actually generally skip right over the names of the perpetrators so I didn't even notice the phenomenon you're decrying; even if I'd read the names, I wouldn't have thought to stop and "decode" them for racial undertones. And as the first commenter posted, I hope everyone who is intelligent enough to read a few lines of text can tell it's a joke.

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While this isn't an urban legend debunking site, there are several, the most known being Snopes. Sure enough, after I wrote this, I found they did cover it. They did, however, miss the point I picked up on. -rc

Posted by Jim, NZ on November 6, 2011:

Thanks for the detailed follow-up. I got very annoyed with the constant re-posting of versions of this, with people making playground-fight-crowd comments saying it was a good thing. If they really think that bystanders (the Marines in this case) should be applauded for handing out disproportionate vigilante justice, then they should probably be happy to get rid of the whole presumption of innocence & legal system, and support pepper-spraying for ... well, just being in the wrong place at the wrong time. I'm much relieved to hear that the Marines in reality kept their response proportionate.

Posted by Tom B., Ohio on November 6, 2011:

While most of what Mike from Dallas says about the military is true, they have unfortunately lowered their standards in some ways. It is possible to get in to the Army with a felony conviction; my nephew did it over a decade ago.

And there were numerous reports during the first years of the Iraq war of the military needing to lower their standards in order to meet their recruiting requirements. They allowed both more serious legal convictions and higher ages to enlist. The fact they couldn't meet those needs was one of the reasons so many units had their time in Iraq and Afghanistan increased and their home time decreased.

Posted by Mike, Georgia on November 6, 2011:

Actually, I think it's far funnier that the Marines subdue a knife-armed suspect WITHOUT having to try too hard. When you're a Marine, you don't have to prove you're tough. Everyone just knows. :-)

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Good point. -rc