• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

UPDATE: Lawton teen films himself abusing cat, posts on YouTube

RightOfCenter

Dangerous Spinmaster
DP Veteran
Joined
Dec 24, 2005
Messages
4,736
Reaction score
824
Location
South Dakota
Gender
Male
Political Leaning
Libertarian
KSWO, Lawton, OK- Wichita Falls, TX: News, Weather, Sports. ABC, 24/7, Telemundo - UPDATE: Lawton teen films himself abusing cat, posts on YouTube
Lawton_An animal abuse story that has sparked outrage across the country has Comanche County Sheriff Kenny Stradley saying that two local boys are responsible. The teen was filmed beating and torturing a cat, and uploaded it to YouTube over the weekend. It was viewed about 30,000 times.

7News telephones rang of the hook, and Reporter Robert Richardson took a number of the calls. Viewers read that the abuse happened in Lawton, and YouTube deleted the video, along with the user's account on Sunday. Edited portions - featuring ‘Timmy' lead his camera operating friend inside a shower where a cat lay waiting for its fate.

The boy picked up the cat in what he called his ‘laboratory' and slammed it against the wall and floor before striking it with his fists.

If you can find this video online, it is quite shocking. Now, I know what you're thinking, "But ROC this is really just shock media! Yeah it sucks for the cat, but its really not any worse than the stories about kidnapped/murdered/molested kids that get posted on here over 9000 times a day. Well let me tell you how this is different and I thought it would make for some good discussion.

Lately I've been spending a lot of time on a board called 4chan.com's Random or /b/ board. The site allows users to post anonymously. This leads to posts of gore, pornography, child pornography, bestiality, but mostly utter randomness. It's become a site of inside jokes and racial and sexual slurs that spread across the Internet. Ever told someone on this board that there post "was fail?" You got it from /b/, you just don't know it. Users constantly refer to each other as "faggot" and tell posters who don't make interesting posts to post "TITS" or "GTFO."

This website has spun a strange sort of sub-culture callings itself "Anonymous." Anonymous is basically a group of Internet pranksters that pull of practical jokes online and in real life. Their acts include raiding the social networking site Habbo Hotel, Hacking into an epilepsy forum and replacing the background with randomly flashing lights and colors, and sending prank calls and death threats to McKay Hatch, the starter of a national No Cussing Club. Anonymous refers to itself as the "Internet Hate Machine" and their motto is "We do not forgive. We do not forget. Expect Us."

As cruel as some of their actions might be yesterday I witnessed in real time the actions they did to bust the sick child who abused his cat and posted videos of it on youtube. They tracked down his youtube account, myspace, facebook and discovered evidence matching him to the video he posted. They discovered his home address and informed PETA, local law enforcement, and his school. In the aftermath both children in the video were arrested and the cat was taken to an animal shelter.

My question to you, DP, is what do you think about this? Is this kind of Internet vigilantism OK?
 
KSWO, Lawton, OK- Wichita Falls, TX: News, Weather, Sports. ABC, 24/7, Telemundo - UPDATE: Lawton teen films himself abusing cat, posts on YouTube


If you can find this video online, it is quite shocking. Now, I know what you're thinking, "But ROC this is really just shock media! Yeah it sucks for the cat, but its really not any worse than the stories about kidnapped/murdered/molested kids that get posted on here over 9000 times a day. Well let me tell you how this is different and I thought it would make for some good discussion.

Lately I've been spending a lot of time on a board called 4chan.com's Random or /b/ board. The site allows users to post anonymously. This leads to posts of gore, pornography, child pornography, bestiality, but mostly utter randomness. It's become a site of inside jokes and racial and sexual slurs that spread across the Internet. Ever told someone on this board that there post "was fail?" You got it from /b/, you just don't know it. Users constantly refer to each other as "faggot" and tell posters who don't make interesting posts to post "TITS" or "GTFO."

This website has spun a strange sort of sub-culture callings itself "Anonymous." Anonymous is basically a group of Internet pranksters that pull of practical jokes online and in real life. Their acts include raiding the social networking site Habbo Hotel, Hacking into an epilepsy forum and replacing the background with randomly flashing lights and colors, and sending prank calls and death threats to McKay Hatch, the starter of a national No Cussing Club. Anonymous refers to itself as the "Internet Hate Machine" and their motto is "We do not forgive. We do not forget. Expect Us."

As cruel as some of their actions might be yesterday I witnessed in real time the actions they did to bust the sick child who abused his cat and posted videos of it on youtube. They tracked down his youtube account, myspace, facebook and discovered evidence matching him to the video he posted. They discovered his home address and informed PETA, local law enforcement, and his school. In the aftermath both children in the video were arrested and the cat was taken to an animal shelter.

My question to you, DP, is what do you think about this? Is this kind of Internet vigilantism OK?

I watched the video and it is extremely hard to watch. If anybody is stupid enough to do something like that to a cat let alone post it on the internet they deserve everything they get. I only hope that someday someone does to this kid what he did to the poor cat.

I've heard of 4chan before and this isn't the first time they've engaged in internet vigilantism.
 
I've heard of 4chan before and this isn't the first time they've engaged in internet vigilantism.
It's not. They do this from time to time. They've stopped school shootings. They've caught pedophiles. This is just a very concrete example and I was really startled to actually see it in action. It worked quickly. They had the cat out of the house in a matter of hours.
 
It's not. They do this from time to time. They've stopped school shootings. They've caught pedophiles. This is just a very concrete example and I was really startled to actually see it in action. It worked quickly. They had the cat out of the house in a matter of hours.

Well, good for them. I personally applaud them. To me this says that law enforcement needs to stay on the up and up as far as the online world goes. These guys worked faster and were more apt than law enforcement. Kudos to them. I hope the little bastards who filmed it get what they deserve.
 
My question to you, DP, is what do you think about this? Is this kind of Internet vigilantism OK?

They located information that the kid voluntarily posted on pubic websites and immediately turned it over to the proper authorities. What would be wrong with what they did?
 
It's actually nice to see that there is more to 4chan than childish pranks and internet memes.
 
They located information that the kid voluntarily posted on pubic websites and immediately turned it over to the proper authorities. What would be wrong with what they did?

His information wasn't public. He didn't put his name on the internet. They found him through being pretty damn sneaky. They found his address by calling the police department, or so I've read.
 
His information wasn't public. He didn't put his name on the internet. They found him through being pretty damn sneaky. They found his address by calling the police department, or so I've read.
I am okay with it, as long as they are using their well known hacking and phishing skills for benevolent purposes.
 
So what if he would have posted the video on 4chon.com instead of youtube?

Sounds like cat torture would be something right up their alley.

I'm grateful that I don't get any of this. All I know is that I never want to see a video of a cat being tortured.
 
His information wasn't public. He didn't put his name on the internet. They found him through being pretty damn sneaky. They found his address by calling the police department, or so I've read.

It's too bad that law enforcement agencies aren't this crafty and quick.

What do you find wrong with it? Don't you think that the guy deserves what he gets?
 
I'm grateful that I don't get any of this. All I know is that I never want to see a video of a cat being tortured.

You definitely don't. I wish I could go back in time and have the common sense to not watch that. My curiosity always ends up winning, though.
 
thanks fag, now im addicted to /b/...

Hehe, i'm joking of course! The site is kind of ****ed up though, and moderation is lacking supply.

Crazy world we live in, although i do respect the openness of the site...
 
It's too bad that law enforcement agencies aren't this crafty and quick.

What do you find wrong with it? Don't you think that the guy deserves what he gets?

Law enforcement agencies are bound by rules that make our justice system work rather than become an out of control witchhunt.

I am not in agreement with allowing vigilantes of any type solve crimes or in giving them any legitimacy with the police force at all. That's how mobs get started.
 
Am I the only one who thought 'Psychopath'.....
 
Easy case here. What you do is tie the guy down on a gurney, strip off his clothes, tie a live mouse to his wanger, let a cat in the room, and put the video of what happens next up on You Tube. :mrgreen:
 
Last edited:
My question to you, DP, is what do you think about this? Is this kind of Internet vigilantism OK?

I think it's perfectly fine. This not a case of "vigilantism" because they didn't take the law into their own hands. They used their internet savvy to assist law enforcement in tracking down a pathetic son of a bitch who likes to torture animals.

Nothing to see here folks, move along.
 
Last edited:
I think it's perfectly fine.

I'm surprised and I will tell you why. I would have thought that allowing vigilantes to insinuate themselves into any case would run a high risk of tainting the evidence in that case to the point of making it impossible to prosecute it.
 
I'm surprised and I will tell you why. I would have thought that allowing vigilantes to insinuate themselves into any case would run a high risk of tainting the evidence in that case to the point of making it impossible to prosecute it.

Well, they do have video of the guy doing it, but he's wearing a mask.
 
I'm surprised and I will tell you why. I would have thought that allowing vigilantes to insinuate themselves into any case would run a high risk of tainting the evidence in that case to the point of making it impossible to prosecute it.

See my above post. But to expand upon yours, it's not tainted because they were not actively engaged as agents of law enforcement. Therefore there is nothing that was provided that was protected under the constitution in terms of what can be used as evidence in a court of law. Further, and I obviously don't have all the details, but from what is available there was no invasion of privacy here. It was a simple act of culling various internet resources and putting 2 and 2 together. That's more of a good Samaritan incident than an act of vigilantism. These people didn't track the kids down and restrain them or beat them or take punitive action against them. They simply led law officers down the electronic trail to this kids "laboratory."

My opinion and based solely on what's currently available. Caveat emptor, YMMV, Caution: contents extremely hot, and all that.
 
Well, they do have video of the guy doing it, but he's wearing a mask.

So he is wearing a mask, too? What happens when the defense attorney starts prosecuting the investigation, which demonstrably was handled by a vigilante internet group with a proclivity for internet bullying and other shenanigans?
 
So he is wearing a mask, too? What happens when the defense attorney starts prosecuting the investigation, which demonstrably was handled by a vigilante internet group with a proclivity for internet bullying and other shenanigans?

The case is going to require much more than this video. All these internet sleuths did was give the cops a starting point. Investigative subpoenas, search warrants, and good police work will fill in the blanks. If the cops close this case properly the judge won't care what these guys did because nobody's rights were violated and the jury will be mortified by the video of the suspect torturing the animal. The video and the facebook entries were placed in the public domain, and the right to privacy disappears. One could argue inevitable discovery.

If this guy they are looking at isn't the bad guy, the police investigation will clear him.
 
The case is going to require much more than this video. All these internet sleuths did was give the cops a starting point. Investigative subpoenas, search warrants, and good police work will fill in the blanks. If the cops close this case properly the judge won't care what these guys did because nobody's rights were violated and the jury will be mortified by the video of the suspect torturing the animal. The video and the facebook entries were placed in the public domain, and the right to privacy disappears. One could argue inevitable discovery.

If this guy they are looking at isn't the bad guy, the police investigation will clear him.

I think a good defense attorney could argue the lack of other suspects being looked at, the questionable character of their "good samaritans", etc.
 
Back
Top Bottom