Forced choice: which news story this week bothers you the most and why?

I’m worried about the long term consequences of what happened in Afghanistan. I have this oppressive feeling that it could be the tinder for a conflagration (as if the current situation wasn’t unsettled enough!).

From American soldier goes on a murder rampage, I’m bothered more now by the, as you said, kill Kony Campaign. I only saw a minute of news analysis on this issue. I know there is an internet video sensation but haven’t seen it. But all the talk reminded me of articles read years ago about children asked to kill their own parents. Someone less than the fecal matter that animals produce could only do that to kids and their parents.

With a nephew in Afghanistan right now, that story is gnawing at me. The story of the children in France is seemingly related to the mess in Afghanistan and reading the details was devastating. I am glad that the French authorities have found the suspect and I hope and pray no one else gets hurt in the standoff. The truth is though that before I even read the choices the Trayvon Martin case was the first thing I thought of. It is so horrible that this unarmed young man could be gunned down in his own neighborhood solely because (whether we want to admit it or not) of the color of his skin. I believe that, had the boy been white, the neighborhood watch captain would have held his fire.

I was definately bothered when I heard about the American Soldier rampage in Afganistan. What would possess him to do such a thing? I’m worried that they may retaliate on the other soldiers.
I know this didn’t happen recently but I was upset by the two 12 yr old boys that tossed the shopping cart off the overpass in NYC and hit that woman. She has permanent damage and head trauma and the only punishment they got was going to a foster home.

In terms of my personal involvement, it’s a toss-up between Trayvon Martin and maniac in Afghanistan (MIA).

I have friends in the military. So any backlash from MIA could affect them. Also, my taxes pay for our little Middle-east adventure, so an extended or reduced occupation will affect my and my children’s overall tax burden.

The Trayvon Martin case could have wide-spread cultural and legal ramifications, especially if the killer goes unpunished. I predict riots similar to LA in ‘92 or Watts in ‘65 if the bad-cop wannabe get’s off. Also, that would set a dangerous precedent making the act of murder much harder to prosecute in many situations.

None of the above. I just read (New York Times) that every 2 seconds a football field sized forest of trees is destroyed. We are going to make the planet unlivable and that may destroy us faster than any evil activity of man or men against man. I am appalled at the prospect and glad I’m at the relative end instead of beginning of my life. It’s a very depressing prospect.

I second that @Sunny2

Definitely the gunman who killed children and a teacher at a Toulouse school. BBC link

The America soldier killing innocents in Afghanistan disturbed me a lot too but I thought that was a couple of weeks ago now?! This worries me not only because innocent people were murdered but also that it could cause a massive backlash in the west.

Trayvon Martin, because the systematic racial discrimination is widespread in America, where I actually live.

All these news stories hurt my heart, but the circumstances surrounding Trayvon Martin hit closest to home for obvious reasons. America claims to be the greatest nation in the world, but non-Whites are fucked over every day in ways that are both big and small.
The happenings with the pricks police involved in Occupy Wall Street are also horrible.

AB and D. I think that Kony is guilty of horrible crimes but he is no different than most of the leadership in that part of Africa. Anyone that tortures children needs to die.

I’m with @Sunny2. The weather here is my main concern. Global warming is still being questioned? OMG! It’s March and our high today is normal for the middle to end of June.

I’m mad as hell that some men may not be removing their hats in restaurants.

There should be a law against that.

The shooting of Trayvon Martin just makes me crazy.
That asshole who shot him was hunting for someone to shoot. It’s just wrong, and the existing laws made him feel justified.
The Afganistan soldier wasn’t wrongheaded, he seems to be suffering from a mental problem.
The Israeli student killer is a terrorist.
The Kony thing is just weird.

You know what? I lied. The Kony 2012 thing bugs me more, because it’s really big on my campus, and it really infuriates me. Sorry, I read that one as just “Kony” the first time. I seem to be having reading problems today.

@CWOTUS “I’m mad as hell that some men may not be removing their hats in restaurants.” Wrong question.

All four of those are heart breaking, but I’m not sure they have the type of far reaching consequences that the latest huge CSU salary hikes in the wake of raises in student fees and severe cut backs in enrollment.

Much of the news I see in past months follows predictions in the 1960’s of the consequences of overpopulation.

It’s hard to pick most bothersome. All are horrible paths for humans to take. As some above have suggested, all of these are related. There is the underlying issue of who’s got money for the desired necessities of life and who is willing to kill to possess or dispossess the have and have not status.

I once met a woman who repeatedly affirmed that mental efforts paid off. If she wanted a parking spot in a particular location, she would envision it and it would be there. She was trying to use this simplistic example to motivate people to reach their goals. Her point was that positive mental efforts would pay off, sooner or later.

The flip side is also true, negative mental efforts have a cost that is extracted from all of us, sooner or later.

I was going to say the Trayvon Martin shooting and the police shrugging it off as no big deal. If all you have to say in Florida is “I felt threatened” and that lets you shoot someone, it would be open season on murder. Don’t like your neighbor because he got a fancier car than you. Kill him, then say you felt threatened. We all know that’s not how it works. If your neighbor is white, you can’t just shoot him.

But @Sunny2 changed my mind. The destructin of our planet is really the bigger story.

1. the killing of Trayvon Martin. Why was this madman allowed to be carrying a gun and playing cop?
2. the killing of the children (their religion is irrelevant to me) in Toulouse. Another madman with a different target.
3. kill Kony. I thought we believed in the violence begets violence theory, inciting kids to kill anyone does not seem like a good idea.
4. Another madman with a different target. No different than any other madman, this one just happens to be wearing a uniform. I don’t excuse it but it is war, every other day an afghan soldier goes nuts and shoots americans or australians, etc.

When will man stopping killing each other for whatever reason?

“As global leaders prepared to travel to Seoul for a nuclear security summit meeting, North Korea warned Wednesday that any criticism of its nuclear weapons program would be considered a ‘declaration of war.’”

Sigh!

It’s all absolutely heartbreaking. Of the choices you gave, I have to go with Trayvon Martin. That the shooter has not been charged is a travesty.

Of the four choices, the Trayvon Martin murder is the only “local” issue. Everything else crosses boarders.

They’re all horrible, but Trayvon and his family have been foremost in my mind all week.