Comments on: Be thankful for law and order.

Be thankful for law and order.

h00dini — Thu, 25 Mar 2004 10:59:01 -0800

By: h00dini

h00dini — Thu, 25 Mar 2004 11:00:18 -0800

Personally, I think it might be justified in this case. The crime is heinous enough and the perpetrator would just have been a burden to taxpayers anyway. It's worrying that this type of thing is sanctioned by the authorities though.

By: thomcatspike

thomcatspike — Thu, 25 Mar 2004 11:08:54 -0800

NSFLunch. Besides the broken english the article is hard reading with the gruesome accounts.

By: bunktone

bunktone — Thu, 25 Mar 2004 11:29:30 -0800

This is why we need stricter machete laws. Like waiting periods and licensing. If stuff like this keeps happening, machetes should be outlawed!

By: chicobangs

chicobangs — Thu, 25 Mar 2004 11:53:17 -0800

bunktone, if machetes are outlawed, only outlaws will have machetes. What a horrible story. I don't know enough about the Jamaican legal system to know what kind of justice the guy would have received, but -- there's no winners in that story at all. Damn.

By: maceo

maceo — Thu, 25 Mar 2004 12:28:21 -0800

Can anyone explain the last sentence to me? Him just always watch what others have and if him did mad, a him bad mind mad him.

By: owillis

owillis — Thu, 25 Mar 2004 12:37:14 -0800

Translation: He was always covetous of others possesions, and if he was crazy he has nobody to blame but himself (or his own mind). In principle I'm against this sort of thing, but the slothlike nature of Jamaican law sort of makes it necessary from time to time. Better that than a criminal like that getting off on a technicality, I say.

By: adamms222

adamms222 — Thu, 25 Mar 2004 12:52:25 -0800

In these crazy times, I like to stop and think, What Would Tosh Do?

By: dabitch

dabitch — Thu, 25 Mar 2004 13:22:33 -0800

omg!

By: bingbangbong

bingbangbong — Thu, 25 Mar 2004 13:55:51 -0800

thomcatspike: that's not broken English, it's Jamaican Patois - the mix of English, French and African languages that Jamaicans speak.

By: Keyser Soze

Keyser Soze — Thu, 25 Mar 2004 14:05:00 -0800

What a sharp thing to do.

By: bluishorange

bluishorange — Thu, 25 Mar 2004 14:20:46 -0800

bingbangbong: it's possible that thomcatspike was referring to the article's grammatical errors, not to the quotes. The deep wrinkles suggests and age even older than her 66. Yesterday men drank in the community bars. All round people discussed the previous night's events. And drank. Soon after Haase saw two of his other sisters walking on the road with his young nieces. The six-year-olds. and so forth. that's what made it hard to read for me anyway.

By: adamms222

adamms222 — Thu, 25 Mar 2004 14:25:11 -0800

but the Patois quotes were heard to read... don't most journalists paraphrase slang and dialect to some extent when quoting? a NY Times article will modify so-called "ebonics" or "Spanglish" in their articles. NPR does a lot of editing of their soundbytes (which is why every interviewee sounds not only poised and articulate but also grammatically and structurally parallel)

By: dejah420

dejah420 — Thu, 25 Mar 2004 14:27:33 -0800

Besides the broken english... thomcatspike Oh, the irony. ;)

By: tsarfan

tsarfan — Thu, 25 Mar 2004 14:34:47 -0800

so since the whole town murdered Wiseman, which i assume is illegal, does the whole town go to jail? or is the town off the hook because they were acting in self defense? also, why would these people drink when they could easilly just light one up? thats what i would do. i mean, if it were legal.

By: dabitch

dabitch — Thu, 25 Mar 2004 14:41:42 -0800

I honestly didn't have a big problem reading it, just read slower, and maybe out loud like you'd do with Finnegans wake. I did have a real hard time reading about a crazy man who probably couldn't get any kind of treatment, dead babies and children, and no justice at all. Tragic. Just tragic. And he warned them he might do this already on Sunday? Oh man.

By: owillis

owillis — Thu, 25 Mar 2004 18:43:24 -0800

It was kind of weird that the patois wasn't clarified in the text. The Gleaner, which is the real Jamaican daily newspaper, usually does this. (the story reads quite differently on their site) There's going to be an investigation, and rightly so. But to be realistic, I don't think anyone is going to do much time. FYI: Most Jamaicans are not regular marijuana users, and they get a little tired of American tourists bugging them for it constantly.