"Give me your money, or I'll kill you"

[Drake Tungsten]

Great way of twisting my words and intents to suit your purposes, Drake. You oughta apply for a job in the tabloids.

Tabloids? Screw that. I'm holding out for a job at the Grey Lady; my skills seem to be held in high regard there.

BTW, Drake, what's your job/profession?

I'm a high-school English teacher in Japan at the moment. Not really my profession, though; more of a diversion before I go back to school. Not sure what my future profession will be. In college, I worked for the student newspaper and thought that maybe I'd like to work in journalism, but the last few years have disabused me of those notions. If I want to work in a dishonest profession that is despised by the public, I might as well become a lawyer and at least have money to comfort me...

I'd like to know so, based on you alone, I can stereotype the entire damn thing.

My stereotypes are hardly based on one person or incident. I'm sorry that your profession is filled with ill-informed hacks and downright charlatans; you seem like a nice enough guy and it must be frustrating to see your work and that of your peers sullied by the ill-advised behavior of many of your nominal betters. I sincerely hope you come out alright when public distrust and Craigslist finally finish off the print media. Best of luck.

[Gatekeeper]

Hmm. Half my job already revolves around the Internet, Drake. Odds are, more of it will migrate there as the years progress.

Nice thing about that is I might actually get more time to edit copy, since I won't necessarily have to lay out physical pages at the same time. By editing, I mean catching grammar mistakes, factual errors, nipping legal questions in the bud by rewriting parts of stories so we don't get sued and, in general, making the copy better all-around. Of course, that might end up being a pipe dream if the focus on the bottom line continues to take precedence over newsroom concerns.

In the meantime, I think we might all better pray no one ever manages to disrupt or take down the Internet, 'cause if that happens, it isn't just going to be journalism that's in a world of hurt.

Gatekeeper

P.S. I had good teachers in high school and college. Making a difference in a child's life is truly a laudable thing. That same desire — to make lives better and to hold governments and powerful people/industries accountable — permeates much of "real" journalism as well.

P.P.S. "Follow the money. Therein lies your story." If more folks were to do this IRL, a lot of scoundrels out there wouldn't get away with squat.

[Drake Tungsten]

Hmm. Half my job already revolves around the Internet, Drake. Odds are, more of it will migrate there as the years progress.

Smart man...

[DanS]

Originally posted by kittenOFchaos
Oh me, my stereotypes are taking over.

Given no information to suggest it, I have pictured these criminals as black. The sad thing is that it is so often the case and this just sounds it doesn't it?

In this case, no stereotypes are needed. At least one of the carjackers is black.

But, as mentioned by KrazyKitty, the demographics of Northeast DC, NW DC near Howard University and the Prince George's county suburbs would make it likely. Furthermore, hardcore violence like this in DC normally isn't of the white-on-white or white-on-black variety. Black-on-white hardcore violence isn't as common as you might imagine, either. I guess that adds a little to the newsworthiness of it all (assuming that at least some of the victims are white). These folks were more brazen than your run-of-the-mill criminals.

[BlackCat]

I'm a bit puzzled - why didn't any of the victims shoot these criminals ?

[Japher]

not all American's carry guns that don't jam

[BlackCat]

you have a point there, but how do they know that their gun are going to jam if they try to use it ?