Disturbing sight I saw while riding home from work

[CatWoman]

there were these two young boys, they looked like brothers, around 10 and 11 years old, playing in their yard.

The yard was facing the street, and I had stopped at the light.

One brother was brandishing a rifle, aiming it at the cars lined up at the light, pretending to shoot at the cars while his brother egged him on. The brother was waving a miniature American flag.

What I found most disturbing is that those kids looked like they were of middle eastern descent.

I don't know if the rifle was real or not, but it appeared to be a b-b-rifle or something like that.

I must have been staring pretty hard at them because I was oblivious to the fact that the light had turned green until the driver in the car behind me kept blowing his horn.

[angstlessk]

1. How can you tell they were of Middle Eastern descent...moustaches?

beards? Head scarves?

Edit: Even the most liberal DU'ers are falling for the 'war on civilization'...don't do it!

[CatWoman]

2. the complexion

and the headwear

since when does 10 year old kids have moustaches? beards?

and if you'll note, I said, "looked like"

[bahrbearian]

8. I have brown skin I'm not middle eastern ,,I'm Native american.

I'm allways confused with Latinos, Maybe the should have had bows and arrows,

[CatWoman]

9. do you wear one of these?

[bahrbearian]

23. That looks like something from North Africa not the Middle East

[CatWoman]

26. I couldn't find the headgear in question, so I googled

"middle eastern headgear"

take it up with Google.

And the hats they were wearing were white.

[bahrbearian]

29. Are you talking about some kids in a sailor hat and a toy gun..

or are you just paranoid,, come on thats what kid that age do .. Cowboy and Indians,,, Cops and Robber's its been going on for a while... relax, or call the police!

[Warren Stupidity]

27. Heck its all the same right?

[bahrbearian]

28. Good lets bomb Dar fur,, Ethiopia,, Libya,, now we can expand the

WAR on TERROR.. be afraid ,,,,

[ikojo]

35. Many orthodox Jewish kids in my neighborhood

wear such headgear. Some Jews are quite dark and middle eastern appearing.

[CatWoman]

38. you know, I'm not about to take you guy's bait

I don't consider myself an authority, but I'm confident in my abilities to, well, um, know what I saw.

I'm trying very hard to choose my words carefully here, but what the hell - but I've fucked enough Jews and am able to distinguish them from other ethnic groups.

[Cleita]

10. People confuse you for being Latino because most of

the Latinos you see in this country are mestizo or mixed with some European, but mostly of indigenous blood from their locality. Most were converted by the Spaniards to Catholicism and much of their culture was lost, but they are native American as well.

[Warpy]

3. Actually, a call to the cops might be in order

The kids need to be instructed in gun safety, and RULE NUMBER ONE is you never point a gun at something you're not ready to shoot.

Plus, pointing it at traffic is just plain stupid. Intervention now might save these kids jail later.

BTW, what made you think they're Middle Eastern?

[CatWoman]

5. see above

[Truthiness Inspector]

6. I agree

Even if it's a toy gun, they could wind up pointing it at the wrong person and end up getting shot themselves.

I think advising the police department is very important.

[ikojo]

36. In some neighborhoods if a kid of any age

points a gun and a cop sees it, the kid is likely to be shot.

[LSparkle]

4. They were probably just "playing war" like in Baghdad ...

Shooting at cars (just like caravans, humvees). As "innocent" as that may seem, it's still a sick commentary and frightens me about how our kids are growing up in this "age of terror."

[sweetheart]

7. Give a kid a toy

Gosh, i remember being a kid, and shooting every bloody thing i could get my
hands on, because slingshots are fun, bb guns are fun, bows and arrows are fun,
and without proper supervision, of course the targets of the world are in motion.

Somebody gave those kids the toys they waz holding, jessa take them toyz away,
and replace them with a mountain bike and a 50 calibur semi-automatic, 6 barrelled,
vulcan beer cannon, and then see what the kids shoot. :-)

[MetaTrope]

11. If it ends up anything like my gun-collecting father's family...

one kid will be posting to DU in a couple of years, and the other will be driving out into the farmlands to drill in the militia...

[electprogdems]

12. it just blows my mind

how many "good respectable" parents give their preteen and teenage boys guns as some sort of puberty or right of passage gift. seriously.

i remember growing up in the 70's, no one who went to my high school carried a gun, or even attempted to bring a gun to school or even owned a gun. You just never never never heard of such a thing. My things have changed.

[Poppyseedman]

14. You post is a PHD

Piled high and deep.

Many "good respectable" parents give their preteen and teenage boys guns with a gun safety course.

I grew up in the early 70's as a teenager, many kids had rifles for hunting.

Of course, they were not idiots and brought their rifles to school because their parents taught them about guns and the proper use of them.

[electprogdems]

16. sorry but I disagree

I live in a big metro city - have had many conversations with my nieces and nephews about this. Amazing how many young men have guns these days (do they take a safety course? probably, that I do not know)

i also just had 30 year reunion - this was one of the subjects of conversation, again I will say, that in my city high school,in the 70"s, it was rare to never to hear about guns.

You also seem to think (without saying it), that I advocate some sort of gun control. I do not. I was only commenting on the changing times. My post in not a PHD, I only relate my experience. Your experience was definitely different.

[Poppyseedman]

19. Guns and rifles are way different animals

I can think of almost no reason for a kid to own a gun, an adult for self protection.

The original post was about kids owning/playing with rifles as to my point.

[bahrbearian]

33. I grew up is Seattle , I got a B,B gun at 15 ,, then i got a 22, at 16

then at 17 I went hunting.... call the cops.

[seabeyond]

13. having two boys that use bbguns in the yard.... good for you staring

them down. better even to roll window down, tell them to knock it off or you would get their parents. further, i oppose the easy answer of calling cops... at some point as a society we adults must take back our power in it takes a village to raise a child. i have never been disappointed in that stance and have always foudn it to be the best way of resolving solution. i have been firm around our neighborhood on expectation and i know the kids. and the same with the kids at the schools.

my boys would not ever get the guns back if they pointed it anywhere but the target. they know this. there is no question. and majority of parents will stand on the same grounds.

[bahrbearian]

34. Perfect ..even if they were toy guns at that age.

[seabeyond]

39. i have the same rule with toy guns.

my youngest didnt take me seriously years ago. i grabbed the thing and went flying across the room. then gt their only two and put them away for half a year. now they tell all there friends DONT point it at an adult.

the other day my friend was at the fair and a little boy point a pretend inflatable at her. she pretended to die, ooooh you got me. the mom went after the kid.... dont you be pointing that at people. told friend, good mom

most all adults are sensitive to this and a lot of moms dont want sons playing with guns or using real ones, but..... i matured to the point of saying i cannot deny boy being a boy, as much as we would like to say it isnt so. it is. just as "most" girls like to play with dolls. i respect the moms that dont allow, and i respect the mom that does, that insists on gun responsibility. i am also learning there is a lot of good that comes with adult teaching in gun responsibility

personally, i hate the suckers

[Warren Stupidity]

15. Oh my god call DHS!

I'm sorry but this post is wrong on so many levels. 10 year old kids with toy guns? Oh NO! "What I found most disturbing is that those kids looked like they were of middle eastern descent." You should be ashamed for posting that. let me phrase it this way: "luckily they were little white boys so I did not find this disturbing". Good grief.

You know what I find most disturbing? Our president is trying to legalize torture, abolish habeus corpus, institute star chamber secret tribunals, and scrap the genevea conventions, and he doesn't look like he is of middle eastern descent at all.

[CatWoman]

17. if it were little white boys aiming a gun at cars while waving a flag

I would be equally horrified.

if it were little black boys aiming a gun at cars while waving a flag

I would be equally horrified

if it were little asian boys aiming a gun at cars while waving a flag

I would be equally horrified

if it were little hispanic boys aiming a gun at cars while waving a flag

I would be equally horrified

Go jump in a lake.

don't forget your gun and your flag.

[Warren Stupidity]

18. Your words I quote there.

"What I found most disturbing is that those kids looked like they were of middle eastern descent." Those are your words.

[CatWoman]

20. yes, they are my words

and if had been white, black, asian, or hispanic, I would have found it equally disturbing.

[Warren Stupidity]

21. Maybe you meant something different

when you wrote "What I found most disturbing is that those kids looked like they were of middle eastern descent." But the plain meaning of those words is racist and repulsive.

[CatWoman]

22. ok, call me racist and repulsive

moving on here...........

[GoneOffShore]

30. You are neither

You were reporting what you saw.

I read your post and didn't get any racist implications, but rather a sense of horror that these boys were aiming at cars and waving a flag. That is the issue here.

I would have been on the phone to the cops first thing. Although I did like the idea of rolling down the window and saying that I would tell their parents.

[AngryOldDem]

25. Don't mean to speak for CatWoman....

...she speaks very eloquently for herself. But personally, my first thought when I read her post was that we sure are winning the hearts and minds of people of Middle Eastern descent both **here** and abroad, aren't we?

[SheilaT]

24. Even BB guns

can do a remarkable amount of damage.

What they looked like is irrelevant. You should have called the cops. A little gun safety instruction is in order.

[bahrbearian]

31. Never run with Scissors.. that Tooth Pick could poke your eye out,

Be Afraid,,, be very afraid.

[SheilaT]

43. No. I'm not being

like that.

BB guns from 40 or more years ago were quite harmless. Modern ones can easily put out an eye, break windows. They are not toys.

I am the least be afraid person. I'm constantly getting after people for being afraid to speak out, to put a bumper sticker on their car. But I repeat, BB guns are not toys, and should not be treated as such. Plus, all guns, even BB guns, need to be treated with respect.

[H2O Man]

32. But how do we know

it was you in the car? Can you google the hat you were wearing? My hat is often mistaken for someone elses. What if K-Mart sold hats that were supposed to look like North African, but they were really made by sailors in southeast Asia?

[CatWoman]

37. Have I told you lately that I love you?

:rofl:

:hi:

[Generic Brad]

40. Why would that be disturbing?

I did similar things when I was young and I grew up to be a non-gun toting pacifist. Just write it off as kids being kids.

But if the rifle was loaded and they were shooting people, that would have been an entirely different story.

[CatWoman]

41. did your brother or sister accompany you waving a flag?

[Generic Brad]

42. I can't say that they did

They would have been hiding in some bushes planning to faux ambush me.

[Horse with no Name]

44. I know some want to be really obtuse

but I understand what you are saying.
What scares me though...is that some redneck will drive by and see these boys that look to be mideastern descent with guns and decide to fight freedom right here in Texas.
What are their parents thinking?:shakinghead: