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Old 03-17-2008, 09:20 PM   #8
Keith Larman
Dojo: AIA, Los Angeles, CA
Location: California
Join Date: Apr 2005
Posts: 1,604
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Re: Very Disturbing news about Clint George

Quote:
Aaron Finney wrote: View Post
I guess I'm a little surprised that a google news search doesn't pull up any other references besides this one article.
Why is that surprising at all? Helena, Montana isn't exactly a large metropolitan area with multiple large media outlets. Things like this happen virtually daily in small towns across the country and world. Few get reported beyond local papers, police blotters, etc. And only major cases that "catch the eye" of the major news orgs make it into the larger news feeds.

Just read through any smaller local newspaper and you'll see story after story of abuse, assaults, robberies, etc. Heck, I get the local paper here in Pasadena (the Star News) and the vastly larger Los Angeles Times. The Star News will list stories of local crimes and stories of local interest. Most of those never even make it to the LA Times even though it also covers the area. So many stories (including some just like this one) never make it beyond even the local paper. And just because it is of interest to us as Aikido practitioners doesn't mean it is of any news "significance" on any larger scale. Unfortunately stories like these are a dime a dozen.

No, we shouldn't assume guilt. We shouldn't assume anything. That includes the motivations of the reporters. These are serious charges. Very serious charges. And apparently sufficient evidence existed to obtain a search warrant. Beyond that obviously none of us know any more.

I hope it turns out to be totally false for everyone involved.

These things *do* happen. And they happen too often. And many times they continue to happen precisely because people won't talk about it. Avoiding the uncomfortable discussion only serves to allow it to grow.

We are adults. We can discuss things. Innocence before being proven guilty is a marvelous legal construct which is invaluable in context of our legal system. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't be talking about it and making sure we're doing whatever we can in our own realm of influence to make sure we don't create an environment that allows it to exist.

Yes, let's be circumspect in this case as there is little known. But the fact that we're talking about it all over again (and it occurs in other arts as well) should be a wake up call.

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