Videos of homeless beatings spike on YouTube

Videos of homeless people being beaten or forced into humiliating acts are increasingly popular online, leading some US lawmakers to seek harsher penalties for hate crimes against the poor, reports The Sydney Morning Herald.

Deeply disturbing:

In July, nearly 86,000 degrading videos of homeless people were posted on YouTube --- 15,000 more than a year earlier -- according to an NCH count.

No less than 5700 of the posts -- 1400 more than in April 2008 -- showed self-proclaimed "bum fights". In these the homeless were pushed to battle each other in return for a pack of beer or a few dollars but also to the amusement of those shooting the videos or watching them.

Homeless Man Beaten on Tape Dies (AP/YouTube)

emily | 9:59 AM | YouTube |
The Permanent Link to this page is: http://www.textually.org/tv/archives/2009/08/024337.htm

Tweet