Scenario: Some guy is standing on the sidewalk outside your house...

[TCJ70]

...he has a ski mask on, a gun and is acting like a stereotypical robber. He even says he intends to break into your house. You see him out there and need to make a choice, call the police to report the guy, or play along with it since he's SO stereotypical and is most likely (bear these words in mind, most likely) just playing a trick on you.

This is essentially the same scenario the lady in the ACORN video who said she was just playing along faced. I'm guessing most people would have called the police on the guy outside the house, why should it be any different for people who come in to your office claiming to want to set a child prostitution business? I'm surprised at the number of people who don't think she should have called the cops.

See this thread to see what I'm talking about.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

1. Let's say it's late october and an oddly short person in a gorilla costume rings the bell.

Do you:

A: Answer the door?

B: Hide behind the couch and call animal control?

[lapfog_1]

3. Perfect!

[Mari333]

7. say its late december and a fat old white man in a red suit appears in your home

do you

1. ask him for an I.D. he may be from comcast

2. do not hesitate to blast at least 20 rounds into him

3. throw out the eggnog, its obviously gone bad

[Hello_Kitty]

11. Obviously the correct answer is C

C: Tell the guy in the gorilla costume how he can set up a brothel with underage girls and avoid detection.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

37. Stray gorillas are not funny.

My brother died that way.

[LaydeeBug]

30. OMG. I love you. series. Best. Reply. EVAH!!!! nt

[lapfog_1]

2. Nice try but no cigar.

That analogy is bullshit.

At NO TIME did the ACORN lady (or any of the ACORN people) feel threatened.

The one that claimed she killed her husband was playing them for laughs. It's called sarcasm.

As in "I know by the way you are dressed and the bullshit you are slinging that you are not really a pimp and a ho, so I'm going to tell you the most outrageous things imaginable and see if you are stupid enough to fall for it".

I might have done the same thing.

[TCJ70]

4. It's not about being threatened...

...and it doesn't matter what someone looks like. If someone expresses an interest in human trafficking for any purposes there's a problem that should be investigated, not played with.

[lapfog_1]

10. If someone is telling you a bullshit story

and you KNOW it's a bullshit story, is your first reaction to call the police?

And it really doesn't matter what the subject of the bullshit story is, does it?

"Dear Sir, I'm from the Nigerian embassy and I have $5 million dollars on deposit in a Swiss bank, Unfortunately, I cannot withdraw the funds at this time, could you..."

[elocs]

14. No, my first reaction is to show them the door and stop wasting my time. n/t

[lapfog_1]

17. So every time someone sends you the Nigerian scam

scam, you call the FBI to report fraud.

Because that is what you are accusing the ACORN worker in question of NOT doing.

Obviously she was having fun with them... watch the tape. Nothing she told them true. Just like what they told her.

She has a sense of humor, something that a large number of DUers seem to be lacking.

Too bad it will likely cause her to lose her job.

[Hello_Kitty]

19. And the employees in the 3 other offices?

They were having fun too? All of them?

[lapfog_1]

21. Each case is an individual case.

Otherwise you have to believe that the entire ACORN organization is into promoting child prostitution (which is what FOX and the producers of this charade would have you believe. And it looks like you are willing to be led down that garden path.

[Hello_Kitty]

26. Cut it out. I don't give a shit what FOX thinks of ACORN

I personally don't think very highly of them right now. I would never say that the organization condones child prostitution but they either don't have a policy in place to report any and all allegations of child abuse that are brought to their attention or they have one and aren't training their workers to follow it. I'm sorry but there are just some things that should be expected.

[elocs]

25. Ahh, reading comprehension can be so rare. Where did I say I would call anyone? Where?

Yeah, I thought so. In person I show them the door, or close it. Online I click spam and delete it unless it is phishing and then I report it. With the trouble that ACORN has had they could have done better with being more serious and sticking to the business at hand rather than attempting to be humorously clever.

[lapfog_1]

33. Again, it's not the trouble with "ACORN"

it's a few lower level employees.

Could some of these employees done a better job, sure.

And I don't fault the person having fun with what was an obvious attempt to bullshit her.

Which is too bad, I'm pretty sure she will be out of a job.

[Hello_Kitty]

15. The ACORN office in Philly called the police.

Those staffers still have their jobs today. Guess it was a good idea to call the police after all.

Of course it's not like they were faced with the false dilemma of either call the police or play along with the ruse. They could have gone with "I'm sorry we can't help you with that. Have a nice day." Now the RW would still have gone after ACORN with that - "OMG ACORN IGNORED CHILD PROSTITUTION!!1!1" - but the PR disaster would have been orders-of-magnitude less than it is now.

[oligarhy]

5. Amazing how the RWer's comments just jump out

Let's say a RWer comes onto DU and gives us a fictional scenario.

Do you call him out on it?

[TCJ70]

16. Character assassination...

...that'll win the day!

[wtbymark]

6. well, in New York if a person was outside and said that to me

I'd say, go for it, and wait till he entered the house and shoot him. But I don't live in NY anymore. So in Nevada I could probably just pick him off from the porch. What was your question?
onedit: badspell

[TxRider]

8. I live in Texas

First I'd thank him for the new sidewalk, there wasn't one in front of my house yesterday...

Then whip out my gun and drop him on the spot...

Then call the police to come lean up the mess....

[notesdev]

9. The excuse making has become bizarre

Is this some sort of Dadaist surreality explanation now?

When is it going to occur to you that if you have to go this far into fantasy scenario creation, what you hope to be true can't possibly be?

[TCJ70]

13. I don't think ACORN should be shut down or anything...

...and I saw earlier that ACORN will be doing its own investigation of the incidents, which is good. I just can't believe people are OK with someone being brushed off for claiming that they're participating in and want to cover up illegal activities. I'd have been on the phone immediately to some authorities about that one...if it turns out to be false, so what? I can't know that for sure.

[EmilyAnne]

12. I see the point you are trying to make, but its not a very good analogy.

The staffer should have been fired because she was obviously horsing around.
She should have sent them off and called police to report trespassing if they didn't leave.

The pimp and prostitute routine was so over-the-top absurd that she knew it was BS.
But, yes, she should have reported it just in case.
She made a bad decision with a whacked out sense of humor, but she's not some evil person who thinks child prostitution is a great thing.

[Hello_Kitty]

18. It's not like this was just one person, in one office.

4 offices at this point and several employees. I find it had to believe that they all have the same wry sense of humor.

[lapfog_1]

20. The situation that the OP is referring to

was ONE worker at ONE office.

That's the one where she tells them that she killed her husband who was abusing her (gee, why didn't FOX call the police to report a homicide? They have the confession ON TAPE! why not outrage from you on that account?)

Was sarcasm and bullshit back the appropriate response... no, probably not. But it's not like THIS ONE ACORN worker was condoning child prostitution.

[Hello_Kitty]

23. This scandal is not about one employee.

I've watched the tapes and I'm sorry but this is indefensible. I understand people here feeling defensive about ACORN because of the way they've been attacked but there's no excuse for this.

[lapfog_1]

28. Again, read the OP

this is about how ONE PERSON reacted.

The other ones have their own stories to tell. I'm guessing that there isn't a "policy" from ACORN on this, so the reaction of each office (and by the way, there are at least 4 other offices where this bullshit was tried and no "story" came of it).

Again, you could visit 20 Pet Smarts and ask about using the electric shock dog collars "to keep your underage El Salvadoran bitches in line" and probably find 4 or 5 employees willing to "help" you. This isn't unique to ACORN.

If I saw that "pimp" dressed as he was in the videos, I would have had a seizure laughing at him. But I wouldn't have taken his claims of imported underage girls for prostitution seriously.

Now if this guy, dressed in jeans and nice shirt had showed up with the same story... and that story was MUCH harder to get out of him... I might have called the cops.

[Hello_Kitty]

34. I would probably know he was full of shit too.

Then again people like you and me are more familiar with the MO of Young Republicans. I may string someone like that along a bit, asking questions to find out what he's up to but I sure as shit wouldn't give any actual advise and the minute he said something about child prostitution I'd reach for the phone and say "Okay I'm calling the cops now". Even if I believed with every fiber of my being that he was fucking with me.

[Gold Metal Flake]

22. Scenario: You spot a troll on DU.

Do you:

1) Alert and move on

2) Fuck with it for a while

The problem I see is the ones who fucked with the trolls are not on the "liberal media" telling their side of the story. Where are they? If the media were liberally biased, they would be on it.

[Hello_Kitty]

27. ACORN =/= DU

If you want to fuck with RW trolls you do it here. When you are on the job at ACORN you don't.

[HillbillyBob]

24. I may be a dem and I may be a liberal..

I am also armed, I wonder which he would rather be ventilated by.
Pump 12g, buck, bird or slug shot?
We live out in the woods and response time for the sheriffs office to get out here could be up to an hour.

We got our selves armed and ammo when the right wing nuts started this militia nonsense. We are very concerned with them bringing loaded arms to townhall meetings, the screaming, and scheming.

[Liquorice]

29. Good point. nt

[ret5hd]

31. Is it THIS guy????

[flvegan]

32. In Florida, I think you can shoot the guy on the sidewalk.

[Gold Metal Flake]

35. You could throw a pit bull at them.

[flvegan]

36. Personally

I could throw a baker's dozen at them.

Not that I would.

[nini]

38. The only way I could say if she could call the cops is if I was reading her mind

Until I can become Karnak - I just can't confirm what she was thinking.