The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.
© Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.Man writing book about kindness in America shot, wounded
HELENA, Montana©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.
64 Comments
Login to comment
ExportExpert
Irony can be cruel.
warallthetime
Where are you from Thunderbird2? I bet its a magical place with no random violence whatsoever. It sounds awesome!
Herve Nmn L'Eisa
Since the writer is a "glass-is -half-full" person, he'll probably write how those who helped him were so very kind, like the Good Samaratin story.
serendipitous
He may now be thinking about writing an extra chapter or an epilogue.
He's lucky his epitaph isn't being written!
SuperLib
Almost as ironic as the Segway inventor riding one off a cliff....
Laguna
He's gathering material. This'll give him an entire chapter!
Thunderbird2
I'm from the UK waralthetime. We have plenty of voilent crime, most of it drug related and usually carried out with a knife. However we tend not to have rednecks running around with guns in their cars shooting random people who approach them. .
nath
Ironically funny but mean.
Thomas Anderson
This is why humanity fails...
SquidBert
Some news sources report that the suspect, Mr. Danielson, was 'High as a kite' at the time of the shooting.
Equality
Very ironic, but then another stranger stopped to take him to the hospital. Now I'm confused ....
Fadamor
So, no difference in the countries, then, huh? Deadly weapons employed due to drugs.
True, but WE tend not to have British "hooligans" running around beating people to death OVER A GAME. Or are you going to make the excuse that they were drunk? What's good for the goose...
JohnBecker
Not true at all. There are nice and kind people everywhere you go in the U.S., just as in any other country. Most Japanese are not right-wing black van types or yakuza. Most Americans are not gun-waving lunatics. Most Brits are not football hooligans. Most Italians are not mafia. And so on, and so on...
edwardstark
I have a feeling the current book will be abandoned and a new book will be started with quite a different theme!
FightingViking
Hervé, weren't you one of the two who said "drug addicts don't attack people"? (It clearly states
True, it also mentions alcohol but...
Madverts
"but WE tend not to have British "hooligans" running around beating people to death OVER A GAME"
Some people do it for religion, some for money, some just for twisted pleasure.
I've travelled about quite a lot, and one thing I've sadly realized is that there is a lot of not very nice people in the world, they may even be a global majority - and no particular nationality is excused from the malaise.
At least the writer got off with a flesh wound, some poor bastard had his face eaten off last week buy a nut armed only with his teeth.....
Thomas Michael Lewis
Tenguleavings instead of overstating my arguments in your favour I suggest you look up the facts and situations I am addressing.
The US has shootings on a massively regular basis compared to any other civilised country and in particular i was addressing the gentlemen who said he was shot three times within this week. I never claimed it happened everyday, but Ill bet its not far off to be honest.
As to corruption, I am going by systems that prove themselves to work, a concept can be a beautiful thing, Socialism is a beautiful concept but in reality its doesnt work as well as what Westerners use.
Both corruption and democracy wise, Constitutional Monarchies far far better than Republics. Constitutional Monarchies are in no way dictorial and offer a much better seperation of powers, lets face it, in the US system everyone is in it for the same thing - money.
Anyone calling Constitutional Monachies dictorial etc clearly knows nothing about it. Tooting that theirs is the best system when being ignorant of others is foolish. I suspect you also fear the colour red...
globalwatcher
MOD:
Please add Chicago.
The Chicago police statistic show 120 homicides
This is the most updated homicide data released today here.
Thank you.
Elbuda Mexicano
This has to be some kind of a cruel joke! Poor bastard goes around the USA trying to write about kindness?? Gets shot by some idiot redneck out in the middle of no where Montana?? I do hope they have the death penalty in god forsaken Montana and maybe this writer can change the theme to TOUGH LOVE in the USA?? Hope he recovers soon and that the idiot who shot him, well to be taken out ASAP!!
Alan
If he's hitchhiking everywhere, perhaps he should call his book "Taking Advantage of the Kindness of America."
At least people were kind enough to take him to hospital and get him medical attention.
Elbuda Mexicano
Export,sorry but the LA riots, Rodney King etc..were in the 1990s not 80s, but yes, too many guns, too many drugs with too many crazy wild angry folk is never a good situation anywhere, but this kind of senseless violence in middle of no where Montana??
jonobugs
It's true there are plenty of kind people in North America...but a few crazies as well. Just because there are kind people does not mean that there are no crazy or mean spirited people. He was just unlucky.
Kabukilover
So much for the kindness of America. It just takes one scumbag to take you out. It is probably a good thing that redneck trash was drunk. He might have aimed better.
My dad as a lad used to hitchhike and drive my grandparents frantic. I've never been tempted.
globalwatcher
Indeed. Let me add another good wisdom. In America, drive a convertible car at your own risk unless you are willing to be a shooting target.
Thomas Michael Lewis
I must ask tenguleavings about his price for living in the States, what does being shot three times this week actually give you that us in non- gun-toting countries cannot get?Surely you dont believe your US media that paints Europe as backwards, i.e. Romney who claimed to have stayed in a slum and had to use a bucket for a toilet whilst he was in France, only for him to be outed as actually having stayed in a palace while he was there, quite literally a palace, not just a nice big house, but a real old palace.
Big houses-Europe offers palaces and castles, democracy- European nations are rated higher than the US, freedom -again rated higher than US, healthcare -free in Europe, private if so desired.
I fail to see why US people are so willing to be shot at for advantages that frankly dont seem to exist. You might argue it protects your rights but as things like the democracy index show, its not giving it to you.
Ill be voted down, but only by overpatriotic Americans...
globalwatcher
@Thomas Michael Lewis, you probably meant Extreme Conservative Republicans. We have been trying to ban the "Right to Own Guns" for centuries, but no success. Very sad. US may needs a outside pressure from other countries. Help us..
Thomas Michael Lewis
apologies if I offended any Americans undeservingly! I only meant the gun fanatics, how many shootings in gun liberal countries will it take...
people will argue with me, but if you are really worried about an overly powerful government install a Constitutional Monarch, hereditary, then they are in it as a Duty to the country and not for money. When the entire ruling elite are in it for money you are bound for corruption, when one vital balancing power is there for duty and money makes no diffference, when their whole life depends on the peoples approval, then you have good check balance on government
one small family taken 70pence a day from me (although bringing back seven times as much revenue through sheer being) is a better price for individual freedom and democracy than being shot three times in a week :/
Food for thought my learned friends
tenguleavings
Yeah, I guess I'm kind of compelled to argue with the idea that a system featuring a dictatorial single ruler is somehow incorruptible. That was the system that the idea of the separation of powers was supposed to counter. A better way to put it might be that any form of government that lacks accountability is bound to produce corruption in the name of enriching those who find themselves in positions of power. So you're seriously suggesting there's no corruption in the British or Japanese governments by definition?
globalwatcher
The police statistics show 120 homicides from Jan. 1, 2012 through April 1, 2012 compared with 75 over the same period in 2011. FYI
globalwatcher
Do you know one out of 130 people in US are now behind the bars? Do you realize the US is filled with bad ones?
tenguleavings
Of course you could spread those out among a population of 300 million so that there's at least one a day. And? The fact that they were spread out over the course of a year is actually better than if perhaps half of them occurred on a single very bad day. This idea that you insist on hammering away at has no significance.
At any rate, another day has dawned in the gun-pocked horror that is the United States, so I suppose I'd better get my Kevlar on and prepare to return fire.
state broken people
some nutjob in rural montana, fried out of his gourd, shoots a hitch hiker/ aspiring writer and the brits here swell with pride about their anachronistic monarchy. whatever.
TrentonGaijin
Update.... Mr Dolin (wannabe author) shot himself & all charges against Mr Danielson (accused) have been dropped. No comment from Mr Dolin on why he shot himself or from the Valley County Montana Sheriff Department on why they arrested Mr Danielson.
http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/06/15/12240711-police-hitchhiker-writing-the-kindness-of-america-confesses-to-shooting-himself?lite
HonestDictator
Great, in order to promote his own book he shot himself.... oh-kay. His credibility sure went down instead of up.
Herve Nmn L'Eisa
@fightingviking,
No, your memory is way off.
Thunderbird2
ENGLISH football hooligans, not British. Don't tar the Welsh, Scots and Irish with the same brush. And yes, most of that is booze-fuelled violence. Football thugs tend to fall into two camps: far right racists who hate anyone not English (including us Scots), and those too drunk to think straight.
Point still remains, you give the general public access to deadly weapons and you get random people being shot... including a few years ago a British guy who was shot for knocking on someone's door simply asking for directions.
Why do you even need guns? Oh I know... because villains carry guns. Oh, why do villains carry guns? Because the cops and people defending their property have guns. Why do cops and civvies have guns? To protect themselves against villains with guns...
America is caught in a vicious cycle from which there is no escape. This writer was a victim of that cycle.
tenguleavings
I've actually been shot going in to the office three times this week already. So annoying! But it's the price of admission for living in the United States, apparently. As if one could be expected to fend off the bath salt zombie horde with a mere knife.
Why not take a simpler, more reasonable approach, and admit that the truth, as it always does, lies somewhere in between two absurd polar extremes? In a nation of around 300 million people with roughly 200 million firearms, we somehow continue to exist from day to day. This man's misfortune is being made fun of by the AP solely for our brief amusement.
serendipitous
Hmmm, America.....land of the free....to shoot anyone I want!!
tenguleavings
I guess the point would be that circumstance and geography dictate that we all play the cards we're dealt by birth, whether that be living in the United States, Europe, Japan (where of course, small children are being slaughtered in the millions by inattentive drivers--that's sarcasm, just so you know), Somalia, or Beirut.
To suggest that any one incident is indicative of how things are on a daily basis in every part of a country is reductive, juvenile, absurd, and pointless. Gun ownership is legal in the United States, and I accept that. Believe it or not, I truly don't worry about being shot, but then again, I'm a gambler, and thus willing to play roulette with those 300 million-to-one odds every day.
I will give you a bump up, though, for actually seeming to believe this happened. And you thought I was swallowing everything I read wholesale...
phosphor
What else do you expect from a country where peoples are allowed to buy guns anyway.
just-a-bigguy
What an awesome 'gratuities'!
Guy-jin
@globalwatcher:
No, I didn't. Could you show me the source for that statistic?
Even if that were true, its a gross generalization for you to say that America is "filled with bad ones." If I have a room filled with 130 people and only one of them is an incarcerated criminal, you wouldn't really call that room of 129 dogoodniks "full of bad ones," would you?
What's more, I believe you may have missed my entire point. You seem to have inferred from my comment that (bad people = gun violence). Not so. What I'm saying is that guns are a red herring-- the violence is going to happen regardless of what the weapon is. And believe me, while I admit there are some holes-in-need-of-mending in the screening process, guns are much better regulated than kitchen knives, piano wires and baseball bats.
tenguleavings
@Thomas Michael Lewis
Hilariously enough, you've somehow still failed to grasp that I, dear old TenguLeavings, was the gentleman who made that claim, both for facetious effect and to point out the absurdity of statements such as the following:
Game, set, and match. As for constitutional monarchies, I'll stand by my claim that any form of government is subject to corruption and greed, and even the most basic understanding of history will support that.
globalwatcher
@Guy-jin
http://forensicpsychologist.blogspot.com/2012
Thomas Michael Lewis
P.S. 12,632 deliberate gun homicides in 2000 in the US, Id be surprised if that wasnt spread over everday.
Herve Nmn L'Eisa
I look forward to reading the man's book.
Herve Nmn L'Eisa
Although the USA indeed has the highest private gun ownership per capita, it is #13 regarding gun-related deaths per capita.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_gun_ownership#section_1
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_firearm-related_death_rate#section_1
Serrano
"kindness in America"
There's plenty of that! I seen it, received it and given it plenty of times!
Noliving
That is exactly what I was thinking.
Hey smith another stabbing in Japan? Five days in a row now?
warallthetime
Oh how funny is it to see this guy shot HIMSELF? I am thoroughly enjoying this!
state broken people
shot himself. all the clever snark and sermonizing above just spittin in the wind.
warallthetime
Why isn't we never saw an update to this story? Truly pathetic JT. Run this story: http://www.theblaze.com/stories/14-year-old-shoots-armed-intruder-while-babysitting-his-younger-siblings-in-phoenix/
Dennis Bauer
next book "no kindness in America"? :p
ExportExpert
warallthetime you dont remember the LA riots in the 80's plenty of people cowering and lots of guns in LA.
AiserX
Ray Dolin will probably give a TED Talk on kindness in America, promote his book and make a few exceptions of unkindness in America.
avigator
In America, walk at your own risk.
Guy-jin
I feel like all the anti-gun posters here are conveniently looking straight past the white elephant in the room, which is that the shooter was driving an automobile under the influences of both alcohol AND drugs. Guess what? The gun wasn't the problem in that scenario. It is soooooo much easier to kill someone with a car than a gun-- easier to kill lots of people at once, for that matter. Want to ban cars too? Go ahead-- compare anual gun deaths in the US versus annual motorvehicular deaths. The math is pretty simple.
As for violent crime based on location, there isn't a country in the world that can claim to be free of it, so quit singling out America. The fact that the US has gun freedom makes guns an easy target for people who want to blame violent crime on a mechanical object and pretend that removing that object fixes society. But gun deaths are first and foremost caused by criminals and crazy people-- and those are everywhere. Take away their guns and they'll simply switch to knives, glass beer steins, acid, fire or automobiles.
cleo
Imagine the London riots with the yobbos carrying firearms. No time to cower.
Moderator
Back on topic please.
maglev101
especially at night in certain hoods like east new york, bedford-stuyvesant, south bronx, compton. doubly so, if you're not black.
smithinjapan
Another shooting? Five days in a row now?
Thomas Anderson
Haha what a joke, it may be #13 in the world but it's #1 within highly developed countries.
Thunderbird2
And THAT is why I will never step foot in America.
Yes... this is kind of admitting that it's fairly common for innocent people to be shot by some slack-jawed yokel armed with a 'squirlie-gun' or hand gun.