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Re:The $200 Billion Rip-Off: Our broadband future was stolen... by Goladus on Tuesday January 07, 2014 @10:25PM (#7021478)
Murder rate thing is probably because an Australian national named Christopher Lane, in the US playing Baseball at college, was randomly murdered in Oklahoma this year. He was out jogging when a couple of teenagers ran up and shot him in the back for no obvious reason.

Australian politicians immediately started telling people not to visit the US because it's so full of guns.

Re:The $200 Billion Rip-Off: Our broadband future was stolen... by robzyb on Wednesday January 08, 2014 @03:10AM (#7022349)
I've never heard of Christopher Lane before.

Wait, actually, on second thought, I have. But that didn't have any impact on my opinion of the US.

The murder rate statistic "thing" (as you described it) is based on the actual murder rate statistics. And my knowledge of US gun control.

Re:The $200 Billion Rip-Off: Our broadband future was stolen... by Goladus on Wednesday January 08, 2014 @11:11AM (#7024359)
Clearly, not a very nuanced understanding of what those statistics actually say (see post from mikeash above) or an intelligent perspective on the relevance of gun control.
Re:The $200 Billion Rip-Off: Our broadband future was stolen... by GFischer on Wednesday January 08, 2014 @02:20PM (#7025810)
I live in Uruguay (South America) and I liked to mention the statistic that you're 10 times more likely to be murdered in Chicago (or was it Detroit?) than in Montevideo, yet you're 10 times more likely to be robbed in Montevideo :P

Not sure if it's still true but it was a funny statistic.

And the media here does portray the U.S. as a country where murder is uncommonly prevalent.

Re:The $200 Billion Rip-Off: Our broadband future was stolen... by eli_gottlieb on Wednesday January 08, 2014 @05:21AM (#7022705)
I grew up in America and holy shit really!?