While you were busy with Trayvon Martin, here's someone else who died

truth-out.org...

Diane Clemmons Belton was a nobody. For a time, years ago, after the local lottery shot a commercial with Belton behind the register, her co-workers at the Scotchman convenience store and filling station humored her like a celebrity. "Every time they showed the lottery, her face would pop up," says Stacy Humbles, the store manager. She was ecstatic, co-workers say, but the joke faded, and life as a part-time sales associate at Scotchman soon returned to normal: in at 5 PM, out by 11, "How can I help you?" and "Which pump?" and the phone calls - always the phone calls. "Don't forget the six-pack," he'd say.

This is a post from Truthout, from just yesterday; about a totally anonymous, 51 year old woman who was shot in the back of the head by her drunk husband. The story mentions how the larger society considers her case, and that of thousands of others like her which happen every year, throughout the Western world, as being utterly forgettable and disposable. She wasn't rich, or young, or beautiful, and she didn't know the right people socially. She also wasn't a member of a minority that knows how to make a lot of noise and attract attention to themselves. She was completely invisible, and except for her local community, she died in the manner she lived; forgotten.

This is a story that I want the people who have claimed to grieve the deaths of either Michael Jackson, or Whitney Houston, or Trayvon Martin, to read. I know you're not going to care about Diane Belton. Her story is boring, mundane, routine, and completely uneventful. She could be one of any number of middle aged women.

Yet in reality, this woman does not deserve any less grief than any of those celebrities. She was still a human being, possessed with a spirit, and her life would have been valuable to her, even if it was considered so cheap to the rest of us. If this woman's life has failed to impact anyone else in any other meaningful way, then let it do so in this regard; let it cause us to realise that life should never be considered cheap, or worthless.

Thank you, Diane. Thank you for reminding us of this. I have heard the Spiritualists say, that one of the goals and purposes of the afterlife, is to offer people like you, who were never able to focus on anything other than basic survival in life, the opportunity to be creative, and artistic, that you missed while you were on Earth. I pray that such a place is real, and that you have been given the opportunity to go there.

A "Dianne" is killed every half hour in the US.

God Bless America.

Thank God we are a civilized country.

reply to post by petrus4


The media tells people who to grieve for, it's not up to them.

And i know you were fairly keen on hopping on the Trayvon Martin band wagon.

While i can sympathize with this woman and her family, people die every bloody minute. What makes it right to publicize anyone's death as it is?

I'm more focused on helping the people who are still alive and being murdered as a result of corporations, politicians and wars around the world.

This thread should be about the billions of people who are dying, and the billions of people who will die at the hands of our system.

ATS is slowly losing it's influx of important information, and 'news' like this just adds to the type of news msm love to sell (opinionated, heart felt, tragedy or entertainment based).

I don't want this to sound cold but i guess it is, so that's how it came out.

or what about that Iraqi woman that got beaten to death with a note saying "go back to your country."

This type of murder is the scariest to me. So many women don't even have to leave their own homes to be in danger, and when drinking is involved it can happen with out any warning at all. One minute your doing the dishes, the next your dead for forgetting to put the beer in the fridge.

Why is ATS turning into "post the death of anyone and everyone". Stories like this do not add to ATS. The other day I read a story about a boy falling into a wood chipper and dying... I didn't post it because, well, who wants to read that? Horrible things happen to everyone, everyday.

Originally posted by RealSpoke
Why is ATS turning into "post the death of anyone and everyone". Stories like this do not add to ATS. The other day I read a story about a boy falling into a wood chipper and dying... I didn't post it because, well, who wants to read that? Horrible things happen to everyone, everyday.

edit on 15-4-2012 by RealSpoke because: (no reason given)

I've pointed that out myself, several times. There are days when I've suspected that, instead of Above Top Secret, this site should probably be known as Six Feet Under.

Originally posted by RealSpoke
Why is ATS turning into "post the death of anyone and everyone". Stories like this do not add to ATS. The other day I read a story about a boy falling into a wood chipper and dying... I didn't post it because, well, who wants to read that? Horrible things happen to everyone, everyday.

edit on 15-4-2012 by RealSpoke because: (no reason given)

Couldn't have said it better myself.This kind of stuff is bringing ATS down.No offense to the op.We get that people die everyday and such.I could dig up THOUSANDS of people that have died since the Trayvon Martin case.In my eyes this thread would have more credibility if you hadn't brought that into it.Just saying.

Originally posted by BrittanyLea
One minute your doing the dishes, the next your dead for forgetting to put the beer in the fridge.

Seriously?That's such an ignorant comment.

Originally posted by nightstalker78

Originally posted by BrittanyLea
One minute your doing the dishes, the next your dead for forgetting to put the beer in the fridge.

Seriously?That's such an ignorant comment.

Um, why? Have you never been around an angry drunk? I don't want to go into my personal life here, but it's not so ignorant. Why so mean anyway?

not just Trayvon but also the Iraqi woman murdered in her own home, and Daniel Adkins the mentally disabled kid walking across the driveway of Taco Bell,

all 3 and many, many more perhaps every half hour indeed, someone gets 'mad' and pulls the trigger and takes someone's life. in the OP's, in Adkins, and in Trayvon's case, the shooter even had the nerve to call 9.11 and create a distancing from the cold-blooded murder.

They'll always have an 'excuse' for taking someone's life over the most senseless things. Be it one beer to many, by accident, because they were verbally assaulted, because the person needed to go back to their country.

BS. What is the underlying commonality' The lack of respect for another human's life. It's all about me me me. THe world revolves around me and everyone else is just a video game character I can take OUT the moment they get on my nerves.

Originally posted by BrittanyLea
This type of murder is the scariest to me. So many women don't even have to leave their own homes to be in danger, and when drinking is involved it can happen with out any warning at all. One minute your doing the dishes, the next your dead for forgetting to put the beer in the fridge.

Simple: Do not get involved with men like that. No matter how insecure you feel about yourself. There are risks that come with a relationship with a (violent) drunk, not only for you but for children that can be born.

Sounds simple right?!

But I bet this murderer was charged and I bet this murderer is going straight to jail. So OP, why you post this...

Originally posted by BrittanyLea

Originally posted by nightstalker78

Originally posted by BrittanyLea
One minute your doing the dishes, the next your dead for forgetting to put the beer in the fridge.

Seriously?That's such an ignorant comment.

Um, why? Have you never been around an angry drunk? I don't want to go into my personal life here, but it's not so ignorant. Why so mean anyway?

Yeah I think we've all been around angry drunks.I'm not dead and neither are you.The rest of your comment was ignorant too.But let's not take the op's thread off topic.

Originally posted by InfoKartel
But I bet this murderer was charged and I bet this murderer is going straight to jail. So OP, why you post this...

To prove a point. Said point being, that when someone like this dies, you're all criticising me and telling me that it is irrelevant; yet when Trayvon Martin dies, for some reason, you all can't get enough information about it, and you're dissecting every bit that comes along.

Why, exactly? They're both people who got shot in the head. You've cared massively about it happening to Trayvon, but Diane isn't newsworthy.

You know... You know what I've noticed? Nobody panics when things go "according to plan." Even if the plan is horrifying! If, tomorrow, I tell the press that, like, a gang banger will get shot, or a truckload of soldiers will be blown up, nobody panics, because it's all "part of the plan." But when I say that one little old mayor will die, well then everyone loses their minds!

reply to post by petrus4

She also wasn't a member of a minority that knows how to make a lot of noise and attract attention to themselves. She was completely invisible, and except for her local community, she died in the manner she lived; forgotten.

Do you really need to throw in some not-so-subtle racism in an article that has nothing to do with the Trayvon incident?

You can't really compare these incidents at all.

Nice try though.

ATS: The Last Refuge for Racists.

reply to post by petrus4


Was Diane black?

Was her killer initially charged?

You see, you can't compare these incidents.

Originally posted by petrus4

Originally posted by InfoKartel
But I bet this murderer was charged and I bet this murderer is going straight to jail. So OP, why you post this...

To prove a point. Said point being, that when someone like this dies, you're all criticising me and telling me that it is irrelevant; yet when Trayvon Martin dies, for some reason, you all can't get enough information about it, and you're dissecting every bit that comes along.

Why, exactly? They're both people who got shot in the head. You've cared massively about it happening to Trayvon, but Diane isn't newsworthy.

You know... You know what I've noticed? Nobody panics when things go "according to plan." Even if the plan is horrifying! If, tomorrow, I tell the press that, like, a gang banger will get shot, or a truckload of soldiers will be blown up, nobody panics, because it's all "part of the plan." But when I say that one little old mayor will die, well then everyone loses their minds!

edit on 15-4-2012 by petrus4 because: (no reason given)

No offense but this thread is ridiculous.You're doing exactly what you're claiming the "Trayvon" supporters are doing.You're shoving this murder down our throats too.Got news for you.It happens every damn day,in every state,county and town across the US.And through out the world.None of them are more important then the one that happened before it.

reply to post by petrus4

To prove a point. Said point being, that when someone like this dies, you're all criticising me and telling me that it is irrelevant;

So how did you become an authority on this matter again? What is it we owe you? No life is irrelevant and there certainly is a lesson to be learned from every murder. But stories differ, choices differ and so do lives. This is how the world turns and it is how it's been turning for thousands of years. If you feel truly sad about it, why don't you go out and join a women's awareness group that preaches the dangers of alcohol abuse? So that fewer women will fall in the trap?

yet when Trayvon Martin dies, for some reason, you all can't get enough information about it, and you're dissecting every bit that comes along.

It's basic human psychology. Just like you are trying to make the woman's death look bigger than Trayvon. As I said before; I bet her husband got arrested and is in jail now. Trayvon's murderer did not get arrested and so an outcry is in its place. Who knows? Maybe without so many people getting upset over one life, the murderer would have gone free? Sure looked like he would.

You know... You know what I've noticed? Nobody panics when things go "according to plan." Even if the plan is horrifying! If, tomorrow, I tell the press that, like, a gang banger will get shot, or a truckload of soldiers will be blown up, nobody panics, because it's all "part of the plan." But when I say that one little old mayor will die, well then everyone loses their minds!

There are 7+ billion people on this Earth. How many people have you ever seen in your life in one place? 10.000? 20.000? 50.000? Try putting it into perspective before you lose yourself. Yes, all deaths are not okay or natural, but if you let the deeds of evil men influence you to such a degree that your mind loses grip...then you've lost a part of yourself. A part of you will be dead without you even being in direct contact with the murderers!

reply to post by InfoKartel


The OP is among many who are claiming that TPTB want a race war.

Yet, the OP and their ilk are blindly falling into this trap with threads like this.

Why are people such lemmings?

For Diane Clemmons Belton, although your death did not receive the massive publicity of others currently in the news, the tragedy that ended your life is no less important than the victims of other tragedies. The very little I know of your life tells me you touched many lives during your time here, and the positive impact your life had on those who came to know you will be a lasting legacy and appreciation of your life.