Virtual Vigilantes and "the Furious Mob Spirit"

I've been wanting to blog on this topic for awhile, so here goes.  And, I suppose, a warning for "graphic" language is in order, for those who don't care for violence.

Lately, there's been a lot of talk about anonymous comments posting on news sites -- how, more often than not, the sentiments expressed are negative, ugly and far from civilized.  The types of things no one would dare say face to face or under their own name.  Some news outlets are either doing away with them altogether or trying to adopt policies similar to what they have always used with regard to sending in a written letter to the editor.  Commenters would have to verify their own name, address and phone number.

I suppose with the internet, there's always a way around such a thing.  That's not the main point of this blog, though.  I've posted a few snarky things here and there that I'd certainly want to revise if my true identity were there and people could call me on my remarks.  But I haven't called for death, torture, maiming or "creative" punishments for wrongdoers, and that type of opinion is always what comes to mind when the topic of banning anonymous comments is discussed.
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A double helping of random

First, here's my Saturday Random Ten:

1. Billy - James Blunt
2. I'd Die Without You - PM Dawn (is that a moldy oldie, or what??!)
3. Teenage Confidential - The Flamin' Groovies
4. Black Balloon (live) - The Goo Goo Dolls
5. I Shall Believe - Sheryl Crow (I may leave Sheryl out of the mix next time)
6. In Your Eyes - Peter Gabriel

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Locking KIDS up for life - it's just plain wrong.

I read this story on CNN.com a couple of days ago and have been waiting for a less-busy day to sit and cogitate on it -- I knew it would end up as a blog post.

I've watched our society become more and more punitive and unforgiving over the last 35 years or so. It's time we got down to what lies at the bottom of it.

Here's one bottom dweller:

Jennifer Jenkins, who co-founded the National Organization for Victims of Juvenile Lifers. The Illinois-based group has fought legislation in nine states that would remove sentences of life without parole.

It wasn't this quote that got me into Rant mode:

"Victims have the right not to be constantly revictimized," she said.

It was this one from another bottom-dweller,

Harriet Salerno, president of Crime Victims United of California, a group trying to block the passage of laws that would ease sentencing for juveniles.

She founded the victim's group after her daughter, a pre-medical student, was murdered at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California in 1979.

"Many of them have dysfunctional homes, and the crimes will escalate because there is no place to put them." [emphasis mine]

Here's another gem from Ms. Salerno, not a direct quote:

Salerno, of Crime Victims United of California, said that some juveniles can be rehabilitated but that some committed crimes so severe, resources shouldn't be wasted on them.

The story also notes, significantly, that not all of these life sentences are for murder. Armed kidnapping and rape are heinous crimes, for sure, but combine the fact that the victims survived with the age of the perpetrator and it's enough to make you want to bang your head.

Here's what I'd like to say to Ms. Jenkins and Ms. Salerno:
Your statements reflect fear. No doubt, when you lose a family member to homicide, it changes your worldview. But what I'm hearing from you is, even a perpetrator such as Quantel Lotts, who committed a one-time offense and has demonstrated remorse -- the victim's family is even working toward his release -- should be kept behind bars forever because he frightens you.

I'm more than happy to endorse a two-strikes-and-you're-out policy. A person who commits a crime in the heat of passion, or out of a warped value system (such as gang involvement) has the opportunity, while in prison, to ponder his fate and his alternatives. The penal system needs to get back to the business of rehabilitation, BUT, even a typical stretch in a state prison can motivate a reasonable individual to resolve to stay out following release. It's a tough road, but not a non-existent one. So a willful reoffense, to me, does deserve the old lock-'em-up-and-throw-away-the-key. Absolutely.

But to condemn someone to life in prison when there's no indication that he intends to pick up where he left off the second the gate slides open is short-sighted and self-indulgent. It's also a flagrant misuse of power. We might as well throw socioeconomic and racial bigotry into the mix, since it is there in the quotes for all to see.

I don't like what our society has become.

I don't like the vilification of people such as Michael Shane Lasseter, who make goofy mistakes and are held up as the epitome of evil. Once again, we have a pattern: Because of Lasseter's foolish and unthinking actions, coming less than 2 months after the 9/11 attacks, a lot of people got scared. Nobody got hurt. But the guy was made to suffer excessively, in my opinion.

I don't like the fact that you can say the phrase "I could kill you for that" and run the risk of having someone file charges against you. Just the other day at work, I called a customer and left a voice message that part of the problem I'd called him about earlier had resolved itself on its own after we spoke. When he called back, he said "I'm visualizing my hands around your neck." Twenty years ago that phrasing would have been recognized for what it was: ironic humor. Nowadays, it takes courage or naivete to say something like that. People go to prison for saying things like that.

We live in a crazy world. Gradually, the "good guys" are morphing into the villains.

Jennifer Jenkins and Harriet Salerno frighten me.

Let's lock 'em up.

End of rant... for now. Click Here to Read More..

Toby the Love-Hate Dog

Yes, we now officially have a love-hate relationship with Toby. Toby is the dog owned by our neighbor. Description of neighbor: Gets drunk just about every day, has a bunch of cronies who come over and stand around a barrel full of burning trash to stay warm. They pee outside, behind an old wrecked cinder-block shed.

Now. Guess how he keeps his dog.

Yep, you guessed it. Outside, all day, all night, year round, on a chain ... "I love my dawg," he says. You can tell ... he bought Toby a house of his very own. Probably even put a blanket in there. Yeah, that's luurve.

The neighbor's a good guy. Really. He tries. Just because he doesn't succeed isn't necessarily a reason to hold anything against him. He's pathetic and he's a loser, and that about sums him up. But there are many, many worse people in the world and it's one of those things where you say, if he left, one can only guess what sort would move in. The old "better the devil you know" dilemma.

But Toby, true to his tied-up, fenced-in, neglected dog nature, barks ALL DAY, ALL NIGHT, ad infinitum. Loudly. He's a beagle, so he always starts out with a nice, robust howwwwwwwwl! And then the hysterical yapping commences.

Drives Carl nuts. Carl is a nervous individual and a fitful sleeper. He grabs naps whenever he can, and that's generally when Toby decides to howl and yap at something. I bought Carl the loudest table fan I could get and he runs it year 'round, just to drown out Toby. Sometimes even the fan doesn't help.

Last night, Carl tried to grab a nap around 7pm (he wanted to be awake for Desperate Housewives...it's a new season). Toby, however, was in fine form, just off the scale. I even went to the living room window to see if anyone was out there provoking this ruckus. It doesn't take much, but when Toby goes on at such length, it means a group of pedestrians (often with their own dawg, invariably a pit bull) is loitering in front of my house or the neighbor's, just taking their time getting along up the street. I didn't see the expected crowd, just one guy walking at normal speed. Once that lone pedestrian disappeared from view, Toby quieted down, but it was too late for Carl, who emerged from the bedroom grumbling under his breath, cursing the entire canine species.

So this afternoon I get home from work and there's my neighbor outside. He greets me -- we rarely have long conversations, but they're friendly nonetheless. I was pondering whether or not to broach the subject of his little noisemaking quadruped, when he said "Say -- you hear Toby last night barking up a fit?" Um, yeah... I told him yes, and he said "Well, I knew somethin' was up. I looked outside, and there was a man right there--" he pointed to our living room window -- "tryin' to peek in through yo' window. He come 'round from the back, so he probably was casing your back patio too, so make sure you got everything locked up. And then he come 'round and tries to peek in your window. I told him he got no business on your land and told him I was gonna get my gun and call 9-1-1, and he took off right quick." I thanked him, went inside and told Carl.

So much for trying to shut Toby up. No telling how long the trespasser was lurking around; he might have looked in through the window of the office when I was sitting right here in plain view.

Words fail me, trying to express how much I love this neighborhood... Click Here to Read More..

Women on the street

Here in the small city where I live, there are various crime problems. Gangs, drugs and prostitution are the ones people talk about constantly. My work with the neighborhood association brings me into contact with law enforcement and groups that work with law enforcement to minimize the crime stats.

Every city, I think, has a block or two known for the sex trade. Atlanta had "Stewart Avenue," which was renamed "Metropolitan Parkway" in the hopes that somehow a name change would bring about an attitude change. Naturally, it didn't. People make the same jokes about the place for the same reason.

This town has Willow Street. Willow stretches along for 2 miles or so, starting near the access to the interstate and continuing up to about where I live. Willow is home to a lot of poor people. All ethnicities are represented.

Characteristics of a "poor" neighborhood include minimal or no home improvements; little or no greenery; noticeable litter; a preponderance of billboards, liquor stores and pawn shops; homes and businesses standing vacant for long periods, and a large amount of foot traffic.

A lot of poor people can't afford to be drivers. Because there's an excess of alcohol and drug addiction among the poor, there are more DUIs that keep people from getting behind the wheel. Their cars get impounded and they can't pay to get them back, or their cars get repossessed. Or stolen. Or they break down for the hundredth time and that's the end of the line. So you have people who walk where they need to go. Or they take a bus, which still involves walking from home to the bus stop.

That's Willow Street. A lot of people walking.

A lot of women walking.

As you drive along Willow, you're likely to see women between the ages of, say, 15 and 55. They may be walking alone, or standing and talking to a group of other people. Most often, they're not wearing much.

This is the South, and we have really cold weather, where you need to wear a jacket, for maybe 5 months. Of course, some people have different heat tolerances. I know plenty of people who can go outside where the temperature is 45 degrees Fahrenheit and not need a jacket of any kind. They consider 45 to be a pleasant, moderate temperature; they suffer in the heat. So it's not unreasonable, in the American South, to see a woman walking along in shorts and a sleeveless top, even when the weather is relatively cool.

Most women carry handbags. Some don't. They may use their pockets, or just carry a clutch.

In the course of walking along, a woman may see a friend driving; the driver stops to talk and a conversation ensues. Or a woman may stop walking periodically to look around and survey the surroundings.

All of these factors (walking alone, scanty dress, no handbag, stopping to talk or look around) can either be characteristics of a normal woman walking on the street, or a prostitute.

I've walked along the street many times in a futile attempt to get some exercise and lose weight; I dress comfortably, and try not to carry a bag when I'm just out walking and not shopping.

So where do you make the distinction? I think plenty of people don't. They see a woman walking along and assume she's a hooker.

I have a problem with this.

In high school, our Spanish teacher told us about countries in Latin America where a woman walking alone or going into an establishment without an escort is immediately branded a prostitute and thrown in jail.

I was outraged. How awful to stereotype women and restrict their movements for such a stupid-ass reason. Obviously, the same type of mentality exists in the Middle East, but even more so -- actual laws on the books prohibit women from going about their business in public. They are required to stay inside their homes unless they have a male escort.

Okay, so we know about Muslim countries and Latin American countries. But this is the United States of America. Land of the free, and also land of capitalism, where you're not considered "normal" unless you're "productive" and occupied in some way. Supposedly, it's also a land where women have equal rights. We vote, we're theoretically free to do whatever job we're qualified to do, regardless of gender.

So I have a problem with the "woman walking alone on the street must be a hooker" mentality.

Yes. Prostitution is an undesirable pursuit for a variety of reasons.

It visibly labels communities as "bad" places.

Most street prostitutes are injection drug users.

Street prostitution leaves behind distasteful and dangerous trash such as used condoms and used syringes discarded on the streets.

There is a high incidence of HIV among injection drug users, and a high incidence of sexually transmitted diseases among street prostitutes.

Prostitution is associated with gang activity.

But a poor woman who has to walk where she's going, or even just a woman who wants to walk for exercise, risks being labeled a prostitute for this reason alone. When this attitude becomes prevalent, it leads to false arrests and harassment, and has a chilling effect on freedom of movement for women.

We need to use the Middle East and Latin America as cautionary examples and prevent this regressive mindset from becoming pervasive here. Click Here to Read More..

Child-Abusing Religious Nutters

Seems like there's no getting away from them, anywhere you go

Sex predators operate with ease among the ultra-orthodox communities because female victims often keep quiet, knowing that to speak out will damage their prospects of finding a husband. "The families all want their girls to have a AAA marriage to a religious scholar from a good family, and nobody's going to marry a girl who gets raped," says Ragen. In Bnei Brak, a predominately Haredi city near Tel Aviv, social worker Doron Agasi says one young Haredi man told him that he had molested more than a hundred girls. Agasi, director of the Shlom Banaich Fellowship, the only organization in Israel that treats pedophiles and their victims, convinced the young man to confess to the police. But, says Agasi, the authorities refused to bring charges because none of the parents of the alleged victims had filed complaints. Agasi says the rapist is now roaming free. Click Here to Read More..

Austrian Sicko, Life Imitating Art

In 1993, Tim Binding published In the Kingdom of Air, the subplot of which has an English suburbanite behaving much like this slime.

I've said it before (maybe not here, but I've said it...) that you could comb the papers for just one day and come up with 100 different stories about women being hurt, abused and killed just because they're women.

I might make that the subject of this blog, just to prove my point. Click Here to Read More..

Different Kinds of People

My life as it currently is takes me into different segments of society and sometimes it's a little confusing to get them all sorted out.

I meet a lot of religious Christians, and they assume I'm one because I don't make a habit (other than HERE) of announcing the fact that I don't currently line up with any particular conventional theology. I do go to a liberal church, though, so 2-3 days a week I am in close contact with people whose worldview is way different from people I meet other days.

Case in point: As part of my involvement with my neighborhood association, I have had the opportunity to attend local law-enforcement meetings. At the one I went to last week, there was a woman who was completely, unabashedly rabid on the subject of prostitution. She described how, when she sees a man inviting a young lady into his car, she will get behind the car, make a show of taking down the tag number, and sometimes follow one or both occupants if they later go into a nearby establishment. The police officer there had to urge her, more than once, to behave in a more circumspect manner, for her own protection. He said the local hookers are armed with two things most of the time: A blade, and a sexually transmitted disease, and very often they're high on some potent substances that make them much less likely to be intimidated by Joe or Jane Citizen. She is much better off, he said, just keeping her cell phone handy and calling the PD. Her descriptions were so vivid, it was truly fascinating.

So the following night, at a church meeting, I mentioned to a fellow congregant with whom I'm very friendly about how she ought to try attending some of these meetings -- they are true eye-openers. I mentioned that apparently our town's prostitution problems are quite something. My friend pretty much blew me off without listening to much more of what I had to say. She said, in effect, that with all that's going on in the world, people should have more to worry about than what prostitutes are doing.

This is a live-and-let-live attitude, and I share it about 75% of the time. But after having attended the meeting the night before, I had become slightly, temporarily, infused with the sense that I should, at all times, be looking out my window, prepared to call the police and report the slightest irregularity.

At work, everyone's white, respectably middle- or upper middle-class and they live in the "nice" part of town. Many of them ask me how it feels to live in my neighborhood. I look them straight in the eye and say "Well, it only takes me 10 minutes to get here every morning."

But if I internalize this and jokingly mention to someone at church that I live in "the 'hood" [ALL my neighbors call it that, unashamedly], I get disapproving looks. as in, how can you be so un-PC?

My fellow church-goers, most very well educated and mostly quite liberal politically, are of a very different mindset from my neighbors and co-workers. And as usual, I'm pretty much in the middle. Story of my life. I definitely believe that "the drug war" is making a mess of things. ~But~ I'm also happy when I hear stories of meth labs being busted, because the drug clearly devastates the users.

At least, that's what all the news stories say. But then you read columns in the off-the-beaten-track websites and papers that say no, the "meth epidemic" is simply the 21st century's version of "reefer madness," and that people really, truly need to be left alone to deal with their own vices rather than turning harmless junkies into criminals.

And where am I in all of this? I've never used pot, other than the one time someone passed me a pipe, I inhaled and felt absolutely nothing. No other drugs whatsoever. I like to drink but don't get to do it very often because more often than not, I'm the designated driver.

Oh, before I sign off, one more thing. It stopped raining a few hours ago. Now I hear gunshots. Click Here to Read More..

A Dilemma

This evening I attended the monthly meeting whereby representatives of various local neighborhoods share a large room with half a dozen or so law-enforcement personnel, and report on the stuff that's taking place in their communities calling for police intervention.

It was my first time. My neighborhood association said, "Please attend and report back." But what happened was, everyone at the meeting had something to report to the officers. Except me -- I don't get terribly involved in the goings-on. I'm not that eagle-eyed person who's perpetually looking out my window and taking note of the most minute variation. And, since moving here (and actually, for many years prior), I've wondered, how does one get to be that sort of person? It seems to be very much against my nature, for two main reasons:

1. I'm extremely unobservant. No, oblivious is probably a better way to describe me. When I'm going about my business, I'm going about MY BUSINESS. That is, I'm thinking about whatever's going on in my life. Driving for me is a very automatic function and it takes place without much here-and-now observation of anything other than the road. I see things in a very uninvolved way. I miss lots and lots of details. And I have that defect in my brain that makes it hard to distinguish faces, cars, and most of the other details that "normal" people can spot and memorize. Because people in my neighborhood are very sociable, and because I have an official position in the neighborhood, I compensate for this by waving "hi" any time I drive past anyone. I don't really look to see who it is, and if I ran into that person anywhere else, I'd only be about 20% likely to recognize them as being from my neighborhood. It's THAT bad. So this is why I have a serious problem with this "crime spotter" thing. I just don't notice things.

2. The other reason I'm not law-enforcement material is, when I DO notice something, I automatically assume that everything's cool. I'm a firm believer in "mind your own business," "to each his own," and "judge not, lest ye be judged." So when my next-door neighbor piles old cars on his lawn and pulls up in a Rent-a-Center truck every month or so, I'm thinking, well, it's not the way I like to live, and I wish his property were more aesthetically pleasing, but who am I to dictate what his house looks like? Two guys talking on the porch at 2:00 in the morning. 90% of my neighbors would say "They're doing a drug deal." I say, "It's two guys talking on the porch at 2:00 in the morning." A young lady is walking down the street alone at 11pm in the middle of January, dressed in high heels, shorts up to here and a middy top that's little more than an embellished bra. 99% of the rest of the world would say, "She's a hooker and she ought to be arrested." I say, "She's a woman going somewhere, and she must be cold; why doesn't she put on a coat?" I just take things at face value and believe that if I go and make assumptions, it's going to turn out to be the one time in 10 years that the guys were just talking on the porch or the girl was walking along dressed that way because she was coming from a costume party. I don't know how to tell the difference between people who are up to no good and people who are just waiting for a friend. I'm not totally incapable of telling when something's wrong but I don't consider myself very sharp in that area. If someone smiles at me and says 'everything's fine,' I figure it's true and just go on about my business. But, I've had enough marginal, second-hand experiences in life with shady dealings that if I'm really looking for it and keep my eyes open, I can manage not to get fooled. But I wish there were some way to take lessons. Click Here to Read More..