I cannot read at Daily Kos without coming away with the odd perspective that it is far better that an innocent person be horribly victimized by a bad person than for someone to EVEN THINK of defending oneself against 'crime', let alone plan ahead to do so.
It's all I can glean from posts wherein people are just beside themselves that a person who was being ROBBED actually FOUGHT BACK or - worse - SHOT the criminal in the act.
I honestly cannot REALLY imagine people are openly encouraging others to just sit there and take it, but that IS the impression I am clearly getting.
I hear wailing and moaning about a robber getting shot whilst in the act of robbing others with a gun and somehow it was bad he got shot. It doesn't seem to bother these folks that the person who was shot was actively victimizing another person.
Noooooooo.
They are outraged somebody had the murderous audacity to STAND UP AND DEFEND THEMSELVES versus just sit there, get robbed, get hurt and then parade around afterwards to bask in the sheer glory of having been a crime victim.
Once upon a time, I saw a crime happening. A young woman was screaming in a dark parking lot in Atlanta at 1 am on a Saturday in 1991. (Crime was even occurring back then)
I ran to see what the noise was and saw a woman holding on to a small tree and a guy has ahold of her and is trying to pull her off the tree and into a nearby open door. I told him to stop and after a little running around (and my attempt to rule out a gun being present) we ended up face to face. No gun.
He threw a punch and I slipped it, and I slipped the next one. Then I punched him for throwing punches at me and it was on. Down to the ground we went (most 'street fights" end up on the ground inside 30 secs I was once told...) and I beat the hell out of him. At one dramatic moment, he told me would kill me and "you don't know who you're messing with". I hit him really hard (again) when he said that and I told he was the one unawares and if he would relax I'd let him go.
But no....he wasn't having it so he ended up a bloody mess, crying in a police car and going to the hospital (I broke his finger pretty badly...it flopped around) before he was off to jail I pressed assault charges. He fled the state. Total redneck loser.
Cops arrived (finally) AFTER I was done tenderizing him and he decided he wanted no more fun: the cops DID NOT save me. They arrived afterward and filed paper. I saved the girl and I saved myself. Cops weren't there when they were actually needed. They seldom are.
Submitted to simply say, crime actually happens because I have personally witnessed it and was 'victimized'.
Some here seem to believe it doesn't, or that ANY finger you lift to protect yourself means you're a closeted murderer seeking an excuse to murder. Only a murderer would hurt another person, even if they are beating you up. That is a fucked-up mindset.
People in the real world know crime happens, you never know when it will happen and there is not one thing wrong with planning ahead. We plan for all other potential disasters: how irresponsible is it to not have a fire drill?
Home invasions, for example, actually do happen. I am told one happened about 400 yards from my home last year. (There's a lot of them here in Atlanta.)
Planning in advance to deal with such an event isn't really 'nutty', as some here will have you believe: it is basic adult responsibility to anticipate difficulties and have plans.
One example of a plan for home invasions is to have small stabbing weapons hidden in every room so that no matter where the shit hits the fan, you're not far from a weapon. (Notice I didn't make any reference to thundersticks) If it never happens, was I a loony for having prepared?
Worse, I say, is to know how to prepare and live in an area where home invasions occur and NOT do anything to secure your home or have a plan of defense. It's no different than living in California and ignoring the earthquakes.
Now some consider this sort of talk UNACCEPTABLE, even if those nasty guns aren't part of the discourse.
I can just imagine their home invasion plans......
When the desperate men come forcibly into our homes because they are unfairly hungry and were victimized by our socioeconiomic phenomena, we will open our arms and offer them a group hug. Then you kids will offer them cookies. Daddy will ask the poor men if he can write them a check. They may want to be friendly with mommy: that's OK - friendliness is very neighborly. It's OK to share as long as the poor men don't get hurt.
So, I am concerned that I have mispercieved something about the perspective of folks who seem to think a little applied violence in the face of victimization is a bad, bad thing and that being a crime victim imbues you with some sort of spiritual status among mere mortals.
Therefore.....I have crafted a poll so that we may express our opinions about this and sort of see where the mindsets are.
Obviously, I am a shameless self-defender.