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Everyone describes the town I live in as a dump. Shops are regularly closing in the emptying high-street, the people are supposedly quite unpleasant (to put it nicely).
It's certainly no better than anywhere else I've been to.
I was walking around the other day. It didn't look so bad. The graffiti wasn't too bad, and it had a bit of character. The area was reasonably litter-free. Nowhere's perfect anyway..
The only time a stranger has ever 'hassled' me in the street was some random 12 year old girl, who asked me for a pound, I told her no, and went on my way. Nothing more to it.
A couple of days ago I was shooting a bit of pool at my local snooker club.
Some bloke came over to offer me a game. Seemed a bit of a mess, but no problem, I gave him a game. After a couple of frames he left, I figured he was certainly a decent enough bloke.
Then one of the club staff came over to me, asked where he'd gone, warned me to 'be careful' around him.
A little later some other guy came over, asked me if I knew him, and explained that the guy was the area's 'worst crack-head'.
By the sounds of things, when he asked me if I smoked, if I'd said yes he'd have offered to go pick up some fags for me and disappeared with my money. (I thought he was just going to offer me one).
But I checked my coat to make sure (I'd been keeping an eye on it anyway, as the area's got a bit of a reputation, so I was a bit cautious). My watch, wallet and phone were all still there.
Okay, he might have ripped me off for a few quid given the chance, but if he's the 'worst crack-head' the area has to offer it's really not that bad.
Sure, some people do worse things, violent crimes, stuff like that. But for the most part even drug-addicted theives are plesant enough to get along with.
So where is the world going wrong? Perhaps it's the intellectuals, people with political opinions, money, power.
Or maybe that's just the same thing - negative hype gets attention, but nothing's really as bad as eveyone would have you believe.
It's certainly no better than anywhere else I've been to.
I was walking around the other day. It didn't look so bad. The graffiti wasn't too bad, and it had a bit of character. The area was reasonably litter-free. Nowhere's perfect anyway..
The only time a stranger has ever 'hassled' me in the street was some random 12 year old girl, who asked me for a pound, I told her no, and went on my way. Nothing more to it.
A couple of days ago I was shooting a bit of pool at my local snooker club.
Some bloke came over to offer me a game. Seemed a bit of a mess, but no problem, I gave him a game. After a couple of frames he left, I figured he was certainly a decent enough bloke.
Then one of the club staff came over to me, asked where he'd gone, warned me to 'be careful' around him.
A little later some other guy came over, asked me if I knew him, and explained that the guy was the area's 'worst crack-head'.
By the sounds of things, when he asked me if I smoked, if I'd said yes he'd have offered to go pick up some fags for me and disappeared with my money. (I thought he was just going to offer me one).
But I checked my coat to make sure (I'd been keeping an eye on it anyway, as the area's got a bit of a reputation, so I was a bit cautious). My watch, wallet and phone were all still there.
Okay, he might have ripped me off for a few quid given the chance, but if he's the 'worst crack-head' the area has to offer it's really not that bad.
Sure, some people do worse things, violent crimes, stuff like that. But for the most part even drug-addicted theives are plesant enough to get along with.
So where is the world going wrong? Perhaps it's the intellectuals, people with political opinions, money, power.
Or maybe that's just the same thing - negative hype gets attention, but nothing's really as bad as eveyone would have you believe.
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*tired*
I really enjoyed reading this! All we ever seem to hear these days is death,crimes and how bad things are getting.. I realise im an overly sensitive person, but still at times its all very depressing. ty.:)
I guess it's all perspective.
People watch a TV show or film with a nice area on it in a nice light and see the normal world outside and think it's awful.
And someday, they're walking around with the awful image built up in their head and look and see that it's not so bad...
And it's not just visuals.
Sure, the Crackhead was fine that night, but perhaps once a time he'd done one or two people over really bad. I mean, when someone or somewhere gets a bad label, people expect it to be always bad and never good, which can lead to surprises... you know... :-)
People watch a TV show or film with a nice area on it in a nice light and see the normal world outside and think it's awful.
And someday, they're walking around with the awful image built up in their head and look and see that it's not so bad...
And it's not just visuals.
Sure, the Crackhead was fine that night, but perhaps once a time he'd done one or two people over really bad. I mean, when someone or somewhere gets a bad label, people expect it to be always bad and never good, which can lead to surprises... you know... :-)
Light wrote:
> My personal opinion is that we all, as a race, find it easier to
> blame a particular group of people for all the ills of society
> because we would find it unconscionale to admit that maybe society
> itself has a problem.
Hmm, I was thinking about coming back here to post about how maybe the woman across the desk from me in work embodied where we were going wrong - she's a hateful hypocrite who generally treats people pretty badly, and insults everyone behind their backs. She has violent friends, and occasionally 'dabbles' herself, openly mocked a woman for calling the police to report an asault, and adopts her poltical opinions from tabloids then regurgitates them with vitriol.
Whereas most people, crack-heads included, are easy enough to get on with, and when they do stray off the rails into harming/stealing from other people, it isn't really that far.
But what you say certainly makes some sense. Nevertheless, some people will always be worse than others...
> My personal opinion is that we all, as a race, find it easier to
> blame a particular group of people for all the ills of society
> because we would find it unconscionale to admit that maybe society
> itself has a problem.
Hmm, I was thinking about coming back here to post about how maybe the woman across the desk from me in work embodied where we were going wrong - she's a hateful hypocrite who generally treats people pretty badly, and insults everyone behind their backs. She has violent friends, and occasionally 'dabbles' herself, openly mocked a woman for calling the police to report an asault, and adopts her poltical opinions from tabloids then regurgitates them with vitriol.
Whereas most people, crack-heads included, are easy enough to get on with, and when they do stray off the rails into harming/stealing from other people, it isn't really that far.
But what you say certainly makes some sense. Nevertheless, some people will always be worse than others...
Mumbai Duck wrote:
>
> So where is the world going wrong? Perhaps it's the intellectuals,
> people with political opinions, money, power.
My personal opinion is that we all, as a race, find it easier to blame a particular group of people for all the ills of society because we would find it unconscionale to admit that maybe society itself has a problem.
>
> So where is the world going wrong? Perhaps it's the intellectuals,
> people with political opinions, money, power.
My personal opinion is that we all, as a race, find it easier to blame a particular group of people for all the ills of society because we would find it unconscionale to admit that maybe society itself has a problem.
You have a midlife crisis and everyone backs off.
Cyclone wrote:
> Indeed. Isn't it just the case with any group on the planet? Blame
> someone else. It's easier.
Heh, old and young blaming each other may work for us now, but what happens when we're middle-aged ? :^D
> Indeed. Isn't it just the case with any group on the planet? Blame
> someone else. It's easier.
Heh, old and young blaming each other may work for us now, but what happens when we're middle-aged ? :^D
Indeed. Isn't it just the case with any group on the planet? Blame someone else. It's easier.
It's fairly just to claim that the area I live in is degrading with a few recent muggings and a rape in the local park; so of course everyone over 30 blames the youth. "You've got no morals these days" they yell as the choke my planet with the fumes from their double-exhausted Jaguar.
Paradox: wrote:
> Does it happen to be the older wannabe-snobs in the area that are
> deeming it bad and the people 'unpleasant'?
No, not this time! It's everybody really, they all think of the area the same way. And in comparison to other places you can see their point.
It's just that objectively, it isn't particularly bad.
> Does it happen to be the older wannabe-snobs in the area that are
> deeming it bad and the people 'unpleasant'?
No, not this time! It's everybody really, they all think of the area the same way. And in comparison to other places you can see their point.
It's just that objectively, it isn't particularly bad.
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