The Great Comfort People Must Find In Being Oblivious

And this is exactly why, for the most part, malls are dying. They have been taken over by teenage "mall rats," many of whom are up to no good. The best strategy is to avoid malls altogether.

Since day one of the existence of malls, there have been mall rats. I were one! And often up to no good, too.

To tell you the truth, I think my days spent as a miscreant helped me become situationally aware in general, and especially in how to spot the type of people I used to be. I have long since changed my ways, and only use my powers for good. (That's part of the reason for my username)

Situational awareness is so easy! You don't even need to look for anything in particular...just look around, and your eyes will be drawn to things that stand out. You don't need to be paranoid to be helped by knowing what life is moving around you. One can learn a lot just by paying attention.

Cell phones, though. They are a dream come true for "opportunistic criminals" and data collectors alike

Creaky_Old_Cop said:

But it was written in plain English, so I can see where you'd have trouble with that.

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Oh gosh, sorry ... but your "message" was a bit obscured within all the comments about how "people suck" and the negative profiling of the young people you encountered ... I shall strive to be more attentive to the great wisdom you dispense in your posts, especially this spectacular new discovery that most Americans congregating in shopping malls collectively possess no situational awareness ...

Last holiday season I was at the mall and ran into a police officer friend who was working off duty. We were chatting and after a moment I realized that while we were talking to each other both of us were also sizing up the passing crowd over each other's shoulders. After a moment he said "Hey, red hoodie," and I turned and we both watched a sinister looking character who appeared to be stalking two women with his eyes on their dangling purses. So we both gave him the evil eye until he noticed and then he sauntered off acting nonchalant. I remember we both, almost simultaneously, looked at the passing mob and made "baaaa" sheep noises and laughed.

I used to enjoy poking fun at firearms instructors who spouted how they were 'always' on alert and then I would do things to demonstrate how much they weren't. It is important to be on alert as much as is reasonably possible, but no matter how much boasting I hear about not being oblivious, everybody is oblivious at various points and time and often for long periods of time when they feel safe.

We all see the world differently. Just because one person is happy at the mall and another person is paranoid does not mean that either is totally wrong and neither is totally right. You have to have balance in life.

I only care about the people who are within my "bubble". Don't make yourself an easy target and go about your day without worrying. I also feel that people can pay attention without appearing too. Walking around pretending that you are the only person who is aware is being delusional.

Shopping Malls what are these places you speak of???? We have not been to one recently as in several years. Walmart different story we grocery shop there. With that said we are selective of our parking location in relationship foot traffic and entrance access. We keep our head on a swivel. In the store I don't become preoccupied with shopping. Noticing the people(shoppers) seem to have a fixation on the task at hand. There are woman shoppers that have their handbags in the shopping carts that allow ease of access to others. I stopped one such event from occurring in theft recently. Life goes on people seem to be in their own person bubble.

It's not a matter of "comfort", society has been CONDITIONED to be unaware of their surroundings. Technology, specifically the smartphone is the main avenue used for this "conditioning". I don't mean to sound proud, I dabble with my smartphone from time to time when out in public, but not to a conditioned point.

Case in point, I was at a auto shop yesterday for 3hrs while my truck was being serviced. Location was my home town which is pretty "safe". I was watching the provided TV, checking news on my phone, checking on my vehicle and checking on who came in the door. I never spent more than a couple minutes looking at either the TV or the phone before checking the surroundings.

The fact is that the majority of society in the same situation wouldn't take their eyes off the phone for 3hrs.

I am old, and my wife is old.
I look it, but my wife does not.
I am vigilant, but seem to be losing it due to age.
We both appear vulnerable.
She is oblivious, but I have to keep reminding her to try to watch out for herself, and I try to keep watch.
If a life threatening situation develops, I have my J frame in my pocket.
At least we have a chance (or 5 chances plus a speed loader), and I always carry my lockblade.

Try reading a new book, 400 Things Cops Know from Adam Plantinga. He will give you quite a bit of tips in how police can "read" people and their behavior that can be useful for remaining vigilant. Depressing in parts, hilarious in parts, and informs the reader of places that most would never want to go and events that they would never want to witness.

If anyone was oblivious it was the writer who portrayed the cops in "Wind River". Whoever wrote that either has no idea or must think cops are idiots.

Good Ol' Boy said:

It's not a matter of "comfort", society has been CONDITIONED to be unaware of their surroundings. Technology, specifically the smartphone is the main avenue used for this "conditioning". I don't mean to sound proud, I dabble with my smartphone from time to time when out in public, but not to a conditioned point.

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Self deception is the worst form of conditioning, be the the belief that nothing will happen or the belief you are always on top of your game.

Let's look at this another way -- "being oblivious" is a way of filtering the information overload (which is contributed to by smart phones and other devices). If we had to deal with 100% of all the visual, auditory, etc., stimuli that we encounter, we would go crazy. In fact, inability to filter extraneous stimuli is a classic sign of mental illness. So at an early age we subconsciously learn to eliminate the less important things from our mental horizon, and concentrate on the more important things. In primitive times, the "important things" involved seeking food, and noticing predatory animals or human enemies. Today, it seems, the "important things" are the messages on our smart phones, and then, because of our limited ability to concentrate, the physical threats fade into insignificance. If this keeps up, the people burying their noses in their smart phones are going to find themselves the victims of Darwinian natural selection.

I think the educational system today is largely to blame. Our schools have embraced the cyber-revolution with a vengeance, and they teach even small kids to become adept with computers and other technology. By the time these kids reach their late teens, they have become "technology zombies," to the point where they ignore their friends and family, who may be sitting right next to them, to concentrate on the messages on their small screens. It's past time for the schools to start teaching about the proper use of technology, that is, when not to use it. We need to get back to stressing hands-on human interaction.

edwardware said:

I think you've just explained, "ignorance is bliss."

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Once upon a time in most parts of America you were safe in most public places. If you are over 40 you lived it. Back then you could be oblivious to those around you and not have anything bad happen to you. That world died in the 1970's.

Guitarmike said:

Once upon a time in most parts of America you were safe in most public places. If you are over 40 you lived it. Back then you could be oblivious to those around you and not have anything bad happen to you. That world died in the 1970's.

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This decade's overall homicide rate is 50% (~4/100k) what it was in the 1970s (~8/100k). We have much less crime, but much more awareness of distant crime than we used to.

Of course, this statistic doesn't distinguish between the vast majority of the country, with a rate <1/100k, and the '100 most dangerous zip codes' ghettos with 10-20/100k.

Our property is adjacent to a recreation venue with multiple system of trails and for the more adventurous rock face climbing. We have had individuals a mixture of lost souls which mean us no harm that wonder out of the recreation venue property onto our hard woods covered property . Then there are the exceptions which warrant and I do mean warrant a certain amount of scrutiny. Over the decades you learn to read peoples body languish, demeanor and other characteristics. You don't always get the correct read but with experience you come close enough to trust your instincts.
We also have a local weekly news paper which give the County Sheriffs Dept. weekly report which gives a indicator of criminal activity.

According to the NCVS, violent crime victimization is down from over 75/1000 persons in '93 to under 25/1000 in 2015. This is for rape or sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault, and simple assault.

It is a pretty safe time to live in the US. People are oblivious because they (statistically speaking) can afford to be. They need to worry about the buffet from what I'm seeing. The cluster of diseases related to people's diet and exercise (lack thereof) lifestyle choices are one of the biggest killers in the US. After getting that in order, they should take some defensive driving lessons. Then, maybe worry about violent crime.

Or, walk and chew gum at the same time by driving defensively, having a CCW and being alert, and eating halfway healthy and getting some exercise.

Awful lot of pretentiousness going on in this thread. Looking at groups of people with a total stranger and both of y'all allegedly going "Baaaa!" like a sheep at the same time? OP happened to witness and not report shoplifting but maintains that his alertness and attitude is superior to that of the "victims on the hoof"? Several people apparently think they stopped purse snatching in the middle of a crowded mall because they happened to be in the right place to make eye contact with a "turd" or ne'er-do-well?

Next time I am in line at the gas station I will have to be sure to make eye contact with the guy in line behind me, so I can join the chorus and mention that he looked like he was ready to rob the place if it wasn't for an attentive sheep dog in the place.

shafter said:

I think people take comfort in statistics. They knows that millions of people visit malls and very few ever die.

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If this country keeps letting those "refugees" like England has done, that will, unfortunately, change. Look at what happened in that London subway a couple of days ago.

Old Dog said:

Aside from the strong undercurrent of misanthropy running through the OP's post, I think it has little to do with people taking comfort in being oblivious. As another poster noted, most people understand that statistics are in their favor and that in most communities, shopping malls are actually pretty safe places to spend time, compared to other venues.

I do not think most folks are oblivious, but rather, as member ironcaintit notes, most folks simply have never been victims of crimes committed against their own person, and therefore, have never been inspired to develop any sort of self-defense posture ...

It's great that we all have a place to come to pat ourselves on the back for being the only alert, observant and prepared men in our respective communities, but there always seems to be this air of superiority on the part of many posters in threads such as this ... Nothing's really changed, folks, since the first humanoids trod the face of the planet. One either develops the inherent defensive instincts of one's species, or one stands more likely not die in one's sleep.

Ultimately, all we can do is prepare ourselves and our loved ones, pointing out that walking around in public in large crowds with one's I-Phone planted in front of one's face is not the best way to successfully navigate through one's life.

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I read this "theme" a lot on SD boards. It seemed escalate when that "sheepdog" article by Grossman came out.

Chuck

The wife knows we take a table near the exit and I set with my back to the wall.