Hand_Rifle_Guy
Member
So I live in Palo Alto, here in the PRK, which can be accurately described as an "affluent" community. We have lots of cops, very little crime, and what is the highest property-value rate in the country, now. There's a house on my block selling for $1,750,000. And we don't even have sidewalks.
We're all millionaires, you see. But only if you sell your house and LEAVE. Our city council gets in trouble for micro-management, because we don't have any REAL problems, so they have WAY too much time on their hands.
Anywho, on Christmast Day, or night, since it was midnight or so, I'm at a local bar with a few friends. Right when we drive up, we hear gunfire from down the street. 5 booms, and a flurry of pop-pop-pops, like a .357 revolver, and a magazine of Nines. (You know you're a gun nut when you can identify ammo types from a distance.
) Interesting, says us, as it's a ways away, and atypical for Palo Alto. Immediately the night is filled with sirens, as Palo Alto has an audio-triangulation system to track gunfire, so the cops knew right where it came from.
Within a few minutes the cops have the main drag through town blocked off a mere block from the bar. Being the Curious Idiot that I am, I'm outside watching the proceedings, and wondering whatintheSamheck's going down in MY sleepy little police state. Subsequently, I notice a caravan of cars pouring down the street towards the bar, but universally turning off the main drag towards the freeway at the intersection right before the bar. The few cars that missed the turn, which the caravan was taking by doubling-up the turn lane, immediately u-turned and followed them.
That's kind of interesting, thinks I. Lots of sorta fancy cars, (Sports cars with bolt-on exterior cosmetic enhancements, for the most part.) driven by young folks of monochromatic racial extraction, and loud with thumpa-bumping music beats, all pouring out of the block that the cops blocked off. And following each other STRAIGHT out of town. More than a hundred of them, by my instant estimate. And this is just one possible direction to use to leave the area.
It occurs to me that watching this on the street is not the best place to be, right this second. But hey, this is Perfect Palo Alto, there's a swarm of cops in visual range, and damned if I'm going to be chased off the street in my hometown. I did say Curious Idiot, after all.
Nothing happened while I watched, and the stream of cars petered out quickly. I went back in the bar, and hung out till closing, when we left carefully avoiding the crowd of nervous cops who still had the intersection blocked down the street.
Turns out it was the close of a Hip-Hop party a couple blocks down at the local Elks lodge. The hall had been chartered for 100 people for a "charity" event, to which something like 500 people had shown up. Private security had shut the party down at about 12:30, as per their charter, but the party had continued in the parking lot until gunfire brought the cops.
That got rid of everybody in the parking lot, but I guess they weren't done partying yet. Two local convenience stores got looted by crowds of fifty-ish people on their way to the freeway. Single clerks on duty could do little except dial 911, and wait until numbers had gone down enough to let them lock the doors. The cops, who showed within a couple of minutes of dialing, did nothing except "crowd control", and their presence stopped the looting. One guy was sitting across the street on his slightly crashed Mustang, with a couple of flat tires. He got a ticket for "sideshow" driving. Turns out he was from Suisuin, a town clear at the other end of the S.F. Bay, some TWO HOURS away.
What a pleasant Christmas present these folks brought to my town! I might could chalk it up to "instant impulse brain failure", except the part about a girl walking into the 7-11 a couple of minutes before it happened, and warning the clerk to lock his doors, as there was about 30 people on their way there with malicious intent! I guess he didn't beleve her, as there was no precedent for such behavior OUTSIDE OF THE L.A. RIOTS!
I suppose I should be greatful. No-one got shot. The looters just grabbed sodas, cigarettes, and beer, and shoved a few displays over.
But when I went to buy gas late last night at the station that got looted, I had to slip my money through the locked door to the enmbarrassed clerk even though I was the only one there! They didn't have a night window/drawer, because they had never needed one.
But really, this kind of crap makes me want to set up a nice water-cooled machine-gun emplacement, and brutally gun down an entire crowd! :ar15: This kind of behavior they visit on the community that has the kindness to host their event on CHRISTMAS DAY for crying out loud!
None of these folks qualified as poor. I saw them driving by. They had some pretty nice cars. There wasn't a beater in the bunch. NOT ONE.
I understand mob mentality, as expressed by the "ism" of relative intelligence defined by the lowest I.Q. in the group divided by the number of participants, but I'm afraid that doesn't excuse the behavior, at least to me. Particularly in the context of it was pre-planned to some degree, as evidenced by the warning delivered to the one clerk.
This stupidity was perpetrated by some 20% of the attendees, with planning, at two seperate locations that were in opposite directions from each other, but both directly along routes to the freeway. Gunning 'em all down is not a solution, as 4 out of 5 failed to participate in this orgy of uncivilized barbarism.
But understand, I am OUT of forgiveness and forebearance for Hip-Hop culture, despite Liberal racial activist pleas to the contrary. Hip-Hop culture happens to break down neatly along racial lines, and that I like even less. I really don't want to be racist, but these kinds of events make that mighty difficult when I WATCH who's doing it drive by, and they're doing it to MY community.
Don't these folks have any pride, or self respect? Are they going to get a bit older, and then wonder why it is that they have no credibility, and are viewed with suspicion simply because of the music they listen to and the color of their skin? Complaints about lost opportunities start to sound like so much whining at this point. Climbing out of negative stereotypes requires at least a cessation of negatively stereotypical behavior, one would think.
I'm not going to give in to what amounts to learned prejudice. That would be a failure on my part, I think. Bad apples do not reflect the whole barrel. RIGHT?!?!??
What to do, what to do, what to do...?
We're all millionaires, you see. But only if you sell your house and LEAVE. Our city council gets in trouble for micro-management, because we don't have any REAL problems, so they have WAY too much time on their hands.
Anywho, on Christmast Day, or night, since it was midnight or so, I'm at a local bar with a few friends. Right when we drive up, we hear gunfire from down the street. 5 booms, and a flurry of pop-pop-pops, like a .357 revolver, and a magazine of Nines. (You know you're a gun nut when you can identify ammo types from a distance.
) Interesting, says us, as it's a ways away, and atypical for Palo Alto. Immediately the night is filled with sirens, as Palo Alto has an audio-triangulation system to track gunfire, so the cops knew right where it came from.Within a few minutes the cops have the main drag through town blocked off a mere block from the bar. Being the Curious Idiot that I am, I'm outside watching the proceedings, and wondering whatintheSamheck's going down in MY sleepy little police state. Subsequently, I notice a caravan of cars pouring down the street towards the bar, but universally turning off the main drag towards the freeway at the intersection right before the bar. The few cars that missed the turn, which the caravan was taking by doubling-up the turn lane, immediately u-turned and followed them.
That's kind of interesting, thinks I. Lots of sorta fancy cars, (Sports cars with bolt-on exterior cosmetic enhancements, for the most part.) driven by young folks of monochromatic racial extraction, and loud with thumpa-bumping music beats, all pouring out of the block that the cops blocked off. And following each other STRAIGHT out of town. More than a hundred of them, by my instant estimate. And this is just one possible direction to use to leave the area.
It occurs to me that watching this on the street is not the best place to be, right this second. But hey, this is Perfect Palo Alto, there's a swarm of cops in visual range, and damned if I'm going to be chased off the street in my hometown. I did say Curious Idiot, after all.
Nothing happened while I watched, and the stream of cars petered out quickly. I went back in the bar, and hung out till closing, when we left carefully avoiding the crowd of nervous cops who still had the intersection blocked down the street.
Turns out it was the close of a Hip-Hop party a couple blocks down at the local Elks lodge. The hall had been chartered for 100 people for a "charity" event, to which something like 500 people had shown up. Private security had shut the party down at about 12:30, as per their charter, but the party had continued in the parking lot until gunfire brought the cops.
That got rid of everybody in the parking lot, but I guess they weren't done partying yet. Two local convenience stores got looted by crowds of fifty-ish people on their way to the freeway. Single clerks on duty could do little except dial 911, and wait until numbers had gone down enough to let them lock the doors. The cops, who showed within a couple of minutes of dialing, did nothing except "crowd control", and their presence stopped the looting. One guy was sitting across the street on his slightly crashed Mustang, with a couple of flat tires. He got a ticket for "sideshow" driving. Turns out he was from Suisuin, a town clear at the other end of the S.F. Bay, some TWO HOURS away.
What a pleasant Christmas present these folks brought to my town! I might could chalk it up to "instant impulse brain failure", except the part about a girl walking into the 7-11 a couple of minutes before it happened, and warning the clerk to lock his doors, as there was about 30 people on their way there with malicious intent! I guess he didn't beleve her, as there was no precedent for such behavior OUTSIDE OF THE L.A. RIOTS!
I suppose I should be greatful. No-one got shot. The looters just grabbed sodas, cigarettes, and beer, and shoved a few displays over.
But when I went to buy gas late last night at the station that got looted, I had to slip my money through the locked door to the enmbarrassed clerk even though I was the only one there! They didn't have a night window/drawer, because they had never needed one.
But really, this kind of crap makes me want to set up a nice water-cooled machine-gun emplacement, and brutally gun down an entire crowd! :ar15: This kind of behavior they visit on the community that has the kindness to host their event on CHRISTMAS DAY for crying out loud!
None of these folks qualified as poor. I saw them driving by. They had some pretty nice cars. There wasn't a beater in the bunch. NOT ONE.
I understand mob mentality, as expressed by the "ism" of relative intelligence defined by the lowest I.Q. in the group divided by the number of participants, but I'm afraid that doesn't excuse the behavior, at least to me. Particularly in the context of it was pre-planned to some degree, as evidenced by the warning delivered to the one clerk.
This stupidity was perpetrated by some 20% of the attendees, with planning, at two seperate locations that were in opposite directions from each other, but both directly along routes to the freeway. Gunning 'em all down is not a solution, as 4 out of 5 failed to participate in this orgy of uncivilized barbarism.
But understand, I am OUT of forgiveness and forebearance for Hip-Hop culture, despite Liberal racial activist pleas to the contrary. Hip-Hop culture happens to break down neatly along racial lines, and that I like even less. I really don't want to be racist, but these kinds of events make that mighty difficult when I WATCH who's doing it drive by, and they're doing it to MY community.
Don't these folks have any pride, or self respect? Are they going to get a bit older, and then wonder why it is that they have no credibility, and are viewed with suspicion simply because of the music they listen to and the color of their skin? Complaints about lost opportunities start to sound like so much whining at this point. Climbing out of negative stereotypes requires at least a cessation of negatively stereotypical behavior, one would think.
I'm not going to give in to what amounts to learned prejudice. That would be a failure on my part, I think. Bad apples do not reflect the whole barrel. RIGHT?!?!??
What to do, what to do, what to do...?
