This thread burns me up. I've been holding off posting on it because my emotions could get the best of me. It doesn't burn me up what YOU guys write, mind you-- it's the nature of the thread.
Let's cut through the over-analytic BS on this.
There IS a counter-culture in our society that has always enjoyed "intimidating" and causing the general polulace to feel "threatened."
It's always been this way, it seems. The costumes just change.
This isn't the first time I've read about the whole "sticking something up to someone" and "fake-robbing" them.
As has been alluded to on this thread, it is likely a Dominance thing. It is an Intimidation thing. It is a Humiliation thing.
And there is an added bonus that they may get some money out of it if you just hand over your wallet.
I don't thing the presense of the cell negates the attempted robbery. While it may be possible for him to say he just had his cell in his hand at the time, and wasn't trying to imply it was a weapon, but that just moves it from armed robbery to regular robbery.
No offense, but COME ON....
A guy jerks your car door open and forcfully jabs a cell phone into your ribs. What kind of person in polite society does either of those things for any purpose OTHER than an attempt to dominate, intimidate, humiliate, assualt, or rob you? He's not all excited about finally getting Amp Mobile and just HAS to show it to you.
Give me a break. It's not selling here. I don't mean to be brash, and I am not "attacking the poster of that quote." I am, however, attacking that line of thinking.
We all know clearly what what going on here. Part of the ills of society today is that we DO CONSTANTLY use excuses for behavior, over-analyze situations like this, and give the benefit of the doubt to those who do things such as this.
And we are SO concerned about being PC that we will overlay practically ANY situation where situational awareness is called for with some garbage about "Profiling."
Now, I don't know any factors in this case that would be "profiling" characteristics. It doesn't matter. Thugs come in all flavors. But if I am in a parking garage and I see ANY group of guys hanging around without an obvious reason, my spidey-sense is tingling. And it still would if they were all dressed in business slacks with wool jackets.
I mean serously... I'd worked with a lot of parking garages in my past. When you go in, you go to your car and get gone. They have never been high on the list of places to "hang out." You see people "hanging out," it should be a question mark for you.
Situational Awareness is the worst mistake in this situation-- aside for the mistake of nature that this piece of garbage was ever born. Parking garages should be HIGH on the list of places where situational awareness is peaking off the charts.
When I worked downtown in New Orleans, I knew a LOT of people who carried IN THEIR HAND a .38 snub-nosed revolver while walking to their car in the garage every day. (I know-- this was on campus. I am only illustrating.)
-- John