Look, I’m not interested in whether or not this ban is a good or bad idea in this thread. I’m more concerned about the general asshattery at work in this single instance:
Blake’s older brother, Tony Blake, said Sunday he blamed the death on the smoking ban. “I’m very bitter,” he said. "It’s a senseless murder because of this stupid cigarette law. That’s the reason this guy was killed.
Yep. Because of the cigarette law. Not because your fucking brother stabbed the fucking guy for enforcing the law… allegedly.
You wanna have it out with this law? Go bitch to Mayor Bloomberg, or the city council. Don’t go stabbing a bouncer who was just doing his job.
Might I also toss out as additional flamebait (thanks, Farker Dr. Pepper)–If the guy had been smoking weed instead of cigarettes, none of this would have ever happened.
The bouncer’s brother said this, not the brother of the stabber. The brother didn’t stab the bouncer, his own brother.The brothers stabbed him, but not HIS brother.
OP: That’s the first thing I thought. It’s sad, but he could have been stabbed kicking some guy out for being drunk. I couldn’t be mad at a law, I’d be murderously mad at the @$$h*1e that killed my brother, even more so because it was over such a minor thing.
As this is the States, I forsee the new “nicotine withdrawal rage” defense coming.
Elwood, you may want to rewrite your op, because your whole rant is based on something the brother of the bouncer said, and not what the brother of the arrested party said.
I am a NYC bouncer, and I’ve had zero problems with the new law, but I will say there are drunk assholes who will try their best to hurt you anyway they can. I see them every night I’m at work.
Having said that, the brother of the bouncer killed seems like a real wizard. Guess what, moron? It’s damn dangerous to be a bouncer. Nearly everyone you will deal with is drunk, or chemicaly fucked-up in some way, and YOU are the one spoiling the fun. Smoking law, cutting them off when they’ve had too much, breaking up the fights, throwing everyone out at closing time, doesn’t matter…YOU are the designated asshole. It’s high risk work. Deal with it. Sorry about your brother, but trying to blame the cigarette law!!! Get a fucking clue.
I’ll concede every point you’ve made. No one deserves having knives plunged into them @ work, for any reason. That being said, I’m sure you’ll concede, there are alot of bouncers out there who act like total assholes who enjoy nothing more then bullying and pounding the crap out of people half their size. Not to mention bouncers out there who consider their shift pay nothing less than a supplement to their real money maker: dealing.
You’ll get no argument from me on that, JohnBckWLD. The popular image of bouncers as no-neck thugs who enjoy bullying people and feel that beating the crap out of people is their whole job has a great deal of truth to it. I’ve worked with more than a few like that, but whenever I train a new bouncer I due my best to dispell that image. However, the nature of the work itself contributes to that way of thinking. We are almost all “off-the-books” employees, which means no insurance, no disability, and no “legal” back-up if things get ugly. There are a lot of guys who look at it as “I’m not getting hurt for this job” and just exploding on people if there is trouble. Bouncers who deal? Well, it happens.
You are there, in that environment constantly. It can be hard to stay honest, with all the temptations…Group wants to come in with no ID? Slip the doorman a $20…pretty girls want to hop the line at a club…slip her in the back door, with a little stop for a blowjob…need some cash…skim from the door reciepts…other people selling drugs in the bar…it’s going to go on anyway, why not get a piece of it?
There are a few of us who are honest and try to seek non-violent solutions to conflicts, but we are the minority.
Day-um. The city has its own bouncers, now? I guess it has been a while since I lived up north. What do you have to do to get thrown out of NYC?
Incidentally, after reading ryan’s second post in this thread, I’ve made a discovery:
Our very own ryan is none other than the legendary Dalton hisself!
[sub]'Zis mean we get to have a Patrick Swayze Christmas at the SDMB this year?[/sub]
It turns out that there weren’t actually any witnesses. And that it might have been a broken bottle instead of a knife. (CSI apparently not as good as TV?) And that they released the brothers after the DA declined to prosecute them.
According to the CNN version, the stabber was charged with “assault, criminal possession of a weapon and resisting arrest” but no mention of murder. Was he not, or did CNN neglect to mention it?
Was he not, or did CNN neglect to mention it?