Ambivalid Just wanted to say thanks for sticking up for those who have a hard time advocating for themselves.
The things done in my previous post I have done regarding pawn shop.
The pawn shop now has properly marked spaces and is telling drivers to move when violating spaces.
Just need to get it to the right ears, to get things done…
The thing is Jamie, it ALWAYS seems to happen to you, it always seems to go this way.
At the start of this thread you were getting compliments - by the end it has once again devolved into Jamie as the lone voice of reason in a batshit rude and unfeeling world that just doesn’t give a shit about disabled parking.
The pattern is now so familiar, that it is tempting to start a poll when you start a thread with predictions of how many posts before it becomes a Jamie against the unfeeling world slugfest.
And rightly or wrongly, but most likely with some justification, the old man obviously felt you were giving out a dickish vibe - so is it possible you were? No matter how much you feel “justified” or correct?
People don’t normally make such accusations out of whole cloth. And with the number of times it seems to happen to you, it seems that you may well be giving out the vibe - whether you mean to or not. (I will give the benefit of the doubt on this, that you don’t mean to antagonise, but somehow that is how you are coming across to others)
Thank you so much. 
And you are right here. Getting things to the right ears can be difficult though, and the process of getting through to those ears can be disheartening at times. But persistence is the only way to achieve. (Excellent job with the pawn shop, btw) 
What are you talking about? Remember, this topic started as a thread within a thread so the actual thread (how could a police officer be this wrong) is NOT the topic being discussed here. Who complimented me on this?
And the reason there is a similarity when it comes my stories about much of the world “not giving a shit” (your words, not mine) about handicap parking, that’s because there IS a common element of ignorance and just lack of knowledge. This lack of knowledge gets manifested into uncaring behavior like parking illegally and blaming the ones affected when they voice up about the behavior.
Ok, I don’t know where to start. First of all, I’m not so concerned with people “stopping acting like that” as I am concerned with people stopping the illegal parking.
Second, who am I complaining to? What could I “continue doing” but “stop complaining about”? I am confused by that remark. I am complaining to no one; except in official capacity to the proper authorities.
Lastly, it is nothing inherent in my behavior that provokes the sorts of reactions I get from people. It’s a few things; ignorance of disability needs and issues, defensiveness at personal exposure of wrongdoing, and simple misunderstanding. It’s not Mister Rogers who illegally parks illegally in handicap parking. And it’s not Mister Rogers who tells me to “fuck off” when i ask why they are parked illegally.
I thought you weren’t coming back? BTW, not a single person here has defended anyone who parked in a handicapped space illegally.
Most of my energy has been devoted to debunking specious quotes/arguments made against me by a small but regular group of posters.
Wish I could say the same…
So stop. It’s as easy as that. I can honestly promise that if you don’t post to these threads or create new ones that other people won’t keep them alive for more then a few days or start new ones for you. The only reason these threads continue on, the single, driving force behind these threads is you.
You’ve said that these threads make up only a small percentage of your posting history, so stick to the other ones and let these fall to the wayside instead of devoting any energy (or ‘most’ for that matter) to them. If you don’t create these threads, you won’t have to defend yourself. Remember, the only information that can be used ‘against’ you, is information you give us. No one here created information about you, no one made any thing up about you, no one even knew you existed a year ago…all we have is what you gave us. Call it what you want, but it’s not like we’re lying to you about you. You sometimes just refuse to see something from someone else’s point of view if it doesn’t jive with your own. It’s when that happens that the arguments start. I remember a while back someone said something to you and you came back (and I can’t find the statement right now) with something alone the lines of “Don’t tell me what I’m thinking”. Sometimes you just have to step back and accept that the other person, the person you’re talking to, be it me, another poster, a person in a parking lot you’re asking a random question to might be thinking any of a million things…and they’re allowed to think any of those things. When you ask someone if a car is theirs. They’re allowed to think “Bite me, I’m hot and sweaty and I just want to go home, what the hell difference does it make, I’m walking this way, does it look like it’s my car why are you wasting my time?” he doesn’t have to be thinking “he’s probably just trying to figure out who’s parked in this spot illegally or what the mileage is on this big car” and that’s okay.
Have you thought about starting a twitter or tumblr page? It might be a good way to vent to like minded people without having to defend anything. If you made it private and just allowed people on that you wanted on (friends, family, other handicapped people), you could post things like what happened with the old man the other day and you might have a better change at getting the reaction you wanted instead of an argument.
He also has ‘no posting style’ and there is ‘no Dio Show’
I’m going to bed.
Yes but I can’t allow mischaracterizations, both intentional and unintentional to stand simply in order to let a thread die. I have no problem ending a thread on a note of honesty. But people like you always have to get in the last word; and that last word is always some sort of obfuscation or distortion. And again; it doesn’t matter what the reasoning is behind this man’s words, either way they were rude, uncalled for and inappropriate. Yes, he very well could have been hot, sweaty and just wanting to go home; but we also try to behave civilized and respectful to one another.
Please point out to me exactly where I mischaracterized, obfuscated or distorted something you said where I wasn’t simply suggesting how someone else might have interpreted your actions in order for you to better understand how the world around observes you.
Ya know what. Screw it. I don’t care anymore.
You seem to refuse to see anyone’s view points but your own. I honestly, really and truly think you would get so much further in your crusade if you would open your mind up to other points of view, advice you’ve been given*, learn to have the ability to see your actions from another perspective, but all I hear is. Wah wah wah, I keep doing the same thing and they keep treating me the same way.
I give up, I’ve honestly tried to help, but I honestly don’t think you want help, you want cheerleaders (you admitted as much yourself a few posts ago) and I’m not one of them.
*Don’t ask me what advice you’ve been given, every time I mention advice, you ask me that. You’ve been given mounds of advice it’s all here in all your threads and it’s like you just don’t see it or you ignore it. I gave you some just upthread about meeting with the chief of police, did you read it?
Actually here’s one more thing I just thought of, look into other cities and see if they’ve had more luck with this problem or see if anyone else in the country has a program for dealing with this and make some calls to see if you could bring the program to your city.
If you haven’t seen it, the Freep is doing a series on handicap parking. Apparently, it is one of the biggest challenges for people here in Michigan. I see that the Bluewater Center for Independent Living has volunteer positions. Maybe if you channeled your efforts with an organization, you would be able to work toward legislation to address the problem or have more of an impact in some other way.
To be completely clear, what you are doing is not effective. These confrontations make you and everyone else angry or hurt. If you really want to change things, get with an organization that can address it on a larger scale. All I’m hearing from you is bitching and no answers.
This is part of the perspective problem. No one disagrees with Jamie that people shouldn’t violate handicapped parking laws. The question is, when confronted with a social problem, what do you do? And having chosen a particular strategy, and seeing what kinds of reactions that gets, then how do you think about what you do? The strategy that Jamie has chosen has made at least one elderly guy think that he’s being a dick. Well, now, what can be done with that information? Can it be used to inform a course of action? Or at least create an inner dialogue about what individually confronting people in a parking lot is likely to accomplish?
Jamie, dude, if someone were to ask me out of the blue if that were my car, I’d be suspicious, and I don’t think I’m the only one. Confronting people in parking lots is a bad idea. When you see a car illegally parked in a handicapped spot, call the police, let the manager of the business know about the illegally parked car, then move on. Your part is done.
You keep saying this. Are you under the impression that I’ve consistently gone against you in arguments?
Oh please. This man was walking by before I even had a chance to call police and I was asking him the question in order to save myself that call. “Out of the blue?” Um, like I said, I had reason to think the car was his. Suspicious? Huh?
The term “confront” is being used very liberally here. Respectfully asking a passing man if a car was his is hardly “confronting”. I couldn’t call police before having the necessary information and that question was part of that information obtaining process. Hardly confrontation. And AGAIN, the reactions from people aren’t caused by any inherent nature of my behavior but rather from the nature of the people breaking the laws themselves; as well as simple ignorance of the importance of handicap parking to the lives of the disabled.
nm
And blocking someone in with your car isn’t confrontation? This kind of thing adds context to the situation. Obviously this guy knew something about your reputation. Why do you keep trying to pretend that such knowledge won’t color his perception of your actions?