Now now, it’s possible for a young person to be clueless without being a slacker.
I was at a local bar once, watching a guy throw a temper tantrum because the business next door had towed his car from their lot while he was in the bar. He demanded the phone and called the cops on the bartender who had nothing to do with it. The cop arrives and tells the guy that the business next door had him towed and there was nothing he could do.
The guy looks at the cop and says “You wouldn’t be such a tough little bitch without that gun on your hip.”
I’d never seen anyone actually frog-marched before.
Surely on these intellectually-rigourous boards you aren’t equating a legally-mandated parking spot with one that is simply a marketing ploy?
I think we’re both on the same page - I agree that people who are hanging out in public parks don’t get to tell the police what to do. I don’t think lemmy agrees with us.
I was there, not in Oakland, but I was an Occupier. The city park belongs to the people, and as for police, they claim to work for us, so why not call their bluff?
“Who(m) do you serve, who(m) do you protect?”
“From Oakland to Greece, disarm the police!”
The whole point of occupying, as a worldwide tactic, has always been to carve out autonomous zones that the state (and/or the ruling class) cannot penetrate or control. Even if it wasn’t (yet) practically possible for the comrades in Oakland to prevent the entry of armed police, taking a stand has to start somewhere. Also, going toe-to-toe with the police is the antithesis of slacktivism.
Only now? I think she tops herself every time she posts.
In line yesterday to pay the cashier for gas, the woman in front of me was trying to pay for her gas with vouchers of some description. The cashier had never come across this type of voucher before, and was at a complete loss as to how to process it…the customer had just printed the voucher off her computer and whilst it had a serial number, there was no way of entering the info into the cash register.
So the cashier patiently explains to the woman that it isn’t going to work, whereupon our customer starts to lose it! Voice gets louder and squeakier demanding that the cashier try something else, call someone, swipe the paper through the scanner to process it, and the long-suffering cashier takes some deep breaths before explaining the impasse again.
In the meantime, there’s me and another 8 customers behind all wanting to pay for our gas and get the hell outta there, and an equal number of cars wanting to pull into the pumps. But Ms Hot & Tizzy wasn’t concerned one little bit.
Silly bitch. 
It’s not a bluff, and Occupy doesn’t represent “the people”. Elected representatives represent “the people”, and thru them the collective will of the people - all the people even including those of us with jobs. And we have decided that we want the cops to carry guns. If you disagree with that, elect enough people to overturn it. Until then, deal with it.
No, you have to share the park with those who pay taxes to support it.
Regards,
Shodan
It is indeed a bluff, in that police claim to work for the masses (and potentially could), but instead aggressively and violently attempt to control said masses, particularly the marginalized sections thereof. Elected representatives don’t represent the people, they represent the corporations and others who fund them. Voting doesn’t change much, otherwise it would be illegal. Have you seen how heavily and nefariously the deck is stacked against third parties?
As for sharing the park with others who pay taxes to support it (and what’s that about jobs? Most of us had jobs, which aren’t exactly plentiful in a neoliberal context like we were opposing. I had two at the time and was still in trouble, and besides, do people think that you can’t be politically active if you are employed?), by all means, occupations by definition welcome all of those who come with constructive intent. That excludes, among others, armed agents of the state.
Start a new thread, in GD, about the appropriate reaction to cops carrying guns in public places – go to the Pit if you want to slag off on each other about your respective opinions.
Start a new thread, in GD, about the appropriate way to handle handicapped parking spaces and spaces reserved for pregnant women or people with small children – go to the Pit if you want to slag off on each other about your respective opinions.
This thread is for reporting odd encounters with people who have entitled attitudes – it is not the place for demonstrating any such attitudes that you may hold yourself.
At this point I’m not going to go back and write individual notes on individual posts – if you’re not clear whether you’re being addressed in this general mod note, feel free to check with me before posting again. This should be considered moderator instruction, and ignoring it can be grounds for a warning.
Thanks,
twickster, MPSIMS moderator
This is a generic one, but I’ve never understood people who will put the petal to the metal once the light goes green, only to have to stop a block away, at the next red light. Congratulations on traveling 150 feet faster than the rest of us.
This thread’s title is appropriate. I think the topic of Occupy came up on these boards not long ago, and somebody mentioned just how much societal damage we had to try to deal with, and when faced with that situation I definitely asked myself what was wrong with people, in more ways than one. I wondered what was wrong with people when I saw things not taking the trajectory of similar movements around the world. I wondered what was wrong with people when I observe the extraordinary quiescence of people in the face of alleged power.
Then again, I very often saw what was right with people, in several instances, and frankly some of those memories nearly bring me to tears.
I have these two friends who I don’t like to go out to eat with because they invariably send stuff back. The woman will sit there and have the waiter go through everything in the menu, what’s in it, can she substitute this or that. She will come up with a custom order, and then, about five minutes after the waiter has put the order in, she will wave the waiter over and change it. And then when it comes, there is always something wrong. ALWAYS.
(In one instance we went out for breakfast at a restaurant we both patronize, but not usually together. I have never had a complaint about the service there, but in her company, yeah, I could have had a few. Most notably, she asked for extra Hollandaise sauce for her Eggs Benedict. They brought it; she complained it was cold. They took it back and nuked it; now it’s not Hollandaise sauce anymore. Well, of course you can’t eat Eggs B without Hollandaise so could she order something else? And not be charged for the first meal? No? Waitress is a bitch…)
The other one is not quite that bad, but he always sends something back. Hamburgers in a hotel restaurant, he’s all: “No, I ordered this MEDIUM RARE, it’s overcooked. No, don’t redo it. big sigh I don’t have time to wait for someone to cook it right, assuming you have that person back in your kitchen, so I’ll just…suffer through an unsatisfying meal.” Right. A HAMBURGER.
These two have never met, even though I have always thought they would be perfect for each other (the timing never worked out, mainly because they are both so high maintenance).
It gets harder and harder to find out something to do with these people that won’t annoy the hell out of me. The woman and I walk our dogs together. Other than the fact that she pulls out her cell phone every ten minutes because of a call she has to take, that goes okay. The guy has moved to New York, so I rarely see him. Hope he can get a good meal there.
(Heh–I once went out when he was still in town with him and another friend. I bet her $5 he would send at least one thing back. After he sent back the first thing, the appetizer, I asked if she wanted to go double or nothing and she wouldn’t even take the bet, but I would have won.)
Heh. A few weeks ago I was directing traffic for a harvest fair at a park. I was near gate 5 directing traffic to the next gate. This woman barrels in blowing her horn at me to get out of the way.
I tell her to* go down to gate 6 please.*
[loud-n-crabby voice] “But officer! I’m handicapped!”
Oh. in that case you want to go down to gate 6 instead.
**
“But I’m handicapped!”**
*
Sorry. The lot here is full.*
“This is ridiculous! There needs to be more handicapped parking!”
*
Lady, all the parking can’t be handicapped spaces. that wouldn’t make any sense* :rolleyes:
“Well, they should be, God Damn it!” [drives off to gate 6]
Ho boy!:rolleyes:
NM, just saw mod note.
Regardless of what your views on law enforcement in your own country is, if you go to a foreign country, you really cannot insist the local authorities do not enforce local law.
Neither is it fair to insist that organisers of a large event should allow you to break laws. This is not within their power. They’re running a convention, not a country, and all they could possibly do is join you in being prosecuted for allowing illegal drug use. They also can’t keep police out from an event like that- there were over 5000 attendees, and allowing local authorities to come check that a licenced event is being run as agreed is nonnegotiable if you want to keep the whole event from being shut down.
In this particular case, the organisers even sent an email out to all the advance ticket holders warning how strict local rules were, as well as putting a warning in the info book handed out on registration.
hell if I know. My legs work, I don’t care how close I am to the building.
This one makes more sense now, to be sure.
Often, the people who talk the most have the least to say.
I’m going to guess that the people you mention hate flowers in general, which is a separate issue.
Oh, ZPG doesn’t think it doesn’t. But she also doesn’t think that anybody should get pregnant.
Ever.