YZ wrote on Thu, 19 August 2010 04:26 |
I find it interesting that some people take a "small story" and start making political, ethnic, ideological and etc generalizations based on a one-time occurrence.
A guy tries to mug me at knife point? I give him my wallet and leave pi**ed off but thankful not to be hurt; a group of people rob my stuff that I left outside and stay there defiantly? I minimize my losses by leaving in silence, and don't waste any of my time trying to find a justification for their act.
Now, in the first case, if I were a skilled social worker with knowledge of the area and the people in it and sensed that there was 'something' in the eyes of my underage mugger I _might_ decide to act differently; in the second case, if I were Chuck Norris I would have shown the thieves that they shouldn't have messed with my stuff.
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[I find it interesting that some people take a "small story" and start making political, ethnic, ideological and etc generalizations based on a one-time occurrence.]
That's the nature of discussion. Someone posts a story inviting comment. Some comments agree with the sentiment of the original poster, some don't. Mostly all points of view are valid perspectives. Some are glib or for the pursuit of humor while others take the original sentiment and elaborate further to illustrate their perspective etc etc.
As for my "mugging" experience, to state i was "happy for them to have my gear" is on one hand an overstatement as i was not happy to lose my gear, I was pissed off, and i knew if i confronted the situation i presumed i would cop a beating.
I also think their actions were not "justified" by the historical context i referred to. It's a given that people should not mug, steal etc and should be made to accept the consequences of such unlawful behavior. Now here to my mind is the hypocrisy becomes self evident when "we" of anglo european ancestry can make such legal requirements on an individual basis while collectively refusing to face the truth and consequences of how we obtained the land we now live in and prosper from.
It was in this context as i was walking away from the situation that i was happy for them to have my gear.
With regard to the original story posted,the victims response reminds me of how a proponent of judo uses the momentum of his attacker to his own advantage. On a psychological level this can be a safer way of dealing with the threat of a knife attacking than direct opposition that can escalate a physical conflict.