kinda off topic, but in Oakland people wait in dark spots with a bat waiting for someone to ride by on a bicycle. then they jump out, smack em off the bike and ride it away. it has happened to 3 people I know of.
also crack heads have been ruining moto engines trying to break spark plugs out of them because you can use them as a crack pipe.
while living in west oakland I found a cigarette but in my oil filter when changing the oil. someone had put their filthy butt out in my oil tank. my truck was stolen, windows broken and all tools stolen at different times after moving here.
if that's not bad enough the police are their own gang in west o and they are worse than the criminals because no one stops them. the cop who used to be in charge lives in mexico now like a kingpin, rich as hell from drugs and prostitution. I had my truck totalled by a cop while I was stopped at a light, not moving. there were lots of local witnesses but everyone's afraid of the cops and the consequences of being a witness against one. 6 mos. of trying to get my $ for my truck, they finally told me to drop it, that they now had witnesses saying it was my fault and I would never get a dime. and if I pushed it they would make it my fault and I would be fully liable. people in that neighborhood live in fear of police and thieves. and calling the cops never solves anything.
if you really hate crime, you should hate poverty, ghettos and prisons. lack of opportunities and no equal treatment under the law for poor people just make these problems worse, exponentially. sometimes kids who grow up in good neighborhoods with good social structures around them go bad, a little for fun. but kids who grow up in ghettos in situations like this are bound to turn out rotten. then we send them to prison where they learn to become total savages.
and we think this is justice, sending someone off to a big building where they will be raped and victimized unless they become savages themselves. what kind of civilization thinks it's righteous to send a man off to be raped? but you hear it all the time, like he's gonna get what he deserves by some big mean mutha... yeah, that's justice.
rampant crime has always existed in situations where people have no other options(ghettos and the like). keep building prisons, keep hiring cops and guards is our solution. 'they don't need jobs, they need a crack in the head'.
no, opportunities are what is needed. no one should have to grow up in this situation. and we can not expect everyone to just 'pull themselves up by their bootstraps', what about their families still there in the mud? and what bootstraps? they have nothing.
I think that is the real violence being perpetrated, on a large scale, against a whole segment of the population. I've lived in the suburbs, the city and the ghetto, all over the country and I've lived in a jail cell. some people have so much more than they could ever need, and others have nothing. this is where social inequality starts and the breeding ground for our problems. people with good lives and something to protect don't behave like savages. that doesn't mean we just divvy up the goods amongst everyone, it means we allow people to at least have a chance of success. good schools everywhere, not just in good neighborhoods. and equal treatment under the law. poor people do not have the same chance in the justice system as rich ones, we all know this yet accept it as right. it is certainly not.
the 1st law code, the code of Hammurabi had one law for nobles, another for commoners and so on. it has been this way ever since and still is. Beccaria wrote crimes and punishments in the 17th or 18th century and since people have agreed that all should have equal treatment under the law, yet it hasn't happened yet. you have as good a chance as the lawyer you can afford. now, instead of an aristocracy we have an oligarchy. the rich rule and prosper at the expense of the poor. and hand their wealth on to their children, what's the diff?
anyways, in my book fist fights are just blowin off steam, perfectly natural. nothing compared to the real hurt inflicted on our society by the institutions intended to keep some on top and others beneath their heels.
sorry, I get carried away sometimes. I know this is a moto forum but I needed to vent a little.
