"How to end the American obsession with driving"
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The one thing we're not allowed to talk about is the "crazy homeless guy" problem most public transit systems in major US cities have. Everyone I know who rides transit as part of their normal commute has at least one such story. And the transit authorities and city administrators are unable or unwilling to address that particular issue.
Beyond that mask and vaccination requirements on all forms of public transit pretty much ensure that unless I can drive somewhere I will not go there. And since at this point it's obvious that my enemies see all forms of public infrastructure as tools of social control to be used against their enemies (ie. me) I have no desire to give them even more control over my life.
And because I have zero interest in actively interacting with Dindu Nuffins. Public infrastructure actually means "the social detritus we make you subsidize gets to interact with you on a personal level; hope you don't mind the smell of Swisher Sweets and BO!"
I don't ride the bus but not far from my house is a bus stop and every month or twice a month the same crazy guy is waiting for a bus there. He talks to himself, yells profanity at the top of his lungs, kicks the bus stop, and throws stuff into the street. He's literally insane. Then he gets on the bus.
I'm thinking why don't they lock these crazy people up?
Because "What is this? Nazi Germany?" is why. And because this attitude isn't just limited to Seattle.
The other homeless paid for him to get a pass. He gives out information to others.
Because the government cut funding to insane asylums and other treatment facilities that could help them. Then, in the name of cleaning up their own mess (and making it someone else's problem in the process) they began practicing Greyhound Therapy. They'd find a relative or extended family member of the person who really ought to be locked up and medicated, get them a cross-country bus ticket to where ever that person was located, and slap the person on the bus to nowhere. They arrive in their "new hometown" with little to no resources (and likely a family member that doesn't want them around in the first place) and so they fall back on what they know - panhandling and existing in an intoxicated or drug-induced haze.
So yeah, a lot of these people could benefit from a structured, state-run facility that assists in providing care and structure for their lives. Unfortunately, nobody wants to be the one to pay for that care, much less work in those places.
Let's be honest here.
A large portion of this population is unfortunately beyond help. We lack the medical knowledge to fix these people if the problem is physical in the brain, and we lack a social way of reprogramming them to not be crazy if something in their childhood made them this way.
This is my impression of why they ended it - because it's unhealthy to subject anyone to working in one of these places. It would drive normal people crazy, and eventually the psychologically worst kind of people who are drawn to dominating and destroying people are drawn to these jobs and put into a position of authority over others.
So...kinda like politics.
https://youtu.be/fRDgW0LBqHM
It's been known about for a while.
Yes but a lot of New Yorkers see it is some sort of positive or "rite of passage" to see crazy shit on the subway. It isn't, and thinking of it as "harmless entertainment" does nothing to actually address the problem.
Well, Cosby told that joke in the 70's, and so far the numbers have increased. Several ideas have been tried.
It's really hard to threaten someone who has nothing. It's also hard to scare them when the reward is a nice safe prison in winter.
Police baton practice dummy or K9 practice dummy would probably be suitable threats for repeat offenders. But for better or worse that's not an option.
You're probably correct that within the constraints placed upon law enforcement there isn't anything they can legally do.
So what if we start imprisoning them with the sjws?
I never understood that mentality "the place I live is always a little shitty, but I like that because I think it makes me look tough/worldly". Honestly, basically every reason people might have for wanting to live in New York City or another big city seem like negatives to me.
It's called coping.
I can't tell you how many comments I've read from old New Yorkers who lived there in the 70's and miss those "wild days" of violence and graffiti everywhere when they were young and free and roamed the streets like packs of wolves. They despise Giuliani for cleaning it up and make it "family friendly".
Fortunately for them it's going back to the bad old days.
They call it Moving Africans Rapidly Through Atlanta for a reason. Everyone knows.