Sunday, September 3, 2017
Talk About Overtime and Overkill
This is sort of heart breaking. An event of love and community spirit, and freedom from oppression, gets reduced to a bunch of blue uniforms, blinding lights and helicopters. We get it. You've got the firepower and the badges. But will all this stop some idiot from seeing red and trying to kill somebody? "You know I was going to grab that gun/knife and shoot/stab that motherfucker, but then I saw those bright lights and decided to give peace a chance." I don't know what to root for anymore. Safety, yeah, but this is ridiculous. Thx Kieran for the photos.
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9 comments:
I'm not persuaded this is about "love of community." This is about people being totally inconsiderate of other people in the community. Music blasting all night from a house two doors away. A group of them were going to drive somewhere, so they wandered over from the house to the street in front of our house. A few of them congregated on the sidewalk in front of our house. One was leaning against our wall in our driveway. A low life creep walked up into our driveway and puked behind our car. I'm about to go out to the gym and run errands. So now my husband and I have to go clean these pigs' mess. The more the police there are around to break up their bacchanalia, the better!
"The more the police there are around to break up their bacchanalia, the better!" Wow! This is a total disrespect for other people's culture. Yes, I do understand the frustration of others being inconsiderate. For instance, I have to pick up garbage in front of my house everyday...but to refer to the celebration as "bacchanalia is uncalled for! Didn't you realize that the area was heavily populated by people from the Caribbean, before purchasing your house? Really!!! You can always move you know; and I am pretty sure you would have made a nice profit by now.
Actually, you are pretty presumptuous. I'm quite respectful of the culture. My family is from the Caribbean and purchased almost 50 years ago. My parents were at the first parade when it was a quiet and family-oriented affair. They saw the times when it wasn't about bacchanalia. We have a right to criticize the riff raff who come in and act up in ways we have never seen before.
Snap! PVW read you, Anon. I think the opinion is fine, as long as you recognize that it's not the majority opinion. No one likes barf on their stuff - not even from one's toddler.
Any good party involves a bit of reckless abandon. I've lived through 15 J'ouverts without incident. Last night around 4am we were awakened to joyous revelry on Clarkson. I can think of nothing that makes me happier to be a New Yorker.
The violence is a bummer, but I would no more shut down the parade because of it than shut down the bars because one in 100,000 drunkards goes home and beats his family. When will people learn that you don't punish everyone for violence that in all likelihood hasn't a thing to do with the parade? Most weekends someone gets shot around here. Unless it's a whole bunch of shootings, I don't see how you can say one causes the other. Ask the culprit. I'll bet J'ouvert was just where their target happened to be.
Basically the media are looking for J'ouvert to fail. I noted that NYC Scanner equated a shooting long before J'Ouvert and one in northern Manhattan with the festival. It's sick all around, so maybe it's no surprise someone got sick on your driveway.
Frankly, I'd just wait til the next rain. Cleaning up puke is kinda pointless.
PVW,
I was born and raised in the area. My parents immigrated from the Caribbean 60 years ago; and I've lived here ever since; except for a four year stunt, attending college in another state. I don't care if you are of Caribbean background and have lived here forever. It still does not give you the right to refer to others in that manner. My objection was to your tone, and the word use to describe other human beings.
I agree with PVW here. I am all for ethnic parades. I'm all for people celebrating their heritage. I'm all for being happy and dancing. But I'm NOT supportive of loud music late at night, and loitering and drinking, people leaning on my property, and certainly not people puking on my property. That is very disrespectful. This doesn't even address all the additional garbage either. I, too, pick up garbage every single day. And I see mostly young people litter like it's no big deal. I'm just so confused by that act of selfishness.
In n attempt to balance out the previous point, the extra police is welcomed. But I am not sure whether the choppers above were necessary (this is more of a noise issue than anything else).
Why is 24 hours of blasting music permitted during J'ouvert but no other events in the city (that I am aware of)? I love celebration as much as the next but my sleep/work life unfortunately doesn't get to take a holiday. This year was especially rough because I had two out-of-town visitors who also couldn't sleep a wink because of it. I'm not saying to shut the festival down, but I am curious as to why the continuous music throughout the night is allowed in residential areas. Maybe they could allow the music in the park all night instead?
"I don't care if you are of Caribbean background and have lived here forever. It still does not give you the right to refer to others in that manner. My objection was to your tone, and the word use to describe other human beings."
My reply:
I had every right to describe the person as I did because he behaved as I described. It was 6:00 in the morning and I saw a stranger in our driveway, standing behind our car. I couldn't figure out what he was doing, and once I saw what he was happening, I know that if I confronted him, it would have only escalated. So I had to watch "a low life creep" who walked up into our driveway to puke behind our car. He couldn't be bothered with the street or even the bushes located on the property where he had been hanging out all night. My husband and I had to clean up the pig's mess, not just the vomit, but a beer can and a straw was there too.
So I am to understand the humanity of someone who acts like he has no humanity? I don't think so.
I used to puke on people's belongings and property. I wasn't sub-human; I was drunk.
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