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Old 10-10-2011, 08:58 PM
 
43 posts, read 37,567 times
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Hey Goofy328, I like you. You seem down to earth and real. I was born and raised in the HR and couldn't wait to get the oops out of there. As soon as I was able, I rannnnnnnnnnned. Those people there, especially VAB folks are too slow thinking for my taste in neighbors. I will try the rail one day.
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Old 10-10-2011, 09:09 PM
 
Location: Portsmouth, VA
6,514 posts, read 8,390,573 times
Reputation: 3822
Quote:
Originally Posted by Spazkat9696 View Post
I don't think it's an unreasonable fear. Have you ever been a crime victim? It's not all it's cracked up to be.

Bonus points for the big word though.
Xenophobia is not a big word. No, I have never been a crime victim. I am sorry that you were.

I have been in a tight spot with a homeless person before though. I have rode the last bus, at 12:30 A.M., in a town with a murder rate that would make you forget about any of the cities in HR. A murder every week, if it was a good week, at the very least, not just a rash that lasted during the summer either just a reality of life all year long. Banks getting robbed in the middle of the day, a few times a week. I waited on the first bus, at 4 A.M., solicited by prostitutes, getting hit up for money, getting hit up for all types of shady stuff. Bars on windows, bullet proof glass, a huge barrier between you and that person you were doing business with. Cops and security guards at fast food restaurants. Very depressing. Heard gunshots often. That is just part of living in the city. In all of that God was with me and nothing ever happened to me, as stupid as I was at times, but that is just part of life.

I understand the fear. It is a very rational fear.
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Old 10-10-2011, 09:30 PM
 
3,848 posts, read 9,283,273 times
Reputation: 2023
Quote:
Originally Posted by Spazkat9696 View Post
He wasn't homeless just smelly, but it reminded me you never know who you'll run into on public transportation. My family is safer in my car. I personally like the safeness of the area, and snarky comments or not I'm not the only one who feels this way.
So because he was smelly, he was unsafe?

Let me just point out here, because I really don't think you're understanding what you're saying, that you can meet someone who gives you the creeps any place. In line at the grocery store, the parking lot of the mall, the dentist office waiting room, etc, etc, etc.

You're being irrational and this line of thought it what is slowing the area down.
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Old 10-10-2011, 10:10 PM
 
6,293 posts, read 10,535,399 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Coconut1 View Post
So because he was smelly, he was unsafe?

Let me just point out here, because I really don't think you're understanding what you're saying, that you can meet someone who gives you the creeps any place. In line at the grocery store, the parking lot of the mall, the dentist office waiting room, etc, etc, etc.

You're being irrational and this line of thought it what is slowing the area down.
I understand fully what I'm saying, but thanks. I didn't say he was scary, and other than gagging me and others he was not an issue. He did make me realize not everyone I was riding with was my friend though. I think a lot of times people forget that fact. Not everyone is your friend, and yes there are some VERY bad people out there. I'm much less likely to be mugged/attacked in my car than I am on public transportation. You can call it whatever you like. Yes I'm hyper alert to my surroundings, but that's because I have very good reason to be.
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Old 10-10-2011, 10:32 PM
 
Location: Portsmouth, VA
6,514 posts, read 8,390,573 times
Reputation: 3822
Quote:
Originally Posted by Spazkat9696 View Post
I understand fully what I'm saying, but thanks. I didn't say he was scary, and other than gagging me and others he was not an issue. He did make me realize not everyone I was riding with was my friend though. I think a lot of times people forget that fact. Not everyone is your friend, and yes there are some VERY bad people out there. I'm much less likely to be mugged/attacked in my car than I am on public transportation. You can call it whatever you like. Yes I'm hyper alert to my surroundings, but that's because I have very good reason to be.
When you say that not everyone is your friend I am a bit confused. Is this the only reason you prefer to ride in your car? Someone on the street can stop the car and force you out of your car at gunpoint. I understand that getting car jacked is rare around here but if that is your sole reason for riding the train, that you are safer in your car because you are around your friends, or by yourself, then why even bother with public transportation at all?

I mean, considering that you have loons on the public bus talking to themselves, arguing with themselves, etc. how would it have been any different on the train?

I don't know. I guess I am under the idea that if you are scared, then something will happen to if you precisely because of your fear. If you aren't chances are nothing ever would. Not that you should not be aware of your surroundings, but being aware, and being afraid, are two different things.
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Old 10-10-2011, 10:41 PM
 
3,848 posts, read 9,283,273 times
Reputation: 2023
Quote:
Originally Posted by Spazkat9696 View Post
I understand fully what I'm saying, but thanks. I didn't say he was scary, and other than gagging me and others he was not an issue. He did make me realize not everyone I was riding with was my friend though. I think a lot of times people forget that fact. Not everyone is your friend, and yes there are some VERY bad people out there. I'm much less likely to be mugged/attacked in my car than I am on public transportation. You can call it whatever you like. Yes I'm hyper alert to my surroundings, but that's because I have very good reason to be.
Honey, you have such a false sense of security that it's scary.

I cannot comprehend how being smelly means somebody is not your friend (which is obvious already, not everyone on the train you'd be friends with) but implies they are out to cause harm, which is what you've insinuated.

A car does not equal safety and you, for your own sake, need to realize that.
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Old 10-10-2011, 10:49 PM
 
6,293 posts, read 10,535,399 times
Reputation: 7504
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Originally Posted by goofy328 View Post
When you say that not everyone is your friend I am a bit confused. Is this the only reason you prefer to ride in your car? Someone on the street can stop the car and force you out of your car at gunpoint. I understand that getting car jacked is rare around here but if that is your sole reason for riding the train, that you are safer in your car because you are around your friends, or by yourself, then why even bother with public transportation at all?

I mean, considering that you have loons on the public bus talking to themselves, arguing with themselves, etc. how would it have been any different on the train?

I don't know. I guess I am under the idea that if you are scared, then something will happen to if you precisely because of your fear. If you aren't chances are nothing ever would. Not that you should not be aware of your surroundings, but being aware, and being afraid, are two different things.


Actually I've never been on the bus, so that thought never crossed my mind. I got a car when I turned 16, and I've had on ever since. Before that my parents always drove me where I needed to go. Spoiled maybe, but I was not allowed to ride the bus. I think I got the car, I had to pay my parents back for it, so my parents wouldn't have to drive me to and from school, work, drill team anymore.

I think a lot of what's going on here is a clash of prior knowledge. Your prior knowledge and mine is very different. You do not understand my resistance to public transportation because you have not had the same upbringing and experiences I've had. Neither way was better than the other just different. There's no reason to attack, not saying you did, someone due to their differing prior knowledge, and you can't just expect them to change their way of thinking to match your way of thinking. A person can't just wipe out a lifetime of experiences to make someone else happy.
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Old 10-10-2011, 11:03 PM
 
Location: Portsmouth, VA
6,514 posts, read 8,390,573 times
Reputation: 3822
Quote:
Originally Posted by Spazkat9696 View Post
Actually I've never been on the bus, so that thought never crossed my mind. I got a car when I turned 16, and I've had on ever since. Before that my parents always drove me where I needed to go. Spoiled maybe, but I was not allowed to ride the bus. I think I got the car, I had to pay my parents back for it, so my parents wouldn't have to drive me to and from school, work, drill team anymore.

I think a lot of what's going on here is a clash of prior knowledge. Your prior knowledge and mine is very different. You do not understand my resistance to public transportation because you have not had the same upbringing and experiences I've had. Neither way was better than the other just different. There's no reason to attack, not saying you did, someone due to their differing prior knowledge, and you can't just expect them to change their way of thinking to match your way of thinking. A person can't just wipe out a lifetime of experiences to make someone else happy.
Interesting. It does explain a lot. And there are plenty of people who never rode the bus, took the train, etc. And I'm not suggesting that plenty of people did where I lived at prior to coming to HR. Those who never had before, had some serious adjustments to make.

There is a serious divide between the haves, and the have nots, in HR. But that difference is not economic, as the divide is even more profound in other cities particularly up and down the Coastal regions of the US. The difference is cultural. In other cities people of all walks of life will take the bus, train, taxi, etc. In HR, chances are you may take it if you are poor and you have no other options but to do so. It is something that the destitute do around here.

Nothing against you, but it sounds like the fear was more of the destitute, as opposed to what the homeless guy would actually do. Again that is a rational fear, if you never or rarely been around the destitute. I guess where I was at in Ohio, the poor and destitute were the norm for me, because I always had to pass them to get to work, or anywhere else I was going. It doesn't sound as though that is your experience.
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Old 10-10-2011, 11:04 PM
 
3,848 posts, read 9,283,273 times
Reputation: 2023
Quote:
Originally Posted by Spazkat9696 View Post
Actually I've never been on the bus, so that thought never crossed my mind. I got a car when I turned 16, and I've had on ever since. Before that my parents always drove me where I needed to go. Spoiled maybe, but I was not allowed to ride the bus. I think I got the car, I had to pay my parents back for it, so my parents wouldn't have to drive me to and from school, work, drill team anymore.

I think a lot of what's going on here is a clash of prior knowledge. Your prior knowledge and mine is very different. You do not understand my resistance to public transportation because you have not had the same upbringing and experiences I've had. Neither way was better than the other just different. There's no reason to attack, not saying you did, someone due to their differing prior knowledge, and you can't just expect them to change their way of thinking to match your way of thinking. A person can't just wipe out a lifetime of experiences to make someone else happy.
Unless something horrible happened to you while on public transit, I don't understand why you would have a resistance towards it.

A lifetime experience of what? Driving?

This all makes no sense.
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Old 10-10-2011, 11:57 PM
 
6,293 posts, read 10,535,399 times
Reputation: 7504
Quote:
Originally Posted by goofy328 View Post
Interesting. It does explain a lot. And there are plenty of people who never rode the bus, took the train, etc. And I'm not suggesting that plenty of people did where I lived at prior to coming to HR. Those who never had before, had some serious adjustments to make.

There is a serious divide between the haves, and the have nots, in HR. But that difference is not economic, as the divide is even more profound in other cities particularly up and down the Coastal regions of the US. The difference is cultural. In other cities people of all walks of life will take the bus, train, taxi, etc. In HR, chances are you may take it if you are poor and you have no other options but to do so. It is something that the destitute do around here.

Nothing against you, but it sounds like the fear was more of the destitute, as opposed to what the homeless guy would actually do. Again that is a rational fear, if you never or rarely been around the destitute. I guess where I was at in Ohio, the poor and destitute were the norm for me, because I always had to pass them to get to work, or anywhere else I was going. It doesn't sound as though that is your experience.

It was not. I've lived in Hampton, Newport News, Virginia Beach, La Jolla and Anchorage. Plus a few other stops. I've never experienced walking past those less fortunate on a daily basis. I didn't have a life of privilege, but we were not destitute either.

The fear is based on the knowledge I have been a crime victim, and I have family members who were violent crime victims for me that's enough to make me stay away. You just never know how someone will react, and I feel safer in my SUV than on public transportation.

That being said thanks for taking the time to see my point of view rather than just bashing.
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