I see a lot of crime all around me. In my day to day job as well as in PigSpotter. Typical seeing we live in possibly the most dangerous city in the world right? Wrong. We’re apparently 11th on some “Official List”
Rank City Country
1 Ciudad Juarez Mexico
2 Baghdad Iraq
3 Swat valley Pakistan
4 Kabul Afghanistan
5 Mogadishu Somalia
6 Washington DC United States
7 Rio de Janeiro Brazil
8 Caracas Venezuela
9 Medellin Colombia
10 Guatemala City Guatemala
11 Johannesburg South Africa
1 Ciudad Juarez Mexico
2 Baghdad Iraq
3 Swat valley Pakistan
4 Kabul Afghanistan
5 Mogadishu Somalia
6 Washington DC United States
7 Rio de Janeiro Brazil
8 Caracas Venezuela
9 Medellin Colombia
10 Guatemala City Guatemala
11 Johannesburg South Africa
We all know there are MANY variations of crime…. Corruption, bribery, murder, rapes, hijackings, kidnappings and burglaries. The thing I feel that makes our crime seem far worse or have more impact on the listings is due to the violence behind it. The violence we have behind our crime is almost put down to hatred, in my opinion. Imagine we had friendly criminals. Considerate criminals. Criminals who do what they do because they are hungry and want to feed their families, not because they feel that what you have belongs to them, hatred stemming from previous generations.
Picture this if you can. It’s 20:00pm on a quiet road in Bryanston. You’re a lady alone in your car. You’ve forgotten your handbag on the passenger’s seat. Once you’ve stopped at a robot you hear a knock-knock noise outside. You look over and see a guy standing and pointing a gun at you. He asks you to roll down your window and give him your bag. Now shaking, you hand it over in fear of being shot. Surprisingly, instead of bolting down the street and you never seeing your handbag again, leaving you to organise a new ID, licence card and deal with the incompetence/ running around one ALWAYS experiences at the licensing departments, he stands there, going through the bag, taking the money, stuffing a couple eyeliners and God knows what else you keep in those bags, pulling out your cell phone and then pausing for a second……disconnect the battery, pulls out the sim card and hands it back to you. Gives you back your wallet with your bank cards and all those necessary items. Hands over your handbag, says thank you and walks away….. How would that mess with your mind? Here’s a criminal who thought, he needs to sell some stuff to feed his family, he chose you, but had enough RESPECT to also understand what an emotionally damaging experience it could be for you, and RESPECT to not want to cause you unnecessary setbacks.
Would this not change your whole perspective of getting “Smashed and grabbed”?
How about a hi-jacker? Knocks on the window. “Good day sir, I really don’t want to inconvenience you on this lovely night, but I have been ordered to take this vehicle from you today. Please step out the car and give me your keys. Do you have a phone to call a taxi?”
If things were this friendly, I honestly feel that firstly, we wouldn’t be as emotionally traumatised when being held up or robbed. I feel that we could understand and actually respect one another, understanding he does it because of lack of jobs and wanting to feed the family, and he’d understand that this sort of thing can be emotionally scarring and knowing you are fully compliant, he will win at the end of the day, he’ll feel less threatened and less panicy. If things were this friendly, there would be far less murders, maybe NO rapes and psychotherapists would be out of a job. (So much for Job creation)
I know the above is probably impossible and not likely to ever happen in South Africa, or in the world, but hey, it’s good to dream right?
Cliff
P.S.... next topic, the start of PigSpotter, why i did what I did. Any other requests, feel free to add as a comment and i'll give it a bash. Peace
9 comments:
Dude.. i've had 2 attempted hijackings in my suburb, and the thing that makes me zoom off like a nutter when i see it happening is not the fact that i want to keep the car (cos hell, it's insured), it's the fact that i don't know what the perp will do to me once he gets hold of me. Fight of flight? I'll pick flight where i can.
I recall, once upon a time in springs, my younger brother was mugged for his phone, it was a frikken old nokia, the mugger took the phone, looked at it, and gave it back to him, and walked off.
PS: The problem with the genesis of violent crime is how our approaches to secure ourselves escalate the criminals' tactics. In your scenario (happy as it would be), would-be-victims would soon just stop opening the window or drive away. The more we secure ourselves, the more risks the criminals have to take (and the more threatening/violent they have to be). It is sad. It is human nature: if you take a large enough group of people you will find someone who decides to take advantage of the larger community for their own enrichment - that's where dictators, corrupt officials etc come from. Luckily for our species there are also people on the other end of the spectrum that sacrifice themselves for their community.
Wow! Some food for thought in that. I guess, with a few exceptions, the criminal is criminal at heart, not just because he has a need. I honestly think that most criminals have lost the respect for life and because of what most of them have been through, have lost hope. Life without hope is a terrible thing. Hopelessness steals our character and personality. It makes us behave contrary to our code of ethics and morals.
Yes Cliff, the friendly criminal would be a good second prize (first prize obviously no criminal at all)- but I doubt that there are many of them out there.
Good point though! :)
I have learned in my life to NEVER waste an experience (good and bad). I live by this "Make your Mess your Message", and by doing this we break the power that injustices have had on us. Have you experienced crime or injustices that have led you to be so passionate about what you do? Perhaps we could have a tiny peep into your life. :)
It would be a wonderful place. However I think that it would scare me even more is they were so respectful - at least for a little while.
My brother lives in New Zealand and he summed it up like this:
In South Africa, if you hear a noise in the lounge when a criminal is breaking in, you and your family jump out of the bedroom window and run away. In New Zealand, if you hear the same noise, you run down the passage screaming and wielding a golf club and the criminal runs away!!
I dunno pal, friendly or unfriendly criminal - not my cup of tea!
Kevin
What is sad is that we are ranked up there with the worst of the worst. Very sad
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