[quote]pushharder wrote:
I have a premise with which you may very well disagree but here we go >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> if the vast majority of law abiding, God fearing (whoops, the God fearing thing probably goes over like a lead balloon with you) Philadelphia citizens were armed in public and armed at home the criminals with their vast arsenal of illegal guns would be overwhelmed and “good” would triumph over “evil.”
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I can stop you right here. First, give the God thing a break. The ad hominem is not necessary. For the record, it’s organized religion that I reject, not the God.
Next, Philly is chock full of churches. One of the complaints in Camden NJ from an economic/tax base standpoint, is that there are TOO MANY CHURCHES. There is not a lack of God fearing people in either locale - the problem is they fear the local thugs MORE - and this you do not understand.
Finally, I have stated in before, but let me state it again, directly: Your analysis fails - Philadelphia (and the State of PA) IS a CCP and OCP State/locale. The neighbors ARE armed. It is not working and Philadelphia has some of the worst gun crime in the Nation.
I do not mean any disrespect, but you truly do not understand the culture, no matter how much you have traveled. What you fail to understand, is that people have to live there. It’s nice to wax poetic about law abiding, God fearing people, banding together to fight the thugs - unfortunately, they have to also live there at night and you have no idea what that is like. Disputes here, even the slightest, can end in death or serious misadventure.
It’s easy for you to say, band together, fight crime. It’s quite another to rest your head, and that of your children, in the same neighborhood where you are forced to coexist with those who share little regard for life.
Push, what follows is not internet bravado, our past differences aside. In “real life”, I am a bad motherfucker. I fear no one, with or without a weapon. I’ve NEVER been beaten in a fight and I came out even the time I was attacked by more than one. I have been the “thug”. And I have been and remain the guy willing to take it one step farther than the next guy, consequences be damned. I have and will never be a victim. Pull a knife, and I’ll hit you in your head with a bat. Threaten me with a gun, and I’ll have your house burned down. If I can’t beat you, I’ll use a weapon. I’m not bragging, only coloring the following: I walk across the street from my social club and I don’t even hold eye contact with the young ones hanging around. I’m not afraid of them. I can kick the shit out of them from one end of the block to the other. I can arm myself. I can do everything I mentioned earlier in this paragraph…and one thing is certain - it will NOT end until someone is dead. It could be me. It could be one of my best friends, who would be completely innocent - but they’d go after him anyway for “being with me”. So I avoid any verbal confrontation, and any “hard stares” that might lead to it. I’m not meek. I don’t avoid eye contact. I don’t sneak around. But you do not play in these streets here…and the neighbors don’t either. You don’t “witness” around here. And you don’t interfere either.
I agree with your sensibilities, I truly do and it’s somewhat difficult to oppose you - we want the same things. But this is a different world my friend and it’s not something you can learn from a paper, or traveling, or visiting. You have to exist within it, navigate it daily, to understand it.
Your platitude about neighbors banding together is a fantasy. Not everyone is built like us. There are entire blocks with single mothers, the elderly. Many able males in prison, or being thugs. Anyone with enough money and common sense, moves out of the danger zones. Sure, decent people remain, but they abide by the street culture that you don’t seem to understand - you mind your own business or you (or someone you love) end up dead.
This is reality. Until we have that drink…
