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Articles: Why are we the ones? |
Posted by
Arthegarn on Monday, October 29, 2001 - 04:40 AM PST
Last friday I didn't go to Madrid to the Goth clubs as usual. I just decided to stay in Torrejon, where I live, with a couple of goth friends of mine. It all went well, we stayed in a friend's bar until she closed, had some beers, then moved to another.
When we were coming out of this bar, at about 5:30 AM or so (yes, the nights are that long down here, XD), I saw three or four men harrassing a girl. She was trying to escape but one of them had a grip on her arm, grabbed her hair, threw her to the floor while yelling "you, bitch" and kicked her. His friends gathered around. Just five meters away, about 30 people waited in line to get into the bar I was going to, under the strict eye of the pub's gargantuan doorkeeper.
I didn't think. I walked to them and said something like, "Uh, guys, let's cool down a minute shall we? Let her go" in the most unthreatening way these words can be uttered. I am not Feral, I am not even half Feral. I am a godamned pacifist. I didn't even raise my hand to touch them (I had a book in it, anyway)
Next thing I knew someone had kicked me in the head and I was being beaten on the ground. I saw the girl run for it, at least she made it. I ended up in hospital, of course, from where I was released today. A concussion, a black eye, a broken nose, two dislocated ribs, and numerous bruises and contusions were the price to be paid for my "chivalrious" act. Not to mention my dearly beloved pocket watch and the suit I was wearing.
Well, I'm O.K. with that. Perhaps I asked for it and I shouldn't have poked my nose in. But the point is not this, the point is that nobody, NOBODY of the so called "normal" people around moved a finger to help, not me, but her. They were 30, and the doorkeeper is huge and according to Spanish law responsible for what happens to the pub's clients within 15 meters of it. It had the be the only so called "antisocial", "werid", "eeire" and so-on Goth around to intervene and try to do something (my friends were all girls, in case you wonder, and not of the Bettie_x or Callei type)
I don't know why am I so pissed off about that. I am a goth, proud to be a goth, and I should not be surprised at having to despise "others". But the fact is that I am infuriated that nobody tried to help at all. Not help me, I insist, I guess that was my fault and that you should not act like a knight gallant unless you are armed and armored as a knight (and on horseback), but her, who was obviously inocent and unable to defend herself... I don't care it's a she, it might have been a he and I would have been just as furious about the whole situation. How can people who call themselves "civilized", who look down at others as many Europeans do, and moreover Spanish ones, who are supposed to have this vein of Quixotism in us, not help the defenseless in that situation? How can they just pretend that it is not happening? My, they can close their eyes to the distant suffering of the hungry in Zaire, I can understand that (not approve, but understand). But when abuse and injustice happen just at your side, how can you stay hand in hand? Without even saying a fucking word? When you are about 8 to 1?
I just can't understand it. I'm really beginning to lose all faith in mankind. And that's what scares me most.
Arthegarn
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Why are we the ones? | Login/Create an account | 19 Comments |
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Re: Why are we the ones?
by Silvernyte on Oct 29, 2001 - 08:21 AM
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Ouch! I'm sorry it had to be you that was the strong one to intervene, but obviously no on else had balls enough to help. I applaud you for your gallant act! Take heart in knowing I think what you did was the right thing. Nobility, knight gallant, defense of the weaker, compassion or what ever you want to call it, is something that is hard to find any more. Any type of homosapien can be harmful to others, as you found out the hard way size doesn't mean that a human cares about what happens to others. Normal ones seem to be the worst. The males especially, but females are that way too. They are very cruel and heartless and seem to enjoy giving pain to others or sitting and watching it happen to others without helping, especially someone that is weaker or smaller than them. I have not seen evidence of a so called "civilized" society for a long time. They accuse us of being that way, but I see a lot more norms acting that way than darker creatures. I too have lost a lot of faith in mankind, but have to try and take solace in the fact that there are still creatures like you out there. Ones that will put themselves in harms way to help another even if they don't know them or don't like them. No one deserves that type of treatment even if they ask for it. At least not at those odds, those are cowards odd. Don't loose all your faith. She probably will always be grateful for what you did. Hopefully she learns a lesson (whatever that may be) from the experience.
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Brains and balls by Arthegarn on Oct 29, 2001 - 02:30 PM (User info | Send a Message) | Thanks, Silverynite, by your applause. But I really am beginning to wonder wether they had no balls to intervene, or I had no brains not to. See? That's what scared me of losing faith in mankind: it makes these things not worth it.
Then again I wonder... if I had done nothing and they had kept kicking her... I'd much probably feel a lot worse than I do now, and no one would be cheering me up at all.
Maybe I am a hopeless conscience-ridden imbecile. |
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Re: Brains and balls by Silvernyte on Oct 29, 2001 - 05:16 PM (User info | Send a Message) | If it means that you have no brains when you step in and help someone that is in a situation like that and defend them. Then HELL YES, neither one of us have any brains and we are both hopeless conscience-ridden imbeciles. I would have done the same thing if a man would not have stepped up to do it or helped to defend someone that did. Mankind is a hopeless pool of self destruction from what I see. Just don't ever loose your faith in yourself. It is people like you that help me to keep faith in some things.
If you look at some things the way it sounds like you do, then yes you would have felt worse for not doing anything than for what you did. |
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Re: Why are we the ones?
by Ironboots on Oct 29, 2001 - 01:55 PM
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Did any bystanders entervene when you were getting the snot beat out of you? That would be a double offense, on the norms' part.
Well, while you may not be proud to belong to the same species as them, you can be proud that you did something.
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Re: Why are we the ones? by Arthegarn on Oct 29, 2001 - 02:25 PM (User info | Send a Message) | I'd say no, but to be honest I don't remember what happened very clearly after the kicking started. My first clear memory is Chris helping me to stand up and me checking how badly my nose was broken (ouch) while leaning on her to pick my book up before we went to the hospital. Curious scene, huh? |
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a familiar story
by ickgirl on Oct 29, 2001 - 02:29 PM
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Here in Seattle whenever something is happening on in public people just pretend its not happening. I have been greatly harrassed on public transit more times than I can remember, and I've even pleaded with my eyes to get someone to help me, never has anyone given me a hand. I had to bodily remove someone from my seat and scamper away at one point.
One of the cruelest things I have ever seen, is footage from rioting that went on here during Mardi Gras this last year. A woman was being beaten in the crowd, a man stepped in to help her, and he was stomped - to death.
he was, I believe 19 years old.
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Re: a familiar story by Devin (devin-at-vibechild-dot-com) on Oct 29, 2001 - 04:09 PM (User info | Send a Message) http://devin.vibechild.com/ | Then there was that girl sitting on the edge of the bridge while cars drove by with people yelling JUMP! She finally did, and after it was on the news and radio, they said the hospital couldn't fit any more flowers in her room from all the people that felt bad.
When I say people here are icky, I'm not exadurating. Obviously it's not just Seattle- but some places really do have ickyer people than other places... |
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Re: a familiar story by Silvernyte on Oct 29, 2001 - 05:31 PM (User info | Send a Message) | Tacoma isn't much different. I work in downtown just below Hilltop and have had to help a few people from being harrassed by bums or gangbangers as norm men drive by and just grin *bastards*. They normally don't mess with me due to the way I look and the crazed way I can get when really pissed, but someday that is going be ineffective. I'll have to deal with that when it comes.
Totally understand what you're saying about Seattle ickgirl, been in that situation in the past several times and had people act like they didn't see anything going on. I was dressing like a norm then due to work. Now when people start getting pushy and obnoxious, I figure screw it and cop a major attitude. Works most of the time. |
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Re: a familiar story by bettie_x (strangersangel@hotmail.com) on Oct 29, 2001 - 10:21 PM (User info | Send a Message) http://bettie_x.tripod.com/strangeasangels/ | oooh, you live in hilltop? SCARY!
I remember the joke during the gulf war was to send the hilltop junior high students to the middle east, and if sadam could get past those little bastards, then saudi arabia was a lost cause.
I know just working in the mall in tacoma just how NUTS people are. Just sitting outside smoking I get to experience ALL kinds of wierdos and headcases, people acting ridiculously in public, fighting, etc. Plus, you can't imagine what a girl with ratty black hair and a fake fur coat gets to deal with from all the rotten little gangbangers and ultra violent hipsters...my ex boss had some guy come in strung out of his mind and say he was coming back for her, and he wanted to put his DICK ON HER TOES. After a minute or so of harassing her, she hiked up her dress, stuck her sandal at him and said "Then here! I dare you, fucker!" and he started to take his pants off! Luckily two of the guys that we work with came in with her great big boyfriend, and they got him out of the store, he came out, and her boyfriend took him into the parking lot and did a bit of "driving the point home" about bothering his girl.
I'm fortunate, as you are, that I have a fabulous fashion sense that also acts as a homo sapiens deterrant, but it doesn't always work, and I have to resort to my rotten ass attitude.
We ghettofabulous tacoma/seattle peeps gotta stick together, afterall. |
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Re: a familiar story by Silvernyte on Oct 30, 2001 - 04:05 AM (User info | Send a Message) | No furtunately I don't have the pleasure of living in Hilltop. I had to decide between wanting to live with a gun under my pillow or living in yuppie/prep ville. I opted for the later. I couldn't let my daughter go to a school in Tacoma anyway, she be in one of those gangs in a heartbeat. She's like the rest of us, doesn't take much crap from any of the preps.
It would have ended the war real quick. Now they need to send them over to find Binladen. I bet they'd find him with out too much trouble. At least something would get done instead of this pansy ass shit they keep doing. |
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Re: a familiar story by bettie_x (strangersangel@hotmail.com) on Oct 30, 2001 - 07:26 PM (User info | Send a Message) http://bettie_x.tripod.com/strangeasangels/ | Either that or send in some of the norman bates type to the bone hillbillies from hucklechuck near the town I grew up in....
It is very picturesque with all that blue tarp siding and spray painted signs that read "wolf pups for sale"
I drove an employee home once, and he lives near the narrows bridge...he kept saying "now whatever you do, don't turn that road, it takes you right into hilltop" every other street. I was in a pannic the whole way home thinking "now WHAT street takes me to hilltop?!"
I work at the hot topic in the mall....you may have seen me before! I'm short and skinny with black hair and bangs. How old is your son? If I've not seen you, I've probably seen him...we get a lot of tacoma kids.....a LOT. |
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Re: a familiar story by Silvernyte on Oct 31, 2001 - 03:53 AM (User info | Send a Message) | I think just about every other street in a certain part of Tacoma does go straight to Hilltop, kind of like the city set you up to go there.
I figured you worked at hot topic. I was trying to think of another store there outside of spencers that had anyone even resembling goths working in it, there are only a couple.
Probably have seen each other. I am short (depends on what you classify as short), have short black hair with a white lock in the front right side, it's spiked most of the time. My daughter is 14 (looks between 16 to 18) has almost shoulder length hair that here recently has been strawberry blonde with black bangs, all one length. She was just recently seeing one of the guys there (Justin), you probably heard about that scenareo (sp) from him or one of the other two. All three of the guys working last night had attitudes. Not going to name them, but they'll either get over it or they won't. |
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Re: Why are we the ones?
by bettie_x (strangersangel@hotmail.com)
on Oct 29, 2001 - 10:12 PM
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I remember that mardi gras footage. It was sick. 2000 people around, a woman in the middle of it being beaten, a courageous and good hearted young man being damned if he was going to let it happen gets beaten to death. He, one in 2000 people tried to stop a person from being hurt, and not one in 2000 stepped in to prevent his murder.
FOr all the peace and love hippy dippie flower power smelly activists and social revolutionists and "love your fucking neighbor" types that make themselves seen in this city, they sure don't have the backbone to do a damned thing when the shit hits the fan.
By the way, that woman on the bridge that tied up trafic for 4 hrs or whatever, I'm sorry, but you have to be a real attention whore to do something like that in rush hour traffic. If she wanted to die, she'd have done it where nobody could have saved her. ANd she wouldn't have called all her friends on her cell phone on the way to let them know what she was going to do. And she wouldnt' have tucked into a canon ball position to avoid certain death/injury when she hit the water.
Yeah, sounds cold, but if people want to die, really really don't want to be here anymore, they don't make a point to go out with an audience.
Anyway, I sooo applaud you on what you did. I'm sure that girl will always remember the stranger that got the shit kicked out of him to save someone he didn't know. I just wish more people had the balls to take matters into their own hands when someone's life is in danger. Someone should have stepped in (like the bouncer from the nearby club) before you had to, and if not then at least when YOU were getting the crap kicked out of you. Not a lot of people are willing to take a pounding for doing "what's right".
Cheers, pal. Chin up (when you can move your neck again, that is).
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Re: Why are we the ones?
by callei (plyn@plynlymon.com)
on Oct 30, 2001 - 11:30 AM
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Thank you. You may never hear it from the woman that you helped. The man that helped me in very similar circumstances never heard it from me. When he said run I did. I never saw him again, but I am here (alive) to say that i never saw him again. So I thank you. Thank you for saving her life, giving her hope, and putting so much value on her wellbeing. Thank you.
The ribs take the longest to heal. And hurt the longest too. Move carefully for a few weeks so that they have time to really heal. The sense of anger and betrayal and hatred for others can take awhile too ;)
You said that the girls with you aren't "of the Bettie_x or Callei type". This made me giggle. Im 5'3" (160cm) i weight next to nothing and look abit like a strong wind would snap me in half. And lots of people believe that small woman arent dangerous when cornered.
Lots of people are wrong of course and I would like to think that i would have stepped in with you, or at the very least a step behind you. although my first statement to man/men harrassing another woman these days is "is that your wife?". If it is, I jsut mock him from a distance or run for a security guard/police officer/teenaged boys. She will just get beaten worse if I were to interfere, or so i have been told.
Thank you again for your amazingly giving act to that unknwon woman. Thank you for the compliments of my bravery/stupidity as well.
Please take care of yourself and let all the bruises heal, and the bones mend. Then let your heart heal.
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Re: Why are we the ones? by bettie_x (strangersangel@hotmail.com) on Oct 30, 2001 - 11:01 PM (User info | Send a Message) http://bettie_x.tripod.com/strangeasangels/ | I was wondering about what he meant by the you and me comment *grin*
Hey, C, people think we TUFF....*snarl*
You're about my size...and people SHOULD be careful...it's the LITTLE ones that pack the punch, like dynamite....pow.
All the puffing aside, I'm glad he did step in to help. I've never been in the position to need help like you, but I hope that should I ever need it, there will be SOMEONE there, either a nice stranger or a feisty little bitch to lend a knuckle or two...or five. that is if my loving, intimidating, and very overprotective fiance isn't around...
I feel the same when you see people smack their kids around in public. What do you do? Call the cops and let another child fall into the cracks in the system, or deal with the parents knowing the kid will get it twice as bad when they get home for embarassing mommy or daddy in public. I had one guy telling me that kids nowadays need a good smack or so, that his parents "disciplined me" and "I do the same for my kids sake", a little backhand now and then. I eyeballed him coldly and said "well, my parents never laid a finger on me and I turned out just fine. Good grades, no parties or drugs, and stayed away from bad people" I told him that abuse isn't what straightened me out, or kept me from getting bent out of shape to begin with....it was constant support and scrutinous parental supervision and guidance that made me what I am. A pop on the diaper was saved for when we were about to do something that would kill us or hurt us, like touching a burner, or a light socket, or running after carss. And it was the sound of the pop on the diaper that scared us, not any physical injury. I think I got it ONCE, and that was it. We were good kids because we had good parents, and thankfully we didn't turn out to be jackasses that pound people in public or beat our future kids.
gotta run, the simpsons halloween episode is on! RAD! |
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Callei and Bettie_x by Arthegarn on Oct 31, 2001 - 01:40 AM (User info | Send a Message) | Well, I didnīt mean they are not your type in the physical sense. I obviously know none of you, but I have seen your pics. Bettie_x , I do know that you are not quite the Berta Schwarzenegger type (those pics with the puppie are killing...). Callei, though the only pic of yours I have seen doesn't go under the shoulders and I couldn't guess what your body looks like (pity for me, I guess, if it matches the face) you look... How would I put it? Too elegant to be a boxer (no offense meant).
No, I meant it in the psychological (is this written so?) sense. You both are always jumping, ranting and posting when you don't agree with something, and hold your ground like it was Stalingrad. You are the warrior type, at least with words. I meant that I guess if you had been around you would have done something when I was being beaten, perhaps intervene if you had a body to fight, perhaps look for help, call the cops or whatever. But surely not just stood motionless. As I told some of my friends around when they asked me what were my companions doing at that time, "I don't know, and I guess I don't want to know"
Oh, one last thing. I don't think I saved her life at all, just a couple of kicks. Prevented a rape at the very, very most. Too many witnesses. Anyway, and forgive for the unchavalrious comment, I look werid enough for her to recognize me if she ever sees me again (Torrejon is not that big and I was dressed exactly as in my pic), and Sir Galahad the Chaste here wouldn't mind some "thanking" from her side. It's curious, I don't remember anything of her but that she had long, blond hair and wore jeans. Anyway, she did look nice.
Arthegarn
Post Scriptum: My ribs hurt, I can't lie down my head and my nose, which I can't use, looks like Rocky's. How can I be thinking about getting physical at this time? Just thinking of the logistics makes this or that hurt... My, am I sick.
And, am I never going to lose this sarcasm? XD
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Re: Callei and Bettie_x by bettie_x (strangersangel@hotmail.com) on Oct 31, 2001 - 03:50 AM (User info | Send a Message) http://bettie_x.tripod.com/strangeasangels/ | hey, sex is the best cure for pain, you know.
I didn't take it as an insult, but small women ARE like TNT...with a short fuse :)
And I do have a temper which I try to keep in check, but yes, I stand my ground and I would have helped you.
You did the right thing...think that every time you look at your boxer's nose in the morning :) |
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Re: Why are we the ones?
by Sin_of_God on Aug 05, 2002 - 08:39 AM
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i remember once my ethic teacher back at the university told me about some experiments that were made in the early fifties. The idea behind them was to see how people would react under some circumstances, and the results where creepy for saying the least.
In one of them they got about a hundred people in the central square of a mall, then one guy started beating the living bigjobs out of a girl. Out of over one hundred people only eight walk there to try to help the girl.
Now for the funny bit.
When the guy trun and said "Sod off, she's my wife" SEVEN of that eight people back off, and only one still try to help her.
Faith in makind? Thanks but no thanks.
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