Mind your own business, stay safe
Here’s a news story about a 72-year-old Fort Worth man who heard his neighbor’s burglar alarm going off, so he got his handgun and went out to investigate. But the local police saw a guy with a handgun wandering around in the dark, so they shot and killed him.
The story of the 72-year-old from Fort Worth is very similar to the story of George Zimmerman. The moral of both stories is that you shouldn’t voluntarily engage in any activity in which you think you might need a gun to protect yourself. The old guy should have let the police investigate the burglar alarm, and Zimmerman should have let the police look for the suspicious-looking teenager.
The higher-level moral of both stories is that you should live in safe gated communities and not in prole neighborhoods.
The even higher-level moral of both stories is that you should graduate from an elite Ivy League university so you can get into a good career track so that you can afford to live in that safe gated community.
Lion of the Blogosphere 
Even if the man in Fort Worth had encountered a criminal in his neighbor’s house he could not have used his gun. You may be legally able to use a gun to defend your own property, but you definitely cannot use it to defend a neighbor’s.
Peter
ironrailsironweights
May 29, 2013 at 2:32 PM
That just shows you don’t live in Texas. Here a Mr. Van Horn shot and killed two guys robbing his neighbor’s house, and the grand jury did not bring the case to trial. He just got off. Period
not too late
May 29, 2013 at 7:30 PM
This incident was in Fort Worth. There will be an investigation and the cops will get off. In Texas, people want cops to shoot, so this will be forgiven.
not too late
May 29, 2013 at 7:36 PM
Cops have to be punished if they get wrong person. Otherwise they will behave like Mexican cops (although in many cases it is already a fact).
Colmainen
May 30, 2013 at 2:11 PM
Attitudes like this makes this kind of situation worse. If the people of Texas wants Mexican cops, they will get it. Hope they enjoy Mexican-style law enforcement.
Colmainen
May 30, 2013 at 6:09 PM
Within the past week, a San Antonio man shot and killed a criminal robbing his neighbors at gunpoint. Shotgun to the face and apparently a messy scene. No charges to be filed.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/article/No-charges-for-neighbor-in-fatal-shooting-4542212.php#photo-4673399
Note, the photos may be a tad misleading. The corpse-retrieval guys are black, but the neighborhood was hispanic/white mix– high working class to lower middle class.
anon
May 29, 2013 at 8:57 PM
You can use deadly force to defend another person’s life. You cannot use deadly force to defend another person’s property.
Peter
ironrailsironweights
May 29, 2013 at 9:50 PM
Actually Texas law does permit that, as do several other states. It’s risky, maybe even crazy, but it’s not illegal.
J1
May 29, 2013 at 9:30 PM
Are gated communities really a big thing outside of the Northeast? They seem like the sort of places where superproles might move to in order to escape their former neighbors.
Also, why the hell did these cops shoot someone just for carrying a handgun? Florida’s a pretty gun-friendly state, so I imagine they should be pretty used to seeing armed civilians. Hell, when I was in the Marine Corps we didn’t just shoot every single armed person we saw (at least not after the ROE was tightened up in the second month or so).
Renault
May 29, 2013 at 3:25 PM
The west coast seems to have plenty of gated communities for the high tech, and Hollywood, crowds alike. Given the proximity of the entertainment biz to the big city “diversity” of LA, these enclaves come as no surprise.
Sanjuro
May 29, 2013 at 3:55 PM
Gated communities are popular in California as well. More common though are very strict homeowner associations. They are designed to keep the riffraff out minus the gates basically the middle class alternative.
Conquistador
May 29, 2013 at 3:58 PM
In Manhattan, they are called doorman buildings, and they are not prole.
Lion of the Blogosphere
May 29, 2013 at 4:02 PM
Oh, I understand doorman buildings.
The whole concept of gated suburban communities, however, seems strange to me. The only high-profile neighborhood I’ve ever been to that was gated is Belle Haven (a fancy part of Greenwich).
Renault
May 29, 2013 at 4:16 PM
Gated communities are expensive because the residents must maintain their own streets. Public streets are maintained by the local government like county or city.
not too late
May 29, 2013 at 7:38 PM
Maybe it would be cheaper if you only had to pay for the streets in your neighborhood and not everywhere else in the city for people who are not pulling their own weight.
Ode
May 30, 2013 at 10:09 AM
1. Stop using the word “prole”. You’ve worn it out to the point its only meaning is “not elite”, which fits most of America, if not the world.
2. You don’t have to graduate from an Ivy League university to live in a gated community. In fact, not only do you not have to attend an elite Ivy League university to stay safe, but many “elite” colleges are located in urban settings that require heavy security to protect from outsiders. I guess its the price you pay for social validation, “grit”, and “edginess”.
3. Hate to beat a dead horse, but as much as its pains me to say this, you only need to avoid areas with a high concentration of minorities to stay safe.
James McKeane
May 29, 2013 at 4:24 PM
“many “elite” colleges are located in urban settings that require heavy security to protect from outsiders”
Yale and New York University take completely different approaches to campus security. Many of Yale’s buildings are on quadrangles, access to which is strictly limited. Despite being in a far bigger city, NYU’s buildings are out in the open and anyone can walk around them without restriction. NYU limits access to its buildings, of course, but in effect it has only one layer of security. Yale has two layers: limited access to the quadrangles, and limited access to the buildings within the quadrangles.
Peter
ironrailsironweights
May 29, 2013 at 4:35 PM
Penn had a private police force of more than 50 uniformed officers, plus they had emergency buttons visible everywhere. (Literally, the system was designed so that wherever you were standing anywhere outdoors on campus, you should be able to see three emergency buttons from that spot at night.
Lion of the Blogosphere
May 29, 2013 at 4:56 PM
Funny thing is, Zimmerman and Martin were in a gated community. Lol.
FWG
May 29, 2013 at 4:48 PM
Not surprising. Gated communities are for affluent proles, not Ivy Leaguers or the social elite.
Peter the Shark
May 30, 2013 at 12:47 PM
Telling everyone they should graduate from an “elite Ivy League university” is like telling all women to be models and all men to be pro athletes. If you are going to give advice, give useful advice that people can actually follow.
Bostonian
May 29, 2013 at 5:09 PM
It’s funny how you keep saying “you should graduate from an Ivy League college” as though it’s just (a) do it or (b) don’t and the only thing stopping anyone is not feeling like it.
.
May 29, 2013 at 5:15 PM
The moral is american police is becoming like mexican police, brutal to citizens and extremely ineffective against criminals, and given virtually a license to kill at whim. Same thing with gated community. It is nothing if the guy manning the gates is a dummy.
Colmainen
May 29, 2013 at 5:21 PM
Criminals are stupid and lazy. A gate stops at least 95% of them. Sure, Jack Bauer could easily break into a gated community, but he’s not who you have to worry about.
In Arizona, gated communities were very common (I lived in one), but only the most expensive and exclusive ones had actual manned gates. I could get into the ones with unmanned gates very easily by piggybacking, which I often did when the option was available. But it’s the intimidation factor that stops the bad people.
Lion of the Blogosphere
May 29, 2013 at 5:29 PM
“Criminals are stupid and lazy”
That doesn’t stop the vandals here! Maybe they’re evolving. (Granted some of them are within the neighborhood, but I know not all of them)
.
May 29, 2013 at 5:47 PM
If we are talking about people who do graffiti, they have to be a lot smarter than the average criminal.
Lion of the Blogosphere
May 29, 2013 at 5:50 PM
My impression of graffiti artists is that they are in fact quite nerdy.
islandmommy
May 29, 2013 at 7:52 PM
You don’t need an Ivy League degree to live in a buffered community in Fort Worth.
Trumwill
May 29, 2013 at 6:11 PM
I was reading Fussell’s Class while taking a dump this afternoon. What class does that make me?
Exacta King
May 29, 2013 at 6:17 PM
Reading while on the toilet is a dirty habit — very unhygienic. Upper class people are pedantic about hygiene. So I think what you’re doing is very prole.
ben
May 30, 2013 at 9:20 AM
On the other hand, reading anything at all is an inherently non-prole activity.
Lion of the Blogosphere
May 30, 2013 at 9:40 AM
“The purpose of a college education is to give you the correct view of minorities, and the means to live as far away from them as possible.”
~Joseph Sobran
Homple
May 29, 2013 at 9:35 PM
I think this is sick. A few days ago, an East Asian man vomited in the middle of the train station as hundreds of people were walking past. NO one batted an eye. If we lived in a normal, healthy society, someone would have stopped and asked if he were OK. But I think people are just afraid. And incidents like the one in OP make it worse.
ben
May 30, 2013 at 9:19 AM
Given what Li Weiguang did in a Canadian bus, better run if an Asian man acts strange. Asian men tend to be repressed and quiet, so if they act uppity it means they are REALLY upset.
Colmainen
May 30, 2013 at 2:13 PM
Even minding your business can lead to all sorts of problems. Whenever something tragic happens and you witness it, you can’t just totally forget about it. The trauma remains in your mind forever. People often say cities like Oakland isn’t that bad because crimes are mostly committed between criminals and if you just mind your own business you’ll be fine. Some will go as far as saying people afraid of Oakland are sheltered suburbanized paranoid wimps. But when you encounter one violent or horrible thing after another, it wears on you. You can’t just completely ignore being witness to domestic violence, assaults, robbery, and other crimes. If someone witnesses such horrible things and do nothing, 99% of people will feel some sort of guilt for doing nothing. For people who intervene, their guilt will be assuaged but will likely get hurt themselves or even prosecuted like Zimmerman. People who call the cops from afar may feel some guilt for not doing more and may be called to be a witness during a trial. Agreeing to be a witness may assuage guilt, but it may also lead to death threats and such. Declining to be a witness may cause lifelong quilt and anxiety. Anyhow, however one responds to either being a victim of or witnessing crimes, they’ll be at least little bit more psychologically damaged forever. Therefore, move to areas with low crime rates whenever possible to reduce the many negative influences crime has on you.
bobo
May 30, 2013 at 9:22 AM
The higher-level moral of both stories is that you should live in safe gated communities and not in prole neighborhoods.
I don’t know whether the guy was living in a “gated community” but apparently they were pretty nice homes on a golf course with burglar alarms. It may not be elite but neither was it a trailer park.
Plus, both cops were rookies. I see this as more of an urban city thing where inexperienced and/or fidgety cops start blasting away at anything that moves. Remember that Empire State Shooting last August where 9 people were shot — all by cops
destructure
May 30, 2013 at 11:49 AM
(continued)
And stay away from areas with urban youth. Because the high crime of urban youth makes cops fidgety.
destructure
May 30, 2013 at 11:51 AM
People from elite Ivy League universities never live in gated communities. Gated communities are the epitome of gauche, you might as well put up Thomas Kinkade paintings on your walls after you move in. People from Ivy League universities simply live in very safe exclusive towns with professional police forces and very few NAMs around. If you live in a gated community you probably can’t afford to live in Westport or Scarsdale or Weston, MA…
Peter the Shark
May 30, 2013 at 12:45 PM
I feel there’s nowhere decent to escape in the US. I’d move to Maine to get away, but the cold weather would negate any happiness derived from being away from the madness. Coastal California has ideal weather, but it’s a sea of all sorts of thuggery with expensive islands of decency. But even the residents of the few decent areas have to rub elbows with the dregs unless one remains in their minuscule bubble. But even the bubble is often popped as spillover crime happens periodically. I think the Peninsula down to the Southbay of the region of the San Frnacisco Bay Area is a large area of decency that’s somewhat buffered from thuggery. But it’s bloody expensive. Ditto Marin county.
bobo
May 30, 2013 at 12:57 PM
Sadly, the south peninsula is not as buffered as you might think: http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2013/05/29/27-arrests-made-in-east-palo-alto-crime-crackdown/
Marin County is probably OK, as are some of the east and south bay areas with sufficiently restricted access (i.e. separated from the freeway by several miles).
J1
May 30, 2013 at 3:42 PM
Generally field cops are not very intelligent. They are mostly proles, and a few of them high proles. Non-prole cops never really go out to face criminals.
Colmainen
May 30, 2013 at 2:16 PM
The even higher-level moral of both stories is that you should graduate from an elite Ivy League university so you can get into a good career track so that you can afford to live in that safe gated community.
I hope the Ivy League pays you for all the promotion you give them.
smartandwise
May 30, 2013 at 4:58 PM
“The even higher-level moral of both stories is that you should graduate from an elite Ivy League university so you can get into a good career track so that you can afford to live in that safe gated community.”
This has to be a joke blog, right? If you don’t go to an ivy league school, you’ll be poor with bad values.
Wow. Either you’re being sarcastic or have a very warped view of reality.
ted powers
June 15, 2013 at 9:50 PM