I already had a fair amount of sympathy for *all* concerned in the Jordan Neely case, but I have even more sympathy for the passengers, including Penny, after an event this weekend.
Was on the bus for a short trip to the mall when, before the bus was even out of the lot, some older guy took umbrage with a stranger in the back - a woman. H…
I already had a fair amount of sympathy for *all* concerned in the Jordan Neely case, but I have even more sympathy for the passengers, including Penny, after an event this weekend.
Was on the bus for a short trip to the mall when, before the bus was even out of the lot, some older guy took umbrage with a stranger in the back - a woman. He was in her face, threatening her, telling her 'this was her last warning' - about what, I'm not sure, but I was reminded of the whack job who accosted me and my friend last fall and accused my friend of stalking him all over Toronto - then strode to the front of the bus and continued hurling invectives at her. He never directly threatened to kill her but he made it sound like he might - "I will take you down! I will destroy you!" and I quietly put my book away and checked for my hair spray (wait, he's wearing sunglasses) and my formidable keychain (I have a cheap alligator-shaped bottle opener on there you do NOT want to fuck with!)
I took note of his vital stats and the number of the bus I was on and when a whack of us got off at the mall (including Travis Bickle) I called the police - got put on hold - hung up - talked to the security guards there since I saw where he went - the liquor store, oh yay - and then finally sat on a bench and filed a report via a mobile app available to us for such occasions.
I don't know what might have happened had he gotten violent on this woman but this was the *same station* where a woman was set fire to - and died - by a stranger last year, and I am NOT going down without a fight if someone ever accosts me.
I would have totally supported anyone who caught that guy in an armlock and restrained him. I totally support what Penny did and I'm sorry it went as far as it did, but sorry, in these insane times with so many clearly insane people wandering around, we have to be able to protect ourselves, and others. So no, I don't think it was 'white supremacy', and I deny that WS is even as pervasive as many believe it is - because it's an ideology based on the idea that white people are the superior race who should lord over all the darker 'inferiors', tangentially including women of all colours. WSs are racists but not all racists are WS.
There will be more stories like this, I'm afraid, before things get better, and in fact I wonder if there are more than we know, but they don't get media attention because the formula isn't right: White person takes down black person via Karenism, Penny, or what have you. Seeing as even more white men get taken down by the police than black men, including unarmed ones, and we never hear about *that*.
Hope I never have to fight back against an attacker but I'm not going to get shot, stabbed, slashed, or burned alive as has happened not just to Torontonians on the street, but on the transportation system, including to many TTC workers.
I asked someone at the station what I should do in a similar situation (me not being the victim) and they said if you think it's really critical, call 911 (hope I don't get put on hold, that happens too here) and he also told me what the bus drivers are trained to do in a hairy situation - they've got an alert on the dashboard they can push, one for 'dangerous situation on board' and another for 'need immediate help'.
Yeah, I think the people acting as if it’s totally unreasonable to be afraid around a strange man acting erratically in a confined space have either never been in that situation or are lying.
No sane person thinks that fear justifies killing Neely. But as I wrote in the article, tragedies are enormously more likely to happen when people are afraid. And if we can’t have a serious a conversation about *why* they were afraid, if we’re determined to pretend there’s nothing wrong with people in crisis from acting out in public, these things will keep happening.
I already had a fair amount of sympathy for *all* concerned in the Jordan Neely case, but I have even more sympathy for the passengers, including Penny, after an event this weekend.
Was on the bus for a short trip to the mall when, before the bus was even out of the lot, some older guy took umbrage with a stranger in the back - a woman. He was in her face, threatening her, telling her 'this was her last warning' - about what, I'm not sure, but I was reminded of the whack job who accosted me and my friend last fall and accused my friend of stalking him all over Toronto - then strode to the front of the bus and continued hurling invectives at her. He never directly threatened to kill her but he made it sound like he might - "I will take you down! I will destroy you!" and I quietly put my book away and checked for my hair spray (wait, he's wearing sunglasses) and my formidable keychain (I have a cheap alligator-shaped bottle opener on there you do NOT want to fuck with!)
I took note of his vital stats and the number of the bus I was on and when a whack of us got off at the mall (including Travis Bickle) I called the police - got put on hold - hung up - talked to the security guards there since I saw where he went - the liquor store, oh yay - and then finally sat on a bench and filed a report via a mobile app available to us for such occasions.
I don't know what might have happened had he gotten violent on this woman but this was the *same station* where a woman was set fire to - and died - by a stranger last year, and I am NOT going down without a fight if someone ever accosts me.
I would have totally supported anyone who caught that guy in an armlock and restrained him. I totally support what Penny did and I'm sorry it went as far as it did, but sorry, in these insane times with so many clearly insane people wandering around, we have to be able to protect ourselves, and others. So no, I don't think it was 'white supremacy', and I deny that WS is even as pervasive as many believe it is - because it's an ideology based on the idea that white people are the superior race who should lord over all the darker 'inferiors', tangentially including women of all colours. WSs are racists but not all racists are WS.
There will be more stories like this, I'm afraid, before things get better, and in fact I wonder if there are more than we know, but they don't get media attention because the formula isn't right: White person takes down black person via Karenism, Penny, or what have you. Seeing as even more white men get taken down by the police than black men, including unarmed ones, and we never hear about *that*.
Hope I never have to fight back against an attacker but I'm not going to get shot, stabbed, slashed, or burned alive as has happened not just to Torontonians on the street, but on the transportation system, including to many TTC workers.
I asked someone at the station what I should do in a similar situation (me not being the victim) and they said if you think it's really critical, call 911 (hope I don't get put on hold, that happens too here) and he also told me what the bus drivers are trained to do in a hairy situation - they've got an alert on the dashboard they can push, one for 'dangerous situation on board' and another for 'need immediate help'.
P.S. This dude was white.
Yeah, I think the people acting as if it’s totally unreasonable to be afraid around a strange man acting erratically in a confined space have either never been in that situation or are lying.
No sane person thinks that fear justifies killing Neely. But as I wrote in the article, tragedies are enormously more likely to happen when people are afraid. And if we can’t have a serious a conversation about *why* they were afraid, if we’re determined to pretend there’s nothing wrong with people in crisis from acting out in public, these things will keep happening.