Scarfe touches a raw nerve

[Resurrection Man]

...... And I knew that if people stood up to them even politely, it would be they who would be taken to court on some invented premise. .....

Mmmm...I take your point although the concept of them taking someone to court for remonstrating is a little far-fetched, I think. If anything, 'we' are just as guilty for doing nothing. Part of the reason for our current society...I think many, especially of my age, abrogated our responsibilities TO remonstrate. Maybe it was a reticence fuelled by the media...don't get involved. But we should have. Respect for other people, their views and their property has gone out of the window.

[Beef Oven]

Mmmm...I take your point although the concept of them taking someone to court for remonstrating is a little far-fetched, I think. If anything, 'we' are just as guilty for doing nothing. Part of the reason for our current society...I think many, especially of my age, abrogated our responsibilities TO remonstrate. Maybe it was a reticence fuelled by the media...don't get involved. But we should have. Respect for other people, their views and their property has gone out of the window.

A balanced post Foxy!

[Lateralthinking1]

Mmmm...I take your point although the concept of them taking someone to court for remonstrating is a little far-fetched, I think. If anything, 'we' are just as guilty for doing nothing. Part of the reason for our current society...I think many, especially of my age, abrogated our responsibilities TO remonstrate. Maybe it was a reticence fuelled by the media...don't get involved. But we should have. Respect for other people, their views and their property has gone out of the window.

Well, you describe a situation in which if one individual remonstrates, he or she can expect others to abrogate their responsibilities and fail to offer support. In the situation I described, I can see what could easily transpire. The guy is put out because someone has questioned his behaviour, gets on his mobile phone to report that a person is being difficult, says that he is in a profession that many might see as respectable - a fair few politicians as well as lawyers and doctors now go to festivals - and adds that he himself isn't bothered but his girlfriend is upset. If he or she happens to be black, a racial dimension will be added into the equation.

So I think it entirely plausible that someone who has merely remonstrated will be seen as the guilty party. The courts are full of that kind of stuff. Many overestimate the ability of the police to make the right decision. They have very limited resources. Only a few weeks ago, a man on a radio station described an incident he witnessed very closely from beginning to end, hearing every word that was spoken and, as it involved a physical fight, seeing every action. Two groups outside a night club. One individual in one group was attacked by one in the other. The group of which the victim was a member attacked the attacker and the group of which the attacker was a member stood to one side. The police arrived, probably having come from an armed robbery and on their way to dealing with a drug related crime. It might well have been their 17th call that night. Decisions had to be made in seconds.

Each group claimed that the initial attack came from the other group. The victim and members of his group were arrested while the original attacker walked away. The decision was made on the grounds that the attacker's group had not been physically involved. And the caller to the radio station who witnessed it along with others on the street said nothing as he didn't want to get involved.

A taxi driver rang to say that he had been punched through his open window by someone in another vehicle at traffic lights. He followed the vehicle and managed to block it in at the side of a road with no danger to other traffic. He then called the police who arrived and arrested him for preventing another driver from using the road and wasting police time. An elderly woman rang the police to report an intruder in her garden at 3am in the morning, never having rung the police before. She was cautioned on the grounds that no one had entered her house and advised that she should only call the police if someone ever did so. She was also asked whether she was on medication and had sought counselling for anxiety. As she said, it wasn't as if she rang every night.

A train driver I know is very clear about the one train of the year he would prefer not to operate. It isn't the one carrying Millwall supporters but rather the annual Ascot races train. The behaviour is truly frightening and there isn't a dustman among them.

I came home on a train once when an earlier dispute between two groups was resumed. I was sitting halfway along the carriage. Suddenly I was the only person in that carriage sitting down. The group in front of me got up to lay in to the group behind me. There wasn't a moment when I didn't think that if the police were called I would be seen as not involved. The problem was that I had the misfortune of being there. Fortunately they all got off at the first stop and recommenced brawling on the platform.

And when I lived in a flat, I put up with karaoke parties until 6am for three Thursdays in a row but knocked on the door on week four. I was invited in for a drink by a 20-something, advised to "chill out" and told that should I consider taking the matter further, his old man was a lawyer with connections and I wouldn't stand a chance. My conclusion on the latter point was he was right.