So,
I was driving a few friends back from Laurinburg a few months ago(yeah, curran and sithgirl and rashi), and I saw two guys on the side of the road with their truck stopped. I slowed down to see if they were having car trouble so that I could possibly pull over and lend them the help of a socket wrench or a jumper cable or a jack, but when it turned out they were just looking at something they had seen on the side of the road I kept driving.
The first member of my little traveling group made a joke that because I was slowing down it looked like I might have actually stopped, and when I informed him that yes that had indeed been a possibility everyone in the car thought I was crazy.
"That's how people get raped," or "that's how people get killed" were responses.
I mean seriously, how often does that happen? You know how there are always talks about murders on the news and ESPECIALLY on fictional tv shows. The actual percentage of crimes that are murders are something like .01% Is it really worth someones hour or two hike to a gas station for a jumper cable or a jack or a phone call and that same distance back because we always assume that strangers are going to tie us down in their basements and rape us every day for the rest of our lives?
If I was stuck on the side of the road frankly I'd love someone to stop and help me. My dad's generation (and especially him) hitchhiked all over the place, and of course he has stories of sketchy people that would probably have tried to fuck him over and leave him someone he didn't want to be, but you just really have to be aware of where you're going and make that judgement.
Today we don't hitchhike at all. Today we only accept non-homemade goods for halloween. Today we're afraid of everyone.
Why do we hate each other so much?
(this was actually inspired by the brownie post)
17 comments:
Gee, this is reminiscent of a previous post... anyhow, I would probably assert that part of it is the media, spewing forth all this paranoid garbage, that humans are islands.
Which stems from a "super individualistic" nation like the good ol' US-of-A, being so caught up inside ourselves we're just too afraid to... dare I say it, reach out to another human being.
Also, in most states, hitchhiking is illegal.
You forgot to mention that at the time you were driving in completely the wrong direction.
Who knows where the could have led us...
O_o
Life is full of risks. It would be pointless without them. All we can do in a situation like you described, is to stop to think for a moment, size-up the situation & make the choice.
In more extreme times, people don't get the luxury of the time to evaluate.
Those are the times when heros emerge.
& some of those heros never get to know they were.
Yes people are way too paranoid these days. You really can’t say that it’s just the USA, It’s an increasing trend everywhere. The fact is that the usa has a much higher crime rate than any other industrialized nation. Slowing down to help someone on the side of the road should not be considered a near death experience. I can understand a single teenage girl being afraid to pick up a stranger but a group of guys isn’t near as big of a target
Agree, 100%.
I want to be able to hitchhike (actually i didn't know it was illegal)... i would like to help people on the road because i'm a helpful person... but these days our generation is just brainwashed to the facts of people dying or being raped... all of these horror stories, and who knows how many are true?
it's a pity, really.
uh hey dumbass, that statistic about the US having higher crime rates is not true. think about the huge amounts of pickpocketing in europe. and you cant tell me the crime rate in 3rd world countries is that much less.
http://www.economist.com/displayStory. cfm?Story_ID=513031
take the space out of the above address and check it out.
dont generalize. look these things up before saying spewing it out.
but you're right, its sad. blah blah blah. its everywhere.
Actually you mean "a small percentage blah blah blah is" not "a small percentage blah blah blah are"
Just sayin'.
Ok first of all there’s no need to call me a dumbass because you disagree with me. I never said third world countries had less crime, they have much more. I said other industrialized countries have less than the USA. If you look hard enough you can find statistics to prove any point. My point wasn’t even that the USA had more crime it was That picking up a hitchhiker could be dangerous but it should not be this way .
So please look these things up before spewing them out, okay thanks
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/
cri_rap_percap-crime-rapes-per-capita
http://www.nationmaster.com/
graph/cri_car_the-crime-car-thefts
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/
cri_mur_percap-crime-murders-per-capita
http://www.nationmaster.com
/graph/cri_mur_percap-crime-murders
-per-capita
http://thegreenman.net.au/mt
/archives/000055.html
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph
/cri_ass-crime-assaults
For the sake of space I'll stop now
I would just like to say that if I ever saw PChis sticking his thumb out on a road I would probably be afraid to pick him up. :D
Sekaf... you boggle me. You know who I am.. and yet nobody is supposed to have divulged my non-Tangst identity.
And... you know me personally, apparently.
Who the eff are you?
I know who you are too, graffiti. But as to Sekaf's identity, I also have no clue.
I believe hitchhiking is only illegal on interstate highways...then again the laws may have changed recently.
Hitchhiking laws are unique to each state, I'm pretty sure it's not federal (correct me if I'm wrong).
So... there are states where it's legal, I just don't know which, except for it being illegal in NC.
GP - I figured out who you are(with some help from Box-Box). Blame him. You actually know me fairly well in real life, I just don't think you would expect to find me on this site. Rashi, we aren't friends in real life but you might know who I am. As far as I know, Box-Box is the only one who definitely knows who I am by now, although PChis has probably figured it out too.
I got in a car with a stranger once. My car broke down late at night on a poorly lit street downtown and a woman stopped her car and offered me a place to stay until I could call someone to pick me up. I took her offer, and I'm eternally grateful to her. And I'm still alive.
Afterwards, though, my mother basically made me sign a statement in blood saying that I'd never do such a thing again.
Just an anecdote for everybody.
Yes, but it was a woman that picked you up. And we all know that women can't rape people.
Oh, I'm sure it's physically possible. But... again, it probably wouldn't be rape unless it was girl on girl action. Why you ask? Just look at the scenario: Woman starts raping man... man says,
"Hey, no! I'm still a virg.. hey wait! I'm still a virgin! Um... stop stop... well... uh... proceed".
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