[PLUG-TALK] Violence

Tomas Kuchta tomas.kuchta.lists at gmail.com
Tue Jun 2 08:32:42 UTC 2020


Hi John,

I am sad to hear about the sensless stack on you. I wish you speedy
recovery, both physically and mentally. The trust in people around you will
probably take the longest to heal.

I have experienced fair share of sensless attacks on me for various reasons
- for simply standing out, being blow in, bullying, right of passage, and
of course alcohol/drugs. None of that fits the bill in your description.

Given what is going on right now - it seems the pitchforks and torches are
out. The angry, poor, hopeless and oppressed have rised up to action. Each
and every one of them with different axe to grind.

Perhaps, all that happened to you was a broken man without future taking
his anger out on random member of upper class as he saw it.

Yes, it has come to that - for significant part of the society - people
with own home, who are secure in their means and can just go for walk - are
the unreachable upper class. Our seemingly normal situation with daily
worries is outside their reality,  beyond the reach of their realistic
dreams and aspirations.

I have never seen so much shocking powerty and generational hopelessness in
the so called developed world. The amount of social inenequality,
injustice  and the associated pressure right in the fabric of society is a
powder keg waiting to be lit.

Perhaps that is what you experienced today, one poor man taking his anger
on someone living in clouds outside his realm.

All the best,
- T

On Mon, Jun 1, 2020, 20:56 John Jason Jordan <johnxj at gmx.com> wrote:

> On Mon, 1 Jun 2020 19:52:18 -0700
> Denis Heidtmann <denis.heidtmann at gmail.com> dijo:
>
> >That is a terrible thing.  I am glad that he hit your arm, not your
> >head. Your question, is any place safe, is certainly appropriate.  Do
> >you suppose that the passersby knew the culprit?
>
> I suspect that the passers by knew the assailant, or at least had seen
> him; that is, according to the police the assailant was probably living
> down along the freeway. From the east and west ends of the Ainsworth /
> I-5 overpass one can just walk down to the freeway. There are always
> homeless people down there, and I suspect that the passers by were also
> homeless people, which also explains why the witness didn't stick
> around.
>
> >I just read an opinion piece from the Guardian.  They distinguish
> >between violence toward property and violence toward people.  They
> >make the case that only the latter should be considered violence.
> >Then they offer that almost all of the violence these last few days
> >has been perpetrated by the police.  Could be, but you are a survivor
> >who might disagree.
>
> The Guardian is nuts. If you harm someone's property the judicial
> penalty is less than if you harm the person. Both are violence. If you
> want to change the names of the crimes it doesn't change the nature of
> the crime. As for the police, the Portland police have had their not so
> stellar incidents, but I'll take my chances with them over most of
> their brethren in other cities.
>
> >Do you have any reason to associate your attack with the present
> >conditions?  Why do you suppose that the witnesses did not assist you,
> >or even speak to you?  Do you have any hope that the culprit will ever
> >be identified?
>
> The assailant was white, about 25 years old. He struck at my left
> shoulder because I was wearing a sling on my left arm. In other words,
> my guess is that he was trying to aggravate my injury. I would bet that
> he was on some kind of drug. Otherwise his attack makes no sense - he
> made no demands for money, no claims that I had aggrieved him somehow -
> in fact, he said nothing at all.
>
> I hope the police can capture the individual, but I have little hope
> that they will. They asked me to give them a description, but during
> the incident it did not occur to me to catalog his physical
> characteristics. The police were probably hoping that I could supply
> them with a photo, as I had my phone in my hand when they arrived. It
> did not occur to me to take his picture, but if I had he might have
> grabbed my phone and stomped it to pieces.
>
> Since the assailant is doubtless homeless he has nothing to lose. If
> the police do manage to capture him it is doubtful that they will be
> able to keep him off the streets for long. That is the part that I find
> disturbing. He will just attack someone else.
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