More Humane Suggestion for Performing Citizen’s Arrests
Handcuff the pair to a parking meter and pin “Bicycle Thieves” signs to their backs and then anonymously call the police to let them know where they can be found.
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the trick is in the wrangling
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And yet isn’t it amazing how so many people still need to make this about bike theft, and not what it really is. Says a lot, doesn’t it?
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There are at least two choices that Borg and Crossan offered me:
Nonviolence -> Justice -> Peace
Violence -> Victory -> Peace
Of course they started each of those with “Religion ->”. Further they attribute the top the Paul and the bottom to Caesar, but this thread is certainly in the eye.
Yes. Because being Batman brings the undesirables to Gotham. If there was no Batman in Gotham then the Joker wouldn’t go to Gotham, now would he? Being a vigilante brings undesirables and we can’t have that. LOL
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And, if they object to being handcuffed by random strangers, they should be subdued with potentially lethal weapons?
The last time I encountered a bicycle thief he (and his lookout) produced long screwdrivers (which he had been using to force a lock) and ran off, I doubt I could have persuaded either of them to accompany me to a nearby post and sit still while I chained them up.
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I can only wonder what this married couple does for fun?
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I think you’re looking at it.
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They were not defending their property. They were setting up a situation where they could (they thought) inflict potentially lethal injuries on other human beings without consequences, record the incident and post it online for lols and clicks. That is some sick twisted shit, my friend.
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In other words, more evil than Tucker’s Kobolds?
At least Tucker’s Kobolds were defending their home.
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Are you referring to Mark Rober’s video?
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Here’s the problem, which goes a lot deeper.
There is a social contract in which we agree not to do vigilante justice in return for having a police force which mets out justice based on rule of law and an agreed upon criminal code.
And no one in this thread expects the cops to go after the thieves. So the social construct has been broken; and that’s the cop’s fault.
At what point does vigilante justice become acceptable when it becomes apparent that despite living in a police state we no longer have functional law enforcement?
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Why not? Some cops in some places neglect their general duty to “protect and serve,” but not all do.
Anyway, even if vigilante justice seems warranted where this couple lives, the question isn’t whether one should take justice – or better yet, deterrence? – into their own hands. It’s whether potentially lethal baseball bat beatings are in order.
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I don’t think that vengeance beatings are acceptable. Bike thieves are not usually a danger to other people (I live in Oxford, the bike theft capital of the UK). If the person is a danger to other people then some degree of physical resistance is acceptable, but this is not that case.
This is one social anarchist alternative to the policing we have today, not every anarchist will agree with it but it is something to start with.
There are problems with the Asayish, but they are also worth looking at.
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And when they don’t, why is the solution supposed to be vigilante justice as opposed to “dismantle the police and start over with new ones that will do the proper job.”
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If I was a cop I’d be pretty peeved if someone put a bike outside with the intent of having it stolen then demanded I immediately drop what I was doing to pursue the thieves whenever someone took the bait.
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I also think a lot of the people trying to make this about bike theft are eliding the elephant in the room. This isn’t someone coming upon someone unexpectedly stealing their bike and responding rashly. In that case I’d have some sympathy for the person actually defending their property. I’d consider it foolish to risk lives over property. But I get that for people of few means losing a bike might not be as simple as it is for someone with my middle-class privilege.
But these assholes deliberately left honeypots to lure people so they could engage in violent crimes. Not retribution, crimes. They initiated. And then they uploaded their beatings to YouTube for shits and giggles. Anyone framing that as defense of property is willfully ignoring the context of the couple’s actions.
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Yes, they went too far, but bike theft needs to be treated more seriously than it is. It’s particularly bad where I’m from due to addiction problems: I’ve had 6 bikes, and they’ve all been stolen. It’s not even a viable form of transportation because there is no lock that can keep them safe. If you lock it up anywhere outside, they will find a way to bypass the lock and take it.
There needs to be stricter laws for bike theft because unlike the comic book collection in your closet, part of using a bike for practical reasons is that you’ll likely need to leave it unattended, often in public places.
It’s incredibly frustrating to repeatedly have this thing you rely on to get around taken away by some asshole who wants a hit of meth. Maybe baseball bats are going a bit far, but there needs to be more done to protect bikes.
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Are you sure about that?
“Maybe”? Just a “bit far”? Sounds like you approve of the BB post’s reported vigilantism, staged for the purposes of shits, giggles and YouTube clicks.
And I’m not trying at all to defend bike thieves, but what evidence do you have that those in your area are doing it because they want a hit of meth? Sounds a lot like timeworn stereotyping to me.
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