It’s not a strawman if your argument is hiding in the straw.
6 Likes
15 Likes
No doubt I’ll regret this, but I’m going to jump in and defend @willmore here. My neighborhood has many elderly homeowners, and we have a serious problem with scammers preying on them, for example selling them unnecessary home services at inflated prices. Viewed from afar their behavior is pretty much exactly the same as Bynum’s in the story. I might phone the police if I saw someone I didn’t recognize on my block doing this, whatever they looked like, unless I could verify some other way that they were legit.
However, I do have the luxury of knowing that my police department (which is 85% minority) has a pretty good record of not shooting people willy-nilly. I used to live in Clackamas County, and have less confidence in the police there.
In this story, I’m delighted to see things ended up well: the officer “professionally” asked Bynum what she was doing, accepted her answer, and the caller apologized. That’s exactly how the system should work.
If the caller’s reason for finding Bynum “suspicious” was racial, then that’s messed up, but there are all too many stories which provide less ambiguous evidence than this one of the extent of that problem.
2 Likes
ABNER!
There’s a black lady thug knocking on all the doors and typing on her phone! CALL THE POLICE!
10 Likes
Um… No. No one “cases” literally every house, in broad daylight, door-to-door. It simply does not happen.
11 Likes
Yeah, a lot of the local HOAs here in Canada have been superduper suspicious recently as well after this victim got her fib spread on the national news:
Summary: after getting scammed over the phone, she claimed that fake RCMP officers came to her house and kidnapped her. A LOT of people believed her and, coupled with a whole lot of scammy door-to-door “salesmen” reselling gas and electrical services (those fucking shitweasels), there’s been a definite surge in accosting, rulesmongering and cop calling out here.
1 Like
You don’t have to regret it because you’re defending a scenario that’s slightly more plausible that “it was reasonable to assume she was casing the neighbourhood.”
Those types will scuttle away very quickly if they see someone who looks like the opposite of a mark approaching them. If they’re legit (or overconfident) they’ll try to sell you their services, and if not the type of scammers you describe are very rarely violent enough to warrant a call to the police as the first line of action.
10 Likes
I used to be a police dispatcher (aka 9-1-1 operator). I don’t want to give out too much personal information, but I started in the early 90’s. Even back then, (probably white, given the makeup of the area) people would call on black people who were merely walking down the street, claiming they were suspicious because they could be casing the neighborhood. We called it “walking while black.”
So this has been going on for a very long time, and shows no sign of letting up. In fact, it seems to be getting worse. I’m not sure if that’s because we have the internet to make us aware of what’s going on (The Root, one of the Gizmodo family of blogs, posts a ton of these type of stories), or because it is, in fact, getting worse (see: Trump, Donald).
15 Likes
One of the biggest things that stands out to me when visiting Oregon, in general, is the “rippies” (racist hippies). It gets rather creepy, rather fast, and gets worse, the farther you move inland from the coast.
1 Like
Defending a plausible argument is fine.
Defending someone who isn’t abiding by the code of conduct, though…
Let’s just say it does send a message.
I just bet!
*lolz
Like I said, much as I adore y’all, and the good energy we share here, I’d trade all the online ‘love’ I get for some of that real life privilege in a heartbeat, no joke.
12 Likes
Lets please keep the conversation to arguments, and not move to attacking people instead.
For anyone claiming vehement opposition to your argument is harassment - that’s not how debate works.
17 Likes
Yeah also honestly if I saw someone that looked like her lingering around my house I’d probably just ask her what is going on. Even if I was suspicious it’s unlikely I’d get attacked in broad daylight in front of my house by some one who was seen walking around the neighborhood by others… she’d have to have a personal grudge or be uniquely impulsive. Also nothing says “don’t rob this place” like people who are always around and who openly watch their homes. No need for fucking police, just a nice “Hello, how are are you, may I ask what you’re doing here…” that would suffice.
9 Likes
The police aren’t there just for violent crimes, and I think it is part of their job to deal with door-to-door scammers. Unfortunately, in some areas the police have apparently come to believe that all crime is violent, and always appear with guns blazing. That for me is the real problem, and is why I’m fairly happy with the outcome here.
Those types will scuttle away very quickly if they see someone who looks like the opposite of a mark approaching them.
I’m a big guy capable of acting tough, and have gone out to talk to strangers to find out what they were doing on my block. I’m not sure I’d expect one of the little old ladies on my block to do the same. (Though from her photos Janelle Bynum looks like a real sweetie, and not at all physically dangerous.)
2 Likes
That may be, but if there’s no need to call the cops in the first place I’m going to save my calls to 911 (or 311) for when they’re needed. The door-to-door scumbags are cowards who, as I noted, usually go away if someone like me approaches them – not because I’m a tough guy but because they can tell I’m not a sucker and that I will make their continued presence in my building more hassle than it’s worth. The few times they’ve come to my door they took one look and said “sorry, I knocked on the wrong door.” I made sure they understood just how wrong that door was by pestering them with “innocent” questions about their “services” until they gave up and left the building.
I wouldn’t either, but this little old lady (if that’s what she was) assumed that Bynum was a potentially violent criminal rather than a sleazeball scammer. I would wager that Neighbourhood Watch Nellie here has never called the cops about a middle-aged white man with a phone going door to door talking to residents.
7 Likes
I will fully admit I think she’s quite attractive. I’d probably ask her if she wanted to get a cup of coffee sometime BEFORE asking what she was doing.
Anyone wants to come at me. Bring it.
2 Likes
Hey, I’m 5’5" Black and female, I still have no issue asking anyone who’s unfamiliar what their business is, if they step on the property where I live.
That said, it’s been stated repeatedly that crooks and other people with actual nefarious intent tend to not want to be seen or remembered; as that makes the dirt they’re trying to do even more risky. Openly casing marks in broad daylight isn’t something any even halfway successful con would do.
10 Likes
Agreed entirely.
My joking comment aside. I pointed out above that she doesn’t look any different from any woman I have daily dealings with. A fellow parent of a kid at the local elementary school. Some woman I see at the cafe of my work. A soccer mom at the field.
She doesn’t present as a potential burglar. And the response I got was akin to “are you profiling burglars?!” YES YES I AM DAMMIT.
This lady ain’t one.
4 Likes
As Janelle Bynum said herself:
“It boils down to people not knowing their neighbors and people having a sense of fear in their neighborhoods, which is kind of my job to help eradicate,” Bynum told the newspaper.
“But at the end of the day, it’s important for people to feel like they can talk to each other to help minimize misunderstandings,” she said.
That said, I really don’t know why you’re making the defensive argument you are. It sounds like you are making an argument for being fearful and suspicious, while most people here are saying folks need to chill the fuck out, and not assume the worst.
7 Likes
I hear you; she looks like half a dozen professionals across various fields that I see every workday.
Stuff like this story is why events like National Night Out need to be a bimonthly thing, not an annual one.
10 Likes
Oh man potluck with the neighbors… I would be good that monthly even. It is fun. Well maybe not in the gray cold wet of winter in Seattle but still a good idea.
6 Likes
