People are Getting Crazier in California
I don't know about other parts of the nation. But, we were just talking about this in the office today. My life is spent commuting, working, and spending time with my family. I'm seeing things on my commute the past month or so that are really mindblowing. I think it must be a reflection of something affecting people. Just this morning there was a five car pileup in front of my office. 35 mph speed limit, no stop sights, no speed bumps, straight shot, two lanes...no reason for cars to run into each other. Yet, there it was. Almost no traffic at the time, very early in the morning. I've had a drunk stagger in front of my truck at 6:30 am, almost getting killed. I've seen multiple people passed out on drugs or booze with their legs out in the street and their upper bodies sprawled on the sidewalks. Lots of tents and boxes people sleep in almost anywhere they can place one - freeway cloverleafs, alleys, parks, creeks. I have seen multiple massive crashes lately - probably 5 in the past week - where somebody runs a red light doing at least 50 and just turns their car into a yard sale - often with bad injuries. I'm guessing people are either passing out or just playing with their phones. I'm seeing accidents like this almost every single day, sometimes a couple per day.
There's got to be something going on, right? My coworkers notice it too. Just this past week we've got stories of close calls on our commutes. Any theories on what it could be? I can't imagine. Perhaps it's just coincidence.
There's got to be something going on, right? My coworkers notice it too. Just this past week we've got stories of close calls on our commutes. Any theories on what it could be? I can't imagine. Perhaps it's just coincidence.
Last week I went into downtown Birmingham where an oral surgeon is located near what's called "the projects" with government housing for the poor. People I saw sitting or sleeping on sidewalks? Zero.
Eight years ago I drove through an alley to get to a job interview, having missed where I wanted to turn. The unexpected noise my car made caused a guy to wake up and scramble to crawl out of a cardboard box. He obviously thought I was the police.
Yes, the police. That's because the Birmingham police does not tolerate people sleeping in alleys, on sidewalks or on park benches.
BTW, I've lived in this area since 1982. How many people have I seen in a cardboard box? That one guy I just mentioned.
So that's what Malibu looks like. Me dino visited Kalifornia a couple of time during the 70ss but never saw Malibu.
Yes, I can see now that there's enough sandy areas to provide a wonderful litter box for the homeless.
Dr. Zhivago comes back to his family home after being forced to be a doctor for communist partisans for the last several years and he finds that his father and sister are living in an upstairs room and the house is full of "workers". There is a Commissar there who gives him a ration o crap about how the house was totally enormous and that's why the government moved all those people in there. and Doctor Zhivago, having worked with communist partisans for many years knows the right thing to say... He says... "Yes it is much more just that all these people are living here. "
Of course the doctor is just trying to survive the encounter and the mob is actually ready to pounce on him and a distant cousin shows up who is a bigger commissar than the one in the house. He snaps his fingers, shows his red book and the mob immediately vanishes. Because of course, even though all the farm animals are equal..."Some are more equal than others"!. A very instructive movie.
Most not all tent and cardboard housing are in the blue specks .
Now it is destroyed. It only takes one generation.
When the house of cards falls for the Pelosi ,Shifty, Swallwells , Waters ,Brown , Holders,
Feinkenstien comes down you may have a chance.
In California we saw a lot of who my brother called, "Yesterday's hippies" were out stranded by the highways trying to thumb and flag us down for a ride.
Saved a bunch of money in the serve, So me dino was carrying a lot of cash and travelers checks and didn't want anything to do with any strangers.
Me dino was not thinking of yesterday's hiippies as homeless. Maybe I should have. Naw, due to them all being young methinks most had a home to go back to..
Driving, I was entering an overpass above I-20/59 out in the boonies halfway between Birmingham and Tuscaloosa.
Coming the other way on the overpass walked a homeless man who wore a backpack. No otherr traffic or pedestrians were around.
The homeless man was yelling at me with eyes all ablaze.
Me dino supposed the man was angry about motorists ignoring him.
So I ignored him.
Doubt a homeless person is worth a bullet to a gangster and especially not any shovel work.
Me dino has a degree in journalism but even I can screw up. So fret not.
Almost all the time I clearly understand you.
When I worked for a small time newspaper during the 70s, I was at times embarrassed by discovered careless gaffes a whole mess of people got to read.
My editor did not edit, you see. In fact, when someone complained about a controversial subject he MY BOSS ordered me to cover, he would lie about having no control over what I wrote. Learned that due to gossip getting around. .
On another note, it seems that people everywhere I go recently (last 2 months especially) are significantly more irritable and on edge. I wonder if there isn't some collective unconsciousness about 1) political unrest stirred by the 7/24 news cycle and 2) the recognition that despite politicians giving us 'the economy has never been better' talk, we are walking the edge of an economic precipice. If so, I wouldn't expect to see more civil behavior in the near future.
my wife, a mini person got smacked in the face with the bag giving her two black eyes that cosmetics could not make disappear. He was driving a scooter in order to get around. When we went to court, I had my handy dandy NRA pocket knife on me and I was very tempted to aerate his tires. My BW who has been with me for 64 years saw what I guess was a certain expression on my face and immediately knew what I was thinking jabbed me rather forcefully in the ribs with her elbow. I got the message and left the tires of the scooter alone.
Coloradans also seem to fail to grasp how four wheel drive works, speeding like maniacs on icy roads. I counted six four wheel drive pickups upside down in the median on the way to work one day.
Send the California crazies to Colorado, where they'll feel right at home.
I-25 and I-70 are both almost completely undriveable now . . .
- verified by a CO native still living here.
Tragic, but IMO as an objectivist and lifelong Economist, this is real, and not coincidence.
It signifies the early symptoms of a breakdown in civil social order, starting with the moral and mental breakdown or at minimum distraction of individuals of all “classes”.
That it is happening in Far Left California is not surprising. The stresses of the misallocations of valuable resources (which unlike the myth and propaganda du jour, is caused by the essentially Socialist governments there, NOT Capitalism) leads to failures and inequalities through all of society. But in the end, those affected are individuals, and these behaviours a result of stresses too overwhelming to handle.
I call it MTV driving, where nothing is planned, but most driving decisions are done at the last second to get the 'best deal" in real time. The result is chaos with cars changing lanes all the way across the 3 lane road, speeding through traffic lights, and other last minute decision making.
People seem to want to get in front of you all the time, encouraging "turf protection" as a major goal.
Also, people dont leave enough space between cars to give one a chance to prevent an accident. Its as if they expect there to be accidents and if you follow very closely at least you wont hit the car in front at a high relative velocity.
Lack of planning, in my opinion, is the real cause of this. They just aim their cars, instead of driving them.
It's on the increase for two reasons: 1, the sun, we are not getting the electrical interaction with sunspots which keeps our ionosphere active, thereby protecting us from cosmic radiation. 2, A weakened magnetic shield, (down 25%) likely caused by magnetic pole excursions...in other words...they are on the move and moving toward each other.
We also have, as you have observed, people having sex on their cell phones; (it might as well be sex) Why else would you stop paying attention to where they are driving?
Put all these factors together; what does it spell?...People are not aware, (conscious) of their own behavior...everything is fluid and relative. They have devolved back into the nonconscious bicameral brain as a result of the post modern society where nothing matters so long as it feels good...until you get hurt!
Then of course, it's someone else's fault!
I lived in California for 4 years in the late 70's, they were crazy then too...always ready for a party...I thought at the time,..maybe it's the constant danger of waking up in the ocean with out a paddle. (earthquakes, (The Big one), mud slides, forest fires or alien invasions).
Connecticut SUCKS...but not as bad as California.
I would like to see statistics from a someone just reporting the facts. The MSM seems to promote violence to encourage gun control.
I just want the facts.
For you and your families self interest you might consider running not walking away from the riches to rags story that California has become. You have the talent and work ethic that would be valued all across the country.
As a former resident leaving was a great move.
Watching The movie Grand Canyon, the way Steve Martin was shot and Kevin Clines ill fated wrong turn leaving the lakers game must seem like a picnic compared to today.
I rarely see many homeless let alone living in tents.
In the major metro area I live in. The only group of those shelter needy folks is at the soup kitchen in downtown St Paul. I have never had to dodge human excrement where ever I go.
Most of my life has been as a Californian. I was born here. I've spent countless time enjoying the mountains and beaches. This is such a beautiful place. It's transition into what's happening here now really is very saddening for me. I remember living the simple, happy family life here when I was a kid. My folks would take us over to the beach at Santa Cruz for a weeknight picnic dinner regularly. No crowds. Just natural beauty. Now, so much of it is derelicts staggering around with no teeth, pooping on the sidewalks...tent cities, road rage incidents, schools teaching little boys about how to select marital toys (not an exaggeration). It's sad...
Its the beauty I suppose that keeps people living there. What other reason is there? Taxes are high, regulations are through the roof, and its filled with collectivists everywhere you turn.