I rarely throw in the towel, but with the current news cycle it has become clear that my somewhat regular April fools posts cannot compete with reality.
I am at the point where anything ludicrous I can conjure up strays dangerously close to real world events, which leaves me at a loss of what I can scribble about on this auspicious day. I thought about a repeat of my “giving up prepping article”, but these days it would just sound too real.
I came across this article regarding a Canadian police officer advising that homeowners should leave their car keys out on their porch, because wait for it, it would reduce home invasions.
I suspect the underlying motivation was to reduce the risk of violence, but call me old fashioned, I just can’t wrap my head around this narrative.
A policeman outright suggested making it easier for car thieves to steal cars.
This is what it has come to friends: a twisted narrative where we negotiate crime rates based on acceptability. If you ever watched the Gotham TV show, you will know why this irks me so much. As someone who has dealt with an attempted home invasion, the very idea that I should accept a compromise with a criminal is just mind boggling.
I suspect many of you agree with me on this, but it seems that outside the general mockery of this “advice” it echos statements from the past. The authorities are just more honest about it now.
I remember a campaign where the narrative was- if you are getting robbed, just hand over your wallet. Your life is worth far more.
Now, I do agree that my life is more important than my wallet, but my gut tells me that this merely emboldens criminals to rob with pseudo impunity. Pickpockets in Europe operate under the auspices of organized gangs with children as their “front men” because they know that juveniles can’t be held for non-violent crimes. This is the end result of poor policies by our elected officials.
I understand that violence is terrible, but perhaps the police can do something against these cartels as opposed to just repeating tired advice whilst consistently crippling our ability to protect our communities?
Just a thought.
Hopefully April 1st, 2025 will be a saner world and I can scribble out something witty, but for this year, reality wins the punchline. Sorry everyone.
Hey X,
Great to see you guys back at it, and with some fantastic commentary no less. While Canada did a great job flying under the radar, their willingness to bend over for anything has brought them into the spotlight – usually in the form of a meme. This blog is what helped push me over the fence in starting my own, so I’m happy to see you churning out the posts once again.
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The Canadian Police Officer’s advice does seem to go along with popular sentiment. It is caused by a failure to use common sense and critical thinking skills. A community close to mine was having high rates of ODs. The local politicians response was let’s have the tax payers provide free clean needles. I won’t comment on other countries but the American media and government is broken and corrupt.
An explanation of your depression. When you are a little kid, someone else fed you, clothed you, provided a roof over your head, changed your diapers. Maybe you understood, pre kindergarten what I observed and said to myself. Grown ups were doing things wrong, but things would be ok when my cohorts grew up. I was wrong, of course.
Crime happened then and did not wait until “modern times”. When I was 8 years old, two elementary school girls were murdered in the woods next to school – and this was more than 60 years ago.
You don’t need to know much to be able to function is this world. Keep focused on situational awareness, lock your doors, stay out the bad sections of town.
I agree. In today’s society it seems like anything you can possibly dream up could and maybe has happened. And the police are getting a bad reputation, either by turning a blind eye or overreacting. But the media doesn’t announce when law enforcement gets it right nearly as much as they do when things are handled incorrectly. I would not want to be in law enforcement today because of all the mixed messages and confusion. And the media can’t wait to get their teeth into a sensationalized story, like hovering vultures. Just my 2 cents.