Ineffictive Measures

31 Dec 09

Latest Trend in SA, from friends there:

"We're experiencing Mall robberies here!

A large group of armed men, at least a dozen, all with Kalashnikovs, storm a mall and hit high-end merchandise shops. They do not hesitate to fire their weapons, and most of these incidents end up with shots fired and multiple injuries. No mall is exempt. In fact, our largest and most 'secure' malls have all been hit more than once.

Jewelry stores are typically located in the center of malls for maximum insulation from robberies, but these gangs bypass peripheral shops and go directly for such places, because they have lots of cash and high-density merchandise on hand.

Our largest local mall, the biggest in the Western Cape, has responded with laughable 'extra security measures,' which include (even more) cameras and highly-visible, but unarmed, security guards. As any idiot could have predicted, these window-dressing measures do not represent any species of deterrent, as robbers blithely ignore them, and the guards themselves instantly run away, dropping their metal-detecting wands (their only 'weapon') in the process!

Once again, management and government alike dither around like the Three Stooges, doing everything imaginable, except something that has any chance of actually working!

Typical Western Civilization!"

Comment:

All too typical! When this plague hits the USA, our "response" will predictably be identical, and identically ineffective!

Weak, window-dressing responses to real safety issues are symptomatic of declining civilizations, where everyone cares only about appearances, and little genuine problem-solving ever sees the light of day.

Effective problem-solving always begins with the abrupt removal of rose-colored glasses!

I love the way John Henry "Doc" Holliday put it:

"Play to win, or don't bother. Check friendship at the door. A ' friendly game' is a contradiction of terms. When looking for entertainment, there is the theater. When camaraderie is your need, there is the bar. For companionship, you've only to seek out any number of likely whores."

/John