Anyways, onto the comment for the day. I was listening to the news yesterday morning, and I heard that there was an elderly woman, 69 years of age. She was attacked by three young men. Her wallet and purse were stolen, rings ripped off her finger, her Medic Alert bracelet destroyed. And her wheelchair was stolen. When she tried to get up using her cane, she was knocked down yet again. And this is the second time that she's had her wheelchair stolen. So, what's your reaction? Kind of disgusted? Horrified? Wondering what's happening to society nowadays that would possess people to do something like that?
Well, yeah, that's the reaction I had at first too. But what if this isn't such a new thing? This is a classic case of somebody in a position of strength oppressing somebody in a position of weakness. In this case, the strength was physical. The three young men obviously had more strength than one wheelchair confined old woman. In other cases, the strength is not physical. Perhaps a better way to phrase it is that people in positions of power tend to oppress those they have power over. This is common throughout history and society today. Witness whites oppressing black slaves in antebellum America. Witness townspeople condemning innocent women to death as witches until the 1700's. Witness men oppressing women's roles in private and public life throughout the ages. Witness huge multinational corporations screwing the consumer. You get the idea. This incident of three guys stealing an old lady's wheelchair is not isolated. It is in fact characteristic of our society. Why?
Why indeed? How about this for a reason? People who are in power got there because they wanted to have power. And in order to get this power, they had to step on top of people to do this. Hence, the pattern began. Or what about this? EVERYBODY wants power. Those who are stronger, are better able to seize it, and hang on to it. And they step on others because then there is less of a chance that those people will take their power. How about this one? Those in power, are mostly insecure about themselves. So they try to eliminate threats to their power. Or this? All humans are basically assholes, and beat up on those who then can, just because they can. There are a variety of possible reasons. Quite possibly, a combination of possible reasons. So, there is no particular reason why three guys should steal a old lady's wheelchair. It isn't surprising, nor particularly horrible, relative to other acts of violence between people separated by large power gradients.
However, I still think that these guys who did that are real jerks and assholes. And really, have no moral sense at all. I just want to caution people who want to condemn them similarly -- it could as easily be you who are committing these acts.