Ken WhiteFeb 3, 2023

A mentally ill homeless guy walked onto a high school campus in my suburb, wearing all black, carrying a big duffel bag. Now, it’s reasonable to be concerned about that and want to identify who it is, assure he’s not carrying weapons onto the campus, and so forth.

But the community (as, perhaps, poorly represented on Facebook) is coming completely unhinged.

/1

Show threadKen WhiteFeb 3, 2023
/2 The cops found him at a local Starbucks, identified him, determined he had no weapons, and gave him a trespassing ticket. The community is OUTRAGED. They’re stalking him around the community and taking pictures of him at Starbucks and McDonald’s and demanding that he be kicked out. They want him jailed or institutionalized.
Show threadKen WhiteFeb 3, 2023

/3 They’ve found his Twitter and Facebook accounts and are printing out the stuff there - kind of crazy, not notably crazy on Twitter — taking it to the police demanding he be arrested. They’re keeping meticulous logs of his activities.

I am considerably more afraid of my neighbors than I am of this mentally ill homeless guy.

Show threadKen WhiteFeb 3, 2023
/4 The real question is .. will I keep my mouth shut and stay out of the neighborhood group where people are wigging out? Or will I comment?
Show threadKen WhiteFeb 3, 2023
/5 It is … not going well.
Show threadKen WhiteFeb 3, 2023
/6 when people unclear on the concept try to insult me
Show threadKen WhiteFeb 3, 2023
/7 Still not going well. However, I have worked very hard to be polite. I just had a donut, which I awarded myself for refraining from the phrase “mob of crazed torch-waving Karens”
Show threadKen WhiteFeb 3, 2023
/8 People have an absolute right to have fears, and voice them, even if the fears are irrational in nature or proposed remedy. But some people seem to thing that fears, particularly about children, should be above dissent or critique, which is weird.
Show threadKen WhiteFeb 3, 2023
/9 I give them this: they’re up front about it.
Show threadKen White
/10 I am informed my attitude reflects male privilege.
Feb 3, 2023 at 7:18pmMastodon for iOS
Show threadMark TomczakFeb 3, 2023
@Popehat It does, but so does the entire adversarial / common-law / Constitutional judicial system, so 🤷‍♂️
Show threadPhilip N CohenFeb 3, 2023
@Popehat "run out of town." It's 2023
Show threadMark TomczakFeb 3, 2023
@philipncohen Oh don't worry. In 2023 you can still be run out of town. The town just has global span now. ;)
Show threadgarpuFeb 3, 2023
@Popehat Their reaction is unsurprising and honestly terrifying.
Show threadnadezhdaFeb 3, 2023
@Popehat Feminist here. And, uh, someone’s confused about how “male privilege” works. Just curious, has anyone tried to find out how the person might get some mental health treatment or find a roof over his head other than the police locking him up? Having had a relative who preferred making his home under bridges, I realize that’s often a hard nut to crack (no pun intended)
Show threadWoozle HypertwinFeb 3, 2023
@Popehat Ahh, so they've learned that phrase now, have they. They're so clever! Maybe one day some of them will understand what it actually means. [is foolishly hopeful]
Show threadChristopheFeb 3, 2023
@Popehat This is why I can't stay on Nextdoor for any length of time.
Show threadYnoTFeb 3, 2023
@Popehat is… is this in a community of any significant size? B/c, I mean, sadly homelessness and mental illness are kind of hand in glove, and it’s more acute in larger cities. Whatever way you slice it, not sure “run him out of town” is the most empathetic response. Just me?
Show threadSebasFCFeb 3, 2023
@Popehat this is terrible. I hope he finds kindness
Show threadDwntwnTFeb 3, 2023
@Popehat
Please take a stand and make it stop. Ppl dont have to be his bff , but has anyone actually spoken to him to ask how he came to be in the neighborhood? Maybe he has no resources to get out? Maybe he just wants to look at how the other half live?
Show threadI TRIED TO TELL YOUFeb 3, 2023
@Popehat Just don't go onto NextDoor.
Show threadPatFeb 3, 2023
@Popehat they seem to be getting close to the last card in the deck
Show threadLindaNYC2VT Ⓥ 🌊🐖🐄🐓🦃🐬🐝🦋🦇Feb 3, 2023

@Popehat 🤦🏽‍♀️

I find her behavior concerning, so I am going to ask the police to run her out of town.

Show threadAlex WaggonerFeb 3, 2023
@Popehat This went about as well as I expected. I salute your principled stand sir.
Show threadAnondsonFeb 3, 2023
@Popehat Ah, yes, the carceral-state-is-feminism take.
Show threadBitnikFeb 3, 2023
@Popehat sir, this is an Arby's.
Show threadGary E. WalkerFeb 3, 2023
@Bitnik @Popehat that’s not how that joke works, man.
Show threadBitnikFeb 3, 2023
@gewalker @Popehat eat my shorts.
Show threadMz. April DanielsFeb 3, 2023
@Popehat the Lesbians are with you; stay strong
Show threadfor a day, while . . . 🗽Feb 3, 2023

@Popehat

It seems this kind of fear in a community is always possible, but now so much of it is stoked by politicians, police, etc. The pitchfork-toting villagers created are by far the greater danger to their own community. And there is very little to gain by arguing. Every imagined outcome is seen as an imminent threat, ignoring threats is irresponsible, etc.

Show threadfor a day, while . . . 🗽Feb 3, 2023

@Popehat

This seems like a place that community supported mental health care - along with containment of potentially dangerous weapons - may be of great use. Neither are prioritized in the US today.

Show threadKevin Granade has movedFeb 3, 2023
@Popehat it kind of does, in the way that a mirror reflects things.
Show threadWilliam ConnerFeb 3, 2023
@Popehat Maybe male privilege but better than ignorance privilege or panic privilege. I am too old to understand these people.
Show threadAndy BrokawFeb 3, 2023
@Popehat The amount of paranoia surrounding homeless people and children separately is massive, so it's not surprising people are paranoid about the incident. But the idea of running out of town anyone a subset of the community has decided they don't like today is scarier to me than a story about the homeless guy whose motives for being on school grounds are a complete mystery.
Show threadPhilip MoscovitchFeb 3, 2023
@Popehat Years ago, someone in a local Facebook group warned people about a Chinese tourist (this is a tourist area) who stopped his car in the middle of winter and asked if it was ok to take a picture of her kids playing in a snowbank. She said no, and he said OK and left. She said the whole thing was suspicious, especially since he was driving a BMW, and people should be warned. Warned about what? That someone might ask for permission to take a photo and respect your wishes if you say no?
Show threadRyan Egesdahl Feb 3, 2023
@PhilMoscovitch @Popehat Oh, but she certainly wasn’t racist, of course. Certainly not an upstanding citizen such as herself. She was just *concerned*, that’s all. It’s not like she suggested anyone *do* anything! /s
Show threadRyan Egesdahl Feb 3, 2023
@Popehat So… male privilege is why you believe in not harassing and caging people with less privilege than yourself for things they haven’t done? What?!
Show threadMittens McSmithersFeb 3, 2023

@Popehat

Ironically, it is far more statistically probable it will be a child of one of these parents which will wind up as a school shooter, rather than a transient homeless person suffering from mental illness. Just sayin'...

Show threadIron Curtain (Chiptunes)Feb 3, 2023
@mittensmcsmithers @Popehat I don't find that ironic; if anything, that's what I would expect.
Show threadIpstenu (Mika E.) 🏳️‍🌈Feb 3, 2023

@Popehat This is why I 'quit' next-door.

There was a guy living out of his car, and I went and gave him a hot meal. My neighbours went BALLISTIC. They didn't know it was me, and Nextdoor was filled with people ranting about the obvious lefty who hated law and Order.

Honestly I was tempted to reply how I've not watched it since Lenny Brisco.

Show threadGary E. WalkerFeb 3, 2023
@ipstenu @Popehat yeah. In a nutshell. I moved out here into the valley at least half to annoy the red state Virginians.
Show threadLocksmithFeb 3, 2023
@ipstenu @Popehat I live in Texas. We are just out of a Winter Storm that froze everything, cut power, destroyed trees and possibly incentivized Ted Cruz to go to Cancun again. I was very tempted to post to the neighborhood app, for those clearly Texan republicans, that they should pay much attention to the crews who were doing the clean up of trees since early morning. Those are the people republicans love to want to send away at the border.
Show threadBuckFeb 3, 2023
@ipstenu @Popehat NextDoor is so toxic…. It’s shocking how it ramps up the paranoia and brings out the worst in otherwise, likely, good people.
Show threadGil Friend, sustainability OGFeb 3, 2023
@ipstenu @buck @Popehat I can’t bear it. Could be useful in theory, but just filled with fear and whining. #FearCrowdsOutLove
Show threadLil ScreendoorFeb 4, 2023
@gfriend @ipstenu @buck @Popehat sort of useful for knowing about minor issues going on in the neighborhood. But past that it’s a ton of bs.
Show threadBuckFeb 4, 2023
@lyleleander @gfriend @ipstenu @Popehat Very much location dependent I would guess. Here in Idaho, it quickly came across as old white paranoid racists logging their "concerns"
Show threadIpstenu (Mika E.) 🏳️‍🌈Feb 5, 2023
@buck @lyleleander @gfriend @Popehat I’m in right wing SoCal, muchly the same.
Show threadKatragsFeb 4, 2023
@buck @ipstenu @Popehat
When someone shows you who they are, believe them.
Show threadIpstenu (Mika E.) 🏳️‍🌈Feb 4, 2023

@Katrags @buck @Popehat For some reason, people get all kinds of pissed off when I do that.

Fellow told me to fornicate with my mother and a cactus, I banned him from a service. He was SHOCKED and claims to have done no wrong.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Show threadLil ScreendoorFeb 4, 2023
@buck @ipstenu @Popehat eh, mostly i tend to just believe it’s a place where people let out their true characters.
Show threadv̾i̾t̾r̾i̾o̾l̾i̾x̾Feb 3, 2023
@ipstenu @Popehat next door is a cesspool. when i first moved to my current place i checked it and it was just full of "this homeless person is going to break into your house, beware!" posts
Show threadStu Duerson, machina exo deusFeb 3, 2023

@ipstenu @Popehat

I hear you, in spades. Someone made me a reviewer on NextDoor, and I ride herd on these idiots. There are some techniques I've developed that seem to be demonstrating their hypocrisy effectively, and they've been showing up less.

But it really illustrates how much of our country lives in fear, demands over-policing, and likes to wave their bibles and their guns as threats.

Show threadStu Duerson, machina exo deusFeb 3, 2023

@ipstenu @Popehat

The techniques use Jordan Klepper as the template.

Show threadIpstenu (Mika E.) 🏳️‍🌈Feb 3, 2023
@skydog @Popehat Good good, man, that is worse that the human-management I do with devs who go potty over being told things like "You can't track users without opt in consent" or "Don't include your own copy of jQuery, WordPress has it already."
Show threadklausfiend has movedFeb 3, 2023
@ipstenu @Popehat my wife's been on Nextdoor for a while, and between our old neighborhood (BH adjacent) and our current one (more racially diverse, less gentrified, more wary of LA cops), the difference in tone is noticeable: fewer idle-handed well-to-do curtain clutchers and a more robust sense of community equals less overt xenophobia/hostility. I don't think the dynamic is pure chance, and there's a proportional relationship between personal wealth and "giving fewer fucks" for other humans.
Show threadDSA's Case ManagerFeb 3, 2023
@ipstenu @Popehat why -would- someone watch after Lenny?!?
Show threadMatthew RodierFeb 4, 2023
@ipstenu @Popehat There is an "e" at the end of Briscoe. I don't say this to be pedantic, and only know it bc I've always wanted a dog and will one day name it Briscoe.
Show threadSue Loh, local optimistFeb 4, 2023
@ipstenu @Popehat
Wow. Every human being deserves food, even the most awful ones (and being homeless does not make one awful).
Show threadWilliam B. TurnerFeb 4, 2023
@ipstenu @Popehat. Quit, or "quit"?
Show threadIpstenu (Mika E.) 🏳️‍🌈Feb 5, 2023

@wbtphdjd @Popehat The quotes one. I disabled all notifications and only log in when my water or power goes out, because those Karen’s and Chad’s are on the spot with that.

But the downside is Nextdoor finds new ways to fucking email me and I have to shut it off.

Show threadLarry GarfieldFeb 3, 2023
@Popehat Of course. You're a male who isn't offended by something. How dare you.
Show threadDrew KadelFeb 3, 2023
@Popehat All of our attitudes reflect all of our privileges, as well as our traumas, disabilities and oppressions. For some their attitudes reflect their unassailable self-pity and sanctimony.
Show threadWrenFeb 3, 2023

@DrewKadel @Popehat

Not to mention, irrational fears, (which I already mentioned elsewhere-ha).

Show threadDrew KadelFeb 3, 2023
@wren @Popehat True. Though not everyone who has irrational fears chooses to sanctimoniously attack anyone who feels differently. (My wife has irrational fear of flying, but doesn't say nobody should fly on planes.)
Show threadAndrew HeningerFeb 3, 2023
@Popehat Is it this guy?
Show threadThomasFeb 4, 2023
@andrewheninger @Popehat Everyone in the world needs that hat
Show threadWarrenFeb 3, 2023
@Popehat What legal standard applies to "concerning behavior"? Is that enough for an execution?
Show threadWrenFeb 3, 2023

@Popehat

Well, here we are. Reflection point.

Is it "male privilege” or an ability to assess when a discussion has gone off the rails and is being driven by irrational fear?

Should I check the term "irrational?" Too indelicate?

Show threadDrew KadelFeb 3, 2023
@Popehat Ken, you've journeyed into the Heart of Whiteness.
Show threadmav Feb 3, 2023
@DrewKadel @Popehat In fairness it's definitely better than Karenpocalypse NOW!!!!!!