Fast food rage customer jailed.

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A thought - isn't this a schoolbook case of unproportional response to a perceived slight?

I mean, it's one thing to spit on someone's shoes / show the middle finger / slap them on the cheek with your glove for a perceived humiliation and something COMPLETELY different to smash in their cranium / pump them full of lead / perform a quintuple backstab for the same thing?

If anything, the unproportionality of it all is what's getting worse in this world. Just because YOU feel slighted doesn't automatically mean "any means necessary" is an a-OK response. And frankly, the a-holes that think they're entitled to do just that are a much worse threat to the society than Al-Qaeda, Jon Irenicus, religion and My Little Pony combined.

 

My Little Pony? Sheesh, I don't think it's that bad.

Seriously, though, I agree, and I think we're seeing it on both sides here. The lady in question felt slighted, and so felt justified in going (very ineffectively) berzerk and generally having a tizzy. As a result, people in this topic even (and much worse on the news sites) are talking about things like dumping searing oil on her, scarring her for life at best and possibly killing her. I know it's done in jest, but I think that's how these things start. I know Ragusa thinks American politics is getting more aggressive and divisive, but I'm still convinced it's just American society (and possibly all of western society). In the comments on news stories like this, people are suggesting horrible, torturous ends to the woman. In the stories about the brit lady who threw a cat in a trash bin, things get even worse. And if someone grows up hearing things like this said, I firmly believe they're much more likely to actually do some of it.

 

There is a segment of society wherein that very notion informs the ethos of a 'philosophy,' such as it is, but bear in mind that it's often accompanied and exacerbated by the use of alcohol, which itself skews everything.

You can have the same person be the nicest guy in the world while sober and the world's biggest turd while drunk. (And vice-versa, quite humorously.)

Incidentally, it's the people who go around thinking that everybody plays (or must play - how could they not?) by the same rules who are often the victims of these fools.

 

Speaking of the devil..

Honestly, I had no idea what my colleagues had in mind when they bought this T-shirt as a parting present to another colleague that would be leaving us.

Considering the soon-to-be ex-colleague was considered to be a "tough gal" with piercings, tattooes and a sharp tongue (but whom I respected very much), it had a certain gloomy "we get it, you're a toughie, here's some warm fuzzy feeling for you too" middle finger feeling all over it.

 

I don't know, I looked at that as an ironic parting gift. Not so much an insulting jab as an 'What? That isn't going to be your absolute favoritest shirt evaaar? I'm shocked.'

In my family, it would be delivered with an 'I saw this and I just thought of you.'

 

Can I get a refund on the 2 minutes are 47 seconds of my life I'd like back?

I completely agree that people suggesting this stuff are going way over the top. That said, I think the punishment she received was proportionate for what she did. A stint in the clink and a hefty fine is proportionate for essentially committing assault and vandalism.

 

@NOG and Aldeth, in reference with the pouring hot oil on chicken lady. Hey, wait a minute there. Before you go about that getting over the top you should realized that that comment was a result of a little discussion about "defending oneself by any means". It wasn't thrown in like it was some "on top of my head" kind of suggestion. If you understood the discussion flow, I think you can see in one way or another that I'm not for such things. Do understand that it shouldn't be taken as a stand-alone post but a part of several post. Because if you do, I might as well say you are both also getting it over the top by making rash conclusions.

 

You mean brutal behavior starts when people acknowledge the existence of violence by jesting about it? Should it become a cultural or even a linguistic taboo, in that case?

Ah, for the record, I only suggested a blow to the head and some cold water, hardly lethal. Yeah, it would not have been forgiving, it would not have been merciful, it would not have been kind. But this is how I roll!

 

I completely understood what you meant nior, and my comment wasn't specifically aimed as a counterpoint to your post. I was just saying trying to point out that the punishment she DID receive was appropriate. I thought the punishment fit the crime.