FML? FMT.

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Fuck my town.

I've been involved in two assaults in Melbourne now in the past ten years, neither of them my idea. (...)

If they'd happened five or so years later than they did, I could be dead, or worse, and that's just how it goes, right?

~ ~ ~

I stopped for a moment there because I was about to type 'fault', and, well, fault and blame and cause and

Comments

[anonymous]

Because the police do not act on violence the violence has become worse. There was a bar in Puckle Street Moonee Ponds. Every week there were fights. The Moonee Ponds Police Station is 50 metres from the bar. The police were always called but never bothered to arrive. Until they were told that a young man was set upon and could be dying. Only then did they get to the club. Several cars of police too.

Now, if they had responded on the earlier occasions this might have not happened. The blame is on Christine Nixon and the Government. Hope and wish the police do a better job under Mr Overland.

Escalated response

[ext_18134]

> Because the police do not act on violence the violence has become worse.

This isn't so clear-cut.

Have a look at the initial linked article. On the one hand:

> Deputy Commissioner Kieran Walshe told The Age: "I think that it is clear that young people from 16 to 25 seem to have a diminished respect for authority, not just police.

But on the other hand, from the same article:

> Chief Commissioner Simon Overland says it is simplistic and naive to believe police can be the penicillin for society's disease: "We are not the answer."

Increasing the police response can't be expected to fix the problem; if it gets to the point of police being called in, it's *already* too late. The problem is recent and needs to be addressed to *prevent* such behaviour:

> At a recent squad reunion in Melbourne, a group of police with more than 200 years of street work between them agree that they have never known Melbourne to be so violent - and they don't know why it has changed so quickly.

fighting? pathetic and deadly

[anonymous]

My elementary school friend was just murdered in melbourne..the yarraville district I think it's called. Such a senseless act. 25 years old, had the world at his fingertips. Never wanted any trouble-one of the friendliest people I've ever met. Leaves the pub one night and gets attacked. Are people really that high and bored there? What is the purpose of fighting until somebody dies? I understand that it probably isn't ever intended to kill, but it does happen. Often there I understand. Now because somebody was bored, high, or drunk (these are all assumptions as we don't know exactly what happened) a great person had to die? What a disgraceful thing. I hope those 3 men charged in his death get what they deserve. Do you have the death penalty in Australia? I sure as hell hope so.

Re: fighting? pathetic and deadly

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No, we don't. Should we?

In the US, the costs of keeping people on death row and all its associated appeals are orders of magnitude higher than if the same people were serving life imprisonment. The last death sentence passed in Australia was more than forty years ago, and there are still questions about it.
It's worth mentioning The Thin Blue Line, in regard to how in one case in the US, the opportunity to use the death sentence allegedly influenced the prosecutors' decision on who to pin the crime on. In Australia, capital punishment was officially abolished in 1985. Abolishing it in the US would save money - money that would likely be better spent elsewhere actually reducing crime by providing better social services. But what do you do when high violent crime rates are good for business? (A review of Canada's experience abolishing the death penalty, was written by Amnesty recently.)

The question, from the perspective of someone who still has to/chooses to live in Melbourne, is: How do we reduce or eliminate the chance of this

[matcha_pocky]

I know a guy who was waiting for a train late on a friday on platform ten at Flinders street when a drunk businessman picked a fight. (My friend had blue hair at the time; clearly asking for it.) The businessman shoved him onto the train tracks.

My friend was really more WTF than injured, so he got back up onto the platform, picked up the guy's briefcase and then threw it over the fence into the river.

Beautiful moment.

A recent change

[ext_18134]

When I used to use public transport, up to a few years ago (rather than being more house-bound and using the pushbike to get around), I've had a number of encounters with louts, behaving much the same as you describe to a stranger. I have often (FSVO “often”) done exactly the same: interjected to hopefully stop something before it starts.

I've never been attacked for my trouble. So either my luck is different to yours, or this is indeed a recent change.

You cover the angles well and ask some tough questions. If we don't stand up, why should we expect it to improve? On the other hand, who am I to ask you to get beaten up (when I never have) for the benefit of a stranger?

Re: A recent change

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(FSVO

Re: A recent change

[ext_18134]

> > I have often (FSVO “often”) done exactly the same

Re: A recent change

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(conversation bumped amongst earlier comments fyi)

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Corporations are mindless shibboleths that have to expand to live. Think 'the blob' or the amoeba in BoulderDash (C64) if you can remember back that far ;)

http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/girls-and-boys-come-out-to-buy-20090816-ema6.html?page=-1

All that's missing from this piece, to be relevant to urban violence, is

"...and then when they're 18, we give them the car keys and open the pub/club doors, and the liquor industry either makes up for lost time, or capitalises on the seeds sewn in sexualised billboards.

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er, shoggoths