Drugs and Guns

Well alright, woke up at 2 so today was completely useless. I putzed around and played with my new toy (Asus Transformer tablet with Android) and at one point stuffed a vespa style scooter and a very tall man into the back of my car. That seemed productive enough. Tomorrow shall be the long awaited return to reality. Waking up at a decent hour, getting back into a workout schedule and eating actual food instead of protein bars, coffee and alcohol. Fringe has been one long, wild ride and I'm sad that it's over but the robot camp is the week after next so I will soon be spending time again with my wonderful Dog Powered Robot Family. I hope to continue the friendships and connections that I have made over the past week, so many exciting and talented people.

Oh and here's my rant about the Miami Cannibal. It's just a stream of consciousness opinion, not an actual article.

The story of the Miami Cannibal has spread faster than the facts can keep up with it. The cliff notes are a man in a drug induced mania happened upon an unfortunate victim, and decided to remove his pants and eat his face. Video of the incident shows several motorists and cyclists passing by, not one stopping to intervene. The attack lasts for 18 minutes before the officer finally arrives and guns the man down. The whole thing is quite horrific and while I was first fascinated by this story I think it's reached a point of insensitivity. Everyone is making jokes and references to the Zombie Apocalypse and openly posting the graphic photo of the victim. All fun and games until you realize the family of the homeless man didn't even know he was alive until the story broke. I think there are several very important issues here that are being missed because of the sensationalism of this story.

Pappo was once a bright and promising youth. Then he just slipped, multiple arrests on petty charges and just sort of disappearing from the lives of his family. That alone should be sparking a conversation on the causes of homelessness and what can be done to prevent it. At no point did no one try to intervene in his life?  It can be near impossible to get someone to change if they don't want to, especially when substance abuse or mental illness is a factor. Who becomes responsible for a person when released from an institution, such a prison. At what point do the red flags go up, 3 arrests? 5? 20? Is it the responsibility of the system, of the family, of society in general? Homelessness needs to be looked at like a disease, something to be prevented not just cured. There are so many resources available but they are underfunded or unknown to many people who need them.

As for Eugene, I've read some articles saying he was on cocaine, some claiming bath salts (synthetic cocaine), but what matters is that he was on a drug in the first place. Say what you want about "nanny laws", drug laws are there for a reason. Yes, what you do to your body is your own business but when a substance makes a person a danger to society that is where the line must be drawn. Anything that has the power to substantially the behaviour of a person does need to be controlled and regulated but when someone can purchase something like bath salts at a gas station but be arrested for an ounce of pot, the laws need to be revised.

Lastly, I've read comments of people being shocked at how many witnesses there were to this broad daylight attack and that nobody intervened. I've driven through Miami there is so much happening on the road itself that sometimes it is difficult to pay attention to anything other than the cars around you. And if you do see something like that all you can do is call the police.

Or shoot the motherfucker yourself.

I am sure that every single person that had called in the incident, had they been properly trained and sufficiently armed would have stepped in. This wasn't a simple fight that could have been broken up by a can of mace. A crazed, nude man was eating another man's face! Even if I had come across the scene and I was armed with mace I would have been hesitant of using it. What if that wasn't enough to deter or stop him, what if by doing so he would become enraged and come after me? I can guarantee, unless you have extensive hand to hand combat training, nothing short of a gun or taser set to crispy was going to bring him. When the cop shot him the first time, the guy simply growled and continued the attack. How is a guy on a bike armed with an iPhone going to be able to stop that? So kudos to all the citizens that did the right thing by calling it in but this story proves how important it is for private citizens to obtain firearms. For personal protection as well as to aid in the safety of their fellow citizens.