Recently I ran a personal poll of sorts regarding the publication “HardTimePress” that hit the market just under two months ago. The center of the issue for me is the common complaint that the publication violates the right to privacy for the individuals listed within the pages of this publication. To that concept I will repeat… HOGWASH!
The complaints above are the main reason I even bothered to start asking different folks for their opinion on this publication. Interestingly enough while there were a variety of opinions, the basic feelings were strongly divided pretty much in half. Those who still hold onto the idea that this is an invasion of privacy as well as those who agreed with me in that like me, they want to know who is living next door to them.
You bet ya!! To all of those who continue to cling to this invasion of privacy concept for criminals… Get out of your world and get in mine!!
There are too many folks who seem to live their lives on the basis that I don’t want people up in my business therefore I’m not getting up in theirs. In most cases I will definitely agree with that.
When I was stationed in Alaska, I had an apartment off base where I lived alone. While the crime rate at the time that I lived there was much less of a problem than it is today, which is still a large degree less than any state here in the lower 48, I still took a number of precautions. The greater majority of crimes committed during my tenure there seemed to be more related to alcohol abuse and domestic violence (which usually resulted from the alcohol abuse) than anything else.
However, as a single woman, living alone there were different concerns than for other situations. I lived in a second story apartment above the garage. The building was actually a tri-plex. I rented the garage as well as the apartment. I kept the windows of the garage covered with cardboard that was duct taped on from the inside (of course) so that no one could see in. I paid the kid down the street to make sure that the short driveway stayed clear of snow at all times. I didn’t want tire tracks giving away any unwanted information about my comings and goings.
Additionally, inside the apartment I rarely turned any lights on. One, because half the year at least I really didn’t need them and secondly, turning lights on and off told any would be perpetrators exactly what you were doing most of the time. I had multiple fish tanks set up in almost every room in the apartment, along with plants galore! Each plant had it’s own garden approved “Grow Lite” anchored to the wall and aimed straight down onto the plant. I never turned off the lights to the fish tanks or any of the grow lights. No matter what time of day or night, anyone ‘casing’ that particular apartment saw the exact same lights on 24/7/365.
Granted, in all issues we will first see it from the stand point of just how that issue affects us as an individual. We all do this even before we look at it on a neighborhood or over all community level, it’s only natural.
However, in many cases I fully support the concept of “The needs of the Many outweigh the needs of the Few” and stand by it even more with regards to HardTimePress. These people who live their lives all wrapped up in their private little worlds really need to take a peek out the teepee flap now and again.
When it comes to those people listed in HardTimePress who have been arrested and convicted of crimes such as Murder, Child Molestation, Rape, Drug Abuse, Breaking and Entering, etc, etc, where do YOU draw the line??!! Because I decided to get out of the box so to speak, I draw the line at all of them; none of them have the right to hide the crimes they have committed.
While you’re taking that little peek outside of your own teepee, look down the way at the teepee of the hard working truck driver whose job may require him to be away from home for days at a time. Don’t you think he would want to know if there is a rapist living next door to his wife while he’s away trying to make a living? What about his children? Don’t you think he would want to know if there is a child molester or perhaps a child pornographer living next door?
Again, looking at my own situation from the past, what if you are a single women living alone and the guy that just bought the house next to you is a convicted sexual offender? What if that young, single woman was your daughter? Wouldn’t you want to know these things? I know I would!!!
Okay, just based on the age group of some of those who so avidly proclaim that these people have the right to hide behind the privacy issue, what about your family? Granted, your kids are grown with kids of their own (your grandchildren), is it still none of your business? I don’t think so!! I think it’s everyone’s business just what kind of criminal lives next door to them.
Moving now into the present with my own (and a number of others) situation. Hard times have brought about many changes and not for the good. There are a number of small retail business that have only one employee working either all the time or during certain parts of the day or evening. Speaking from personal experience this can be a very scary thing! I have a cell phone and I am on the phone (actually talking) with someone when I leave my house and while I am at work until the sun comes up.
Why? Because just down the road, less than a five-minute drive there is another small store that has been robbed multiple times and even at gunpoint. I want someone else to know EXACTLY what is happening with me while I am at work during the dark hours. I have had numerous complains registered with my employer that people are offended at the fact that I am wearing my blue-tooth, that they can’t tell if I am talking to them or someone on the phone. You know what? That measly amount of cash in the register is not worth my life or even my health! Period. Posted in HardTimePress are a number of individuals who have been arrested for Aggravated Robbery. Do you know what that means? It means that someone was hurt in the commission of that crime. An innocent person, earning a crappy minimum wage got hurt because someone else decided to make a living by theft.
The interesting part of all of that is that I am on the phone with only one of two people, either my Significant Other (who lives only 5 minutes away) or my sister, both of who tell me that they can clearly hear the door bell and know when someone comes into the store. They will periodically ask during the silence when I’m not talking “Are you alone yet? I am very careful not to be talking to them while there is a customer in the store.
For the record, I wonder how many of those people realize just how many of their customer counterparts come in there while talking on their cell phone, jam a pack of cigarettes at me and point at the cigarette rack and indicate how many packs of cigarettes they want by holding up that number of fingers. And they do all of this without missing a beat of the conversation with the person on the phone. Now who is being rude?
So for now I will continue to stand by my personal feelings that these criminals do not have the right to hide their crimes behind the ‘laws governing privacy’ regardless of the crimes they have committed. Personally, regardless of the views of the majority, I don’t see that changing for me now or in the foreseeable future.
Therefore, my message today is a simple one: Get out of your world and get in mine! Hard times are here and you can read all about it in HardTimePress.com
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