@hafid.alghul

[batricide]

Do you want to make a difference in this world?

Comments

[batricide]

The answer to that should be obvious.

[evite]

cute
it's obviously not obvious if someone's asking you to clarify, damian

[batricide]

I'm asking a general question to gauge general interest.
I am starting a team. This isn't me discussing that.

[evite]

you're asking a vague question to probe people's instincts. you're playing people, whether you mean to or not.
what's so difficult about saying "hey, i'm going to start a vigilante supersquad, you in?"

[batricide]

Because the last time I came here with a fully formed idea for change, I was shouted down for not crowdsourcing every stage of the process and had my reputation dragged through the mud.
I'm not keen on a repeat.
I do things my way or not at all now.

[evite]

that's a super hyped view of people pointing out some reasonable concerns.
doing things your way doesn't mean you have to be evasive when someone asks you to clarify your own intent, you know.

[batricide]

My intent was to ask a question.
My answer is I want to go back to what I do best and make the world safer.

[evite]

safer doesn't necessarily mean better. it just means more controlled.
who are you trying to help?

[batricide]

The people who can't help themselves.
The ones caught in the middle of all of this.

[evite]

okay. so give them what they need. we have people who are already doing that, they could use your help.

[batricide]

For the last time: I'm not joining Morningstar.

[evite]

who said anything about morningstar?

[batricide]

[ gaby ]

Look.
I'm not looking to do charity work or donation drives. That barely even treats the symptom, let alone the problem.

[evite]

[ whomst ]

have you ever actually been poor in your entire life?

[batricide]

I'm talking about the systems in place that keep the economy tipped in favor of the rich, not what benefits individual families.

[evite]

and you think donning some latex and beating up goons is going to, what, topple the socioeconomic systems in place?
why do you think people turn to crime, damian? it's not because it's cooler than going to class.

[batricide]

Because they lack opportunities.
Because they see no alternative.
Because they're already surrounded by it and the abnormality of it doesn't register.
Because someone put a gun in their hand and told them to shoot before they understood what it meant to kill someone.
Because someone, with more money and power, offered them something that could change their life with no regard for what it will cost from their soul.

You clean up one neighborhood and you can start funneling wealth into small businesses. You can follow the trail of corruption as you go.

[evite]

what does "clean up a neighborhood" look like to you, then? because for most people, that means sweeping out the poor people so that middle-class squeaky clean john and jane can move in and start popping out their mini-mes and driving minivans around.

tw rape mention

[batricide]

What you're describing is gentrification.
What I'm describing is going in and taking out the elements that make that neighborhood unsafe. Not the small-time crooks trying to make bank.
But the rapists, the murderers, the drug dealers targeting children.
Unless you're going to argue that they're vital parts of the community too?

[evite]

yes, damian, obviously.

do you have a plan for how you're going to differentiate carlos the guy pushing crack because that's the only way he can afford life-saving medication for his grandma from don the douchebag who's loan sharking the kids who need money to survive because their parents got snatched up by the una for breathing the wrong way on social media? both of those exist here, by the way.

nobody's "trying to make bank" when they're broke. they're trying to survive. you can argue all you want that you're trying to make neighborhoods safer, but the drug pushers don't get peddlers to walk their stuff if the peddlers can afford rent and groceries and keep the heat on. things get better when people have help.

you're not the only former vigilante walking the block here. your way or the highway won't cut it for most of us.

[batricide]

Investigation, obviously.

Do you sincerely think that unrepentant, incorrigible criminals give a single damn about sick grandmas? Do you think that their motivation excuses them from all of the harm they cause? That they shouldn't be stopped and allowed to do whatever they want because they have some sad, sympathetic backstory that exonerates them?

[evite]

yeah, actually, i do think that even the shittiest people have someone they care about. serial murderers still love their family. the wild card who can't form attachments is the exception, not the rule.

what kind of sheltered life did you lead that you don't already know that?

[batricide]

Should we start with the psychotic clown that murdered eleven million people, and his little girlfriend that went along for the ride because she loved him so much? Or how about the psychopath that hunted women for sport? The drug kingpin that got off on torturing the families of his rivals?

What kind of sheltered life did you live where you think everyone capable of atrocities thinks the same way you do?

[evite]

the whomst, exactly? those aren't real people in my universe or this one.

[ thank god. ]

this is why no one wants to follow you, damian. you don't want to listen to anyone who won't just yes man you to death. you really should have just texted your clique and gone on with your day.

[batricide]

I haven't done a god damn thing, Johnson!

I asked a question.

You immediately jumped down my throat with assumptions and insinuations about my motivation and how I'm going to handle things. Nothing is formed. There is nothing to compromise on. You don't know what I do or don't listen to.

If you want to discuss something then discuss it, but don't expect me to just take it.