I'm sure that this post will have the best chance so far of pissing someone off and or making someone turn on me, but it's my truth. You'll get over it. And by the way if this one upsets you or your stomach then please do tune in again for further posts. In my humble opinion I'm only abrasive to those who have rough edges that need smoothing down.
I'm very hopeful that all who might read this will take or have taken sufficient caution not to fall into any of the booby traps out there waiting around the new year. You may be right in thinking that having a little buzz has an insignificant impact on your ability to operate your vehicle, but you're not right if you think that it's not enough to land you in jail with a DUI. For many of us a DUI translates into looking for another job sooner than planned. If you're one of us who has found that finding a job out here is easier said than done, imagine how you will have exacerbated that situation by sporting a DUI, arrest, and jail time.
I did call them booby traps, and that is really what I want to focus on. There are countless and growing ways for "good", hard working, law abiding citizens to acquire a criminal record these days. If you're not aware of this, then please just take my word for it. You don't have to be a bad person to get jail time. A simple mistake, an oversight, or a misjudgment can lead to the shock of your life. You do have to watch your step constantly. You do have to step gingerly. And you do have to be guarded about certain of your affairs and associations.
I'm guessing that I haven't lost too many of you yet. But hang on. It's coming. But first consider this. Forget the DUI thing. You know the deal with that. If you plan to drink and drive you're gambling with disaster. But what about all of the youngins and not so youngins out there driving without insurance, driver licenses, or proper registration. Foolish you say? Well ultimately that's probably true in most cases. But consider those who have these infractions who must drive to get back and forth to work. What about SEPTA( South Eastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority for those not from around these parts)? You don't know SEPTA if you think it can be relied upon to get you back and forth to an inconveniently located job with inconvenient hours and lack of flexibility or tolerance for tardiness or missed days. SEPTA is pathetic and for too many people it's not a realistic alternative.
So assuming that these individuals have responsibilities, expenses, and bills that are as unrelenting as most of ours, the pressure is on to drive despite not having all of these things in order. As difficult as it is for the majority of people to find another job, especially one that matches ones expenditures, quitting the job would probably prove to be problematic. Well clearly getting all of the vehicle requirements is the simple answer. And for those who I know personally in this predicament, all very responsible people who have erred in the past and are paying for their mistakes, this is the option of choice. For each of them, however, the magnitude of fines, tickets, etc, etc, is too overwhelming. I've learned that telling them "well just pay the fines, just pay the tickets, just get it registered..." is futile not to mention pretty thoughtless. They chisel away at the fines, which are often relatively monumental. In the interim they run the gauntlet. A broken taillight, a malfunctioning signal light, a breakdown, an accident, a missed stop sign, could all serve as precursors to jail time for these bruthas.
Did I say bruthas? Yeah. I admit that that could be because that's who I associate with predominantly. I admit that I have not done a study or anything resembling one, but from my experience it's bruthas who fall into this predicament the most. Now I'm very skeptical about the notion that bruthas are in violation more. My belief is that bruthas pay the piper more in this and in every other situation in which there is interaction with the (in)justice system in the USA. I don't know a soul who I could ask to loan me $2000 for tickets and fines. $2000 is just a random figure that I tossed out there. I know of people with larger totals than that. I think that the reason bruthas pay the piper more is that they rarely know the right people as is seldom the case with their Caucasian counterparts. If you know the right people, tickets disappear. Fines were never issued. Judgments are stricken or mitigated. I don't know many bruthas who know the right people. I also don't know many bruthas who know people with the spare cash lying around to throw at these trifling nuisances. Everyone may run a gauntlet, but the gauntlet bruthas run is lethally laden with deadly daggers and spikes. Now it gets a little uglier. . .
I won't completely lay out my outlook on things in this blog (not intentionally at least). But this will undoubtedly give you a window into my perspective. Booby traps hinder the progress of the adversary. Tactically placed, they hinder significant progress and effectively eliminate any possibility of momentum being built up. Now of course they have the potential to annihilate the individual who's unfortunate enough to stumble upon it. But accumulatively, each individual's demise or neutralization has an overall potentially crippling effect on the group.
Skipping to the end now. When you come across bruthas who do time in jail(horrifying), get a record resulting from relatively petty violations, and who drastically reduce their ability to compete in the job market, I want you to think booby trap. Don't focus so much on the individual scenarios. Don't get into analyzing the thought processes of the individuals. By doing so you miss the big picture. Although it is indeed the individual who falls into the trap, the setting of these traps is strategic. It helps to maintain the status quo. It serves the purpose of hindering the progress of oppressed groups. It maintains an uneven playing field. This is indeed a conspiracy theory. But I'm convinced that the architects of this conspiracy have enough self perpetuating instruments in place so that keeping the wheels turning does not require the players to be cognizant of their roles. Consequently many who are guilty of making this disparity possible are inclined to throw you an honest stupid look. In order to ever be able to grasp this it will be necessary to dispense with searching for intentions and focus instead on causes and effects.
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