Toronto: Safer than you think

[TKTKTK]

Yes the bias of the media is very obvious. I remember the story of a slain black teen who died attending the funeral of his friend who was also gunned down. In no way was this sensationalized to the point of Jane Creba whose name I can remember but not those of the two black kids. Gone and forgotten. It's almost as if to say these people deserve it, because they 'choose' to live in areas frequenced by crime.

That's not really true, is it?

Amon Beckles was 18. Creba was 15. Amon Beckles was attending the funeral of his best-friend, Jamal Hemmings, whom he'd witnessed shot to death only days before. Creba was boxing day shopping on Yonge St. right near the Eaton Centre.

Beckles' story was told all over the news, it was a big deal when it happened. David Miller even gave a press conference about it. It would have gone on in the media for longer but Creba's murder happened about a month later. It's undeniable that Creba's story is the more sensational - she was just a 15 year old girl without any previous connection to gun crime out shopping on one of Toronto's busiest streets when she was caught in the crossfire of two gangs. Whether she was black, white, or native; her story would have been everywhere.

For what it's worth, I still remembered Beckles' name.

 

[marcus_a_j]

I gotta say, I find it unsettling when I see armed policemen walking around in bullet-proof vests on city streets or in a shopping mall. It makes me feel like I'm in an unsafe place that needs police protection. That's just a personal thing.

Reminds me of a trip to Cleveland around Christmas a few years ago. I was shopping with a friend in Tower City when I noticed there were THREE different security forces inside the mall. There were regular cops, there was mall security, and then many of the individual stores had another one or two private security guards. I had just made a joke about it when, sure enough, the alarm went off in one of the stores and some punk was making a dash for the door with a five-finger discount. No joke. But goes to show how effective police presence is as a deterrent.

I don't see this as any different than some of the malls in Toronto. Eaton Centre, Yorkdale and Scarborough Town Centre all have the same three forms of security (Police, mall security, store security) and not just around Christmas time. Maybe the security presence is more dominant in Cleveland? But they are noticed here too.

 

[theowne]

I suppose this eliminates the perception that immigration or demographic diversity = greater crime.

 

[rpgr]

Be careful now, your prejudice is showing !

I preceive that the general public's attitude about crime and gangs by and large reflects that of rpgr's. We've become so desensitized to the violence, we just dismiss the social issues behind its cause in a "not my problem" summation. It was only when the innocent little white girl died that the countless statisitcs that were gunned down before her even mattered to the mainstream media.



Alot of that's just exaggeration and xenophobia. Bloor and Lansdowne's always toted as one of the most dangerous corners in the GTA. However even after midnight I was able to wait upto 20 mins for a connecting bus with no form of security around. Alot of women were there as well, all calm and relaxed. Panhandlers were the the closest thing to imminent danger I ever saw there, so relatively safe.

Infering things where you have no proof again eh? Just your specialty.

Why should anyone care when gangs go to war? Even in more affluent "gangs" such as yakuza, triads, mafia or lesser ones like biker gangs it is natural to not exactly feel sorry for them if they shoot each other up.

We are far from desensitized to violence but we are tired of people being so far gone that they can't be helped.

We do remember Jordon Manners as well as Creba. It's people that are not involved in any way with gangs getting killed in the cross-fire.

And yes it is our problem as innocent people are getting killed. Just don`t expect anyone to have sympathy for people who can so easily justify murder that they don`t care if people who don`t have anything to do with the situation get caught in the fire.

But of course you like blaming anyone that isn`t black for all the troubles blacks have.

 

[lordmandeep]

It is true though, even if white bikers shoot each other, I bet we would still not care.

 

[theowne]

The mafia? I don't think people weep when mob bosses fight each other.

 

[Hydrogen]

I lived around Bloor and Lansdowne for a while. Not exactly danger central in my opinion.

 

[adma]

It isn't that you shouldn't lock your doors there. But then again, it's also good sense to lock your doors in the countryside--who knows what kind of desparate drunks and break-and-enter artists and bored rowdy irresponsible kids lurk *there*...

 

[theowne]

I live in Scarborough home, never been a victim of a crime. A friend of mine moved to Richmond Hill and his home was broken into in the first week.

 

[doady]

In Mississauga, in my experience, if you go on vacation or to a big wedding or other big event, then your house will be broken into. Some family member or friend of a family member tips off his friends and then all my relatives' houses get ransacked while we are away. Luckily my family lived in a high-rise apartment - a gated community! - with no gate! - for so long so we have never been victim ourselves. Maybe it only happens to Asians, but that is my experience. Which is why my family, now that we live in a house, never tell people in advance if we are going away, especially our relatives.

 

[DENTROBATE54]

I lived around Bloor and Lansdowne for a while. Not exactly danger central in my opinion.

I live in Scarborough home, never been a victim of a crime. A friend of mine moved to Richmond Hill and his home was broken into in the first week.

These accounts could not suggest a better example of: "you can't judge a book by its cover."

I spent over four years in the Bloor-Lansdowne neighbourhood and often home from Dufferin Mall carrying shopping bags through back-alleys and right along Croatia, Brock and Bloor itself, even late at night. Yup, I was fearless !

The worst thing I ever witnessed happened right at the subway entrance/bus shelter where some plain clothed cops out of nowhere pounced and cuffed this druggie right close to where I was awaiting the bus. There was also a constant police presence at the corner Coffee Time but other than that, nothing out of the ordinary. Some my neighbours said the area used to be a lot worse before I came there but the police presence weeded out transients to the point of more a laxed environment (keeping doors unlocked, sitting out on verandas late at night, etc.).

Infering things where you have no proof again eh? Just your specialty.

Why should anyone care when gangs go to war? Even in more affluent "gangs" such as yakuza, triads, mafia or lesser ones like biker gangs it is natural to not exactly feel sorry for them if they shoot each other up.

We are far from desensitized to violence but we are tired of people being so far gone that they can't be helped.

You're all the proof I need. The military kills people on a daily basis, often indiscriminately bombing residences not knowing whether women and children were inside. The media doesn't even keep track of the countless unidentifiable body parts found in the wreckage. I assume that these butchers would garner your sympathies if they were killed. Selective bias and prejudices reflect how a incident in covered by the media and how society is expected to react to it. We live in a society where torture porn is the norm (Saw, Hostel, The Hills Have Eyes) but sex is still obscene. In that regard we have become desensitized as it's more socially acceptable to kill a man than to love him.

But of course you like blaming anyone that isn`t black for all the troubles blacks have.

Who said anything about black? You just revealed your racist card, friendo. Wasn't it you who just said gang violence "is our problem as innocent people are getting killed� Your contradictions never cease. How about tackling the problem head-on from its roots, proactively swaying youth of all ethnic backgrounds away from thug/gang culture instead of reactively placing the entire blame on one racial group? Especially when it's well known that there's a significant number of Asian, Native, Latino, South Asian and white kids just as culpable and involved in gangs but are never brandished across television screens at the rate black people are humiliated at.

 

[rpgr]

You're all the proof I need. The military kills people on a daily basis, often indiscriminately bombing residences not knowing whether women and children were inside. The media doesn't even keep track of the countless unidentifiable body parts found in the wreckage. I assume that these butchers would garner your sympathies if they were killed. Selective bias and prejudices reflect how a incident in covered by the media and how society is expected to react to it. We live in a society where torture porn is the norm (Saw, Hostel, The Hills Have Eyes) but sex is still obscene. In that regard we have become desensitized as it's more socially acceptable to kill a man than to love him.



Who said anything about black? You just revealed your racist card, friendo. Wasn't it you who just said gang violence "is our problem as innocent people are getting killed� Your contradictions never cease. How about tackling the problem head-on from its roots, proactively swaying youth of all ethnic backgrounds away from thug/gang culture instead of reactively placing the entire blame on one racial group? Especially when it's well known that there's a significant number of Asian, Native, Latino, South Asian and white kids just as culpable and involved in gangs but are never brandished across television screens at the rate black people are humiliated at.

Where did I say I cared if military gets killed I'd care but if civilians get killed I don't care? At this point you're revealing your troll tendencies. As such I am now petitioning for your removal from this board.

As for the black statement, your previous insult of me was obvious from your other thread in which being black was the full issue.

At this point Detro, nobody can argue for you as you are now randomly accusing people. I am looking forward for your banning as you have obviously crossed the line here.

 

[DENTROBATE54]

It was an analogy, not an accusation. I already apologized to you for my remarks on the other thread but you chose to continue your vendetta here just because I made an honest-to-god comparison between your apathetic attitude when crime occurs in certain places and how the public/media generally react. I quoted your statements and made my judgments based on that. Stop being petty and stay on topic!

 

[Steve_D]

We live in a society where torture porn is the norm

and you seem to get off on posting pictures of torture in a forum about buildings in Toronto....seems like you're a bit of a sicko.

 

[DENTROBATE54]

and you seem to get off on posting pictures of torture in a forum about buildings in Toronto....seems like you're a bit of a sicko.

And the slander and accusations continue. Seriously if no one can read Steve_D's posts and not see how vindictive and mean he's been to me from day one (from back when he was the artist formerly known as bjl formerly known as I-Z1), how he's been trying to destroy my credibility and change other poster's opinions about me, how he's unrelenting in his attempts to get rid of me... I'm just in shock and disappointment. I'm sure the posters I squabbled with before are noticing a change in my attitude. I'm trying to be less caustic, I really am. I'm more agreeable and submissive, even apologetic when I take the conversation too far.

Other posters have slandered me and are getting away with it. I'm not calling for their heads on a platter. Seriously if Steve_D would just stop posting these one-bit ad hominen attacks that aren't related to the forum topic, I wouldn't constantly feel like I'm under threat and judgment here and would've have to so fiercely defend my argumentative positions. That's what it boils down too. I've had disagreements before here and those posters forgave me and even complimented alot of the things I've said since.

What's so different about you that you'd continually harass me unprovoked when I just want to put my POV out there, not to offend but to diversify the areas of topic discussion that can be discussed? I'll never reply to one of your posts ever again if you promise to never slander me again!!