Gear Theft - Strange Debate

[Endrik]

He still maintains that material possessions mean nothing compared to a human life.

He's absolutely right... but the only reason why he is saying that is because his butt-budy is in trouble. Love makes people go out of their element.

[lerxstcat]

In the abstract, of course people mean more than things - but using such a statement to apologize for theft and declare it "petty" because of that is ridiculous. This guy has even refuted the "tools of the trade" argument by saying the band's not good enough to get paid! Which, you know, I don't know the guys who got hit personally, but that's some cold shit to say to justify your buds ripping them off!

[diablomozart]

let the buddy get his gear stolen (i've had it happen to me) and watch how quick his views on theft change...it's always different when they're the victim and not someone else...don't waste your breath or your typing on the guy...it just isn't worth it...d.m.

[Flametop]

People, people...please. You should restart the thread with all of you who live outside of MS getting Mr. Peabody to send you 10 to 15 years back in the Wayback machine. Then all would sync up well.

Disclaimer:

Those who have never visited there for an extended period of time need not reply.
Those who have lived there forever and are afraid to cross the state line.....again, no reply needed.
As for the crime itself...it sucks.

[lerxstcat]

People, people...please. You should restart the thread with all of you who live outside of MS getting Mr. Peabody to send you 10 to 15 years back in the Wayback machine. Then all would sync up well.

Disclaimer:

Those who have never visited there for an extended period of time need not reply.
Those who have lived there forever and are afraid to cross the state line.....again, no reply needed.
As for the crime itself...it sucks.

:think:Not sure what you mean, but i grew up here, lived here til I was 25, then moved to SoCal and lived there til I was 45. So I guess at least that means I can reply.

It's definitely a conservative state when it comes to thieves and dealing with them.

I think d.m. hit the nail on the head, and I'm not wasting my time anymore with the kid. I think the alleged thief and his defender are both megalomaniacs. Sounds like they are members of the "We Are Superior Beings" support group from the way he carried on.

[skorb]

W T F ? that dipsheet needs to have his ass kicked.

thieves need a bigass beatdown (in addition to jail time), and so do any "friends of thieves" who have the balls to defend the thief. F them.

it's Aholes like that who are ruining our country and our society. no tolerance.

[Jayster]

let me get this straight. people get caught stealing gear. they are called out for it after getting caught, and now their feelings are hurt? we're talking retardation here, nothing more.

It's the 'victim mentality' of today's youth. Every thing is so hard on them, that they were forced to do it ~ so it's not really their fault B.S.. However making crazy assertions as a defense has worked countless times in the past and inspires it to continue....

I've had gear robbed as well, a kelly and a marshall out of my truck(guess the cab was too heavy). I shouldn't have been at the bar after playing I guess. The worst part is the scumbags broke two windows, and I had to call the police after a night of drinking.

Just a few weeks ago, some scumbags broke into two of my cars in the driveway at night and stole a handgun from my work car. After calling the police, I was really let down. Even though several of my other neighbors also had their vehicles broken into and reported to the officer, he(the LEO) told me that they could not patrol my neighborhood or even ride through it once in a while. He did not try to take any finger prints or make any attempt to 'investigate', just wrote down the serial number of the pistol. So now, being that I work at night ~ I've trained my wife on shotgun use and she has her own pistol. It sucks when you know that there are thieves in your neighborhood, and now we know there armed.




I'm also sorry to hear about your friends getting ripped off Lerx..

[lerxstcat]

One of the irritating things about the argument was that this kid was speaking kind of like a mob guy selling protection - "Oh, you guys better watch what you say about 'em because there could be retaliation - and I don't mean legal retaliation". I am paraphrasing, but he'd make threats like this and in response for being called on it say "Oh, I never threatened anyone. I warned you, like I'd warn you about a hurricane. That's not me making a threat." Then he'd go on about how we were too stupid to understand what he had said. I said I understood very well, including between the lines, which was his intent.

Meanwhile, as he is saying on the thread that he won't speculate as to whether they were guilty or not, in PM he told me he had no doubt his friend was gulty, but he was down on his luck - just what Jayster described. He also told me that he'd seen the guy with the guitar, spraypainting it, before it was reported stolen. Now he knew the dude was broke as fuck and living in his rehearsal space, but didn't wonder how he came up on a Les Paul with no money? I told him he might be considered an accessory after the fact because, smart as he thinks he is, he would HAVE to see what that could mean. Well, I was jabbing him a little at that point, but I was also pissed by then.

I have just NEVEr come across a situation before where another musician justified something like this - and the slimy fucker kept saying, "Oh, I'm NOT justifying it - BUT you guys are pieces of shit for putting things above people.

Hey, I hope his friends get their shit together after they pay for what they did. I'm not a monster and it sounds like a fucked up thing to be reduced to living in your rehearsal space. But I have known plenty of guys who did that when I lived in L.A. and they didn't rip anybody off. Same situation - 100 rehearsal spaces under one roof - but there was a camaraderie there and not people robbing each other.

[Endrik]

One of the irritating things about the argument was that this kid was speaking kind of like a mob guy selling protection - "Oh, you guys better watch what you say about 'em because there could be retaliation - and I don't mean legal retaliation".

Is he an actor? Looks like he's been reading the screenplay of Ladri di Biciclette and is preparing for a small roll as one of those thug neighbours of the thief, one of the best films ever but I never thought about acting it in real life.

[lerxstcat]

Is he an actor? Looks like he's been reading the screenplay of Ladri di Biciclette and is preparing for a small roll as one of those thug neighbours of the thief, one of the best films ever but I never thought about acting it in real life.

Well it sounds like the basis of their bond is that both are megalomaniacs who support each other in their assumed superiority. This is what he basically told me in PM, that everybody thinks he is an egotistical tool except this thief friend of his, who is an equally egotistical tool and assures him that they are both superior to those around them. He even said the thief is charismatic and has basically made his bandmates into cult followers, which is why they did this with him. But all this is okay because dude is down on his luck. So he portrays the guy as a Charles Manson type - including "warnings" of retribution - then tells us we are all fools for not recognizing his incredible intellect. It was kind of like reading the script for a video game soundtrack or a comic book.

[quadperson]

I agree with Skorb. I'll get flamed for my opinions, but, it seems the older I get, I just don't give a fuck. I have absolutely no tolerance for bullshit anymore. It's these same punks that always whine about being the victim when some shit happens to them, yet when they get caught, they were doing nothing wrong. Our country is going to hell in a handbasket and if you don't believe me, read the comments at the end of any Yahoo news article. I've worked at a maximum security penitentiary for 17 years now. I now what people are capable of. If I catch one of these maggots in my home, I'm gonna do bad things to them. Period. Premeditated??? Call it what you want, they're not there for tea or coffee, and I can iterate that in any courtroom. Ok, I feel better now.

[Endrik]

I don't get what's so surprising here, like thousands of years ago when a thief got caught in Persia, his gang mates didn't yell "you barbarians, let him go, he didn't do anything wrong"

[OnlineStageGear]

We have a sex offender registry, why can't we have a convited thief registry.

[Ben...]

We have a sex offender registry, why can't we have a convicted thief registry.

I like that idea. As a victim of theft multiple times, I agree with the whole violated feeling. I don't give two craps about someone's situation if they're stealing from me. I'll happily help someone down on their luck out. If they need help they should look for it, not stuff in my house they can sell instead. Nothing justifies theft.

[Jayster]

We have a sex offender registry, why can't we have a convited thief registry.

I would be completely against that, there are rampant abuses in the sex offender registry and many categories that don't belong lumped in there. The use of common sense in our courtrooms hasn't existed in my lifetime. I.E. - you can be a sex offender if you're caught pissing outside(in some places). Let's enforce the laws that we have, clearly some have been broken. To say that the recidivism rate is bad is because some never learn to drop their 'victim mentality' that fuels the crime. Only when people are held accountable for their actions will this change, that also goes for police, judges, and politicians ....