11 Comments
User's avatar
тна Return to thread
Barbara Mullen's avatar

" I said that the veneer of civilization has disappeared ..." Very well said. That is it in a nutshell.

Expand full comment
Michele's avatar

These things start small and then escalate to larger and more dangerous behavior. Every night I hear road racing to the west of us. Earlier someone was racing on a major street to the west of us and hit someone and killed them. Then the driver threw the body in his trunk and drove the car with body to the north of Salem. He did get caught although I can't remember the details. Another person drunk and speeding mowed down some homeless tents and killed four people. In Portland a small group of people cause all kinds of havoc. One group takes over streets and bridges for road racing. The police do make some arrests. In one area business owners are having to hire their own security. One problem is recruiting officers and the other seems to me to be the police pouting because their bad eggs have been criticized and sometimes brought to trial

Expand full comment
Barbara Mullen's avatar

You are speaking of the same exact situation here in Louisville. I dread driving now.

Expand full comment
Susan Lorraine Knox's avatar

It's beginning to sound like organized. crime.

Expand full comment
Barbara Mullen's avatar

A lot of it is gangs.

Expand full comment
Gailee Walker Wells's avatar

We were so happy to leave SoCal. Road rage was/is everywhere. I miss so much about my state, but we feel so much safer and happier here in Spain.

Expand full comment
Susan Lorraine Knox's avatar

In 1961 we had a Reading class which used the SRA(?) system. It emphasized improving vocabulary for comprehension. It seems obvious to me that the people who lack vocabulary fall back on expletives, and also the brain uses shortcuts to expletives for effectiveness when under stress

Expand full comment
Michele's avatar

An interesting idea. Both my spouse and I have large vocabularies, but we have an overflowing swear jar. For myself, I see it as a bad habit that started as a rebellion.

Expand full comment
Barbara Mullen's avatar

I vaguely remember this. My Dad was against cursing and name calling. He would say: "There is better use for the King's English." Which is odd since he was from Ireland.

Expand full comment
Susan Lorraine Knox's avatar

God bless the Irish!

Expand full comment