Friday, September 24, 2004

Death to THE SQUARE!!

Well, I don’t feel much like putting a review on right now (that may change by the end of the day) because last night I was exposed to the underbelly of Irish Society (sic). I have spent my life defending the people who rob, who steal and who attack because I’ve always felt that we, as a society, need to take responsibility for the people we have created through neglect and detrimental social laws and care. However, last night whilst my practically-sister’s (brother’s fiancée) jeep was parked in The Square, Tallaght with my newly-bought-for-my-neice-and-nephew birthday presents inside, it was broken in to and fleeced. The radio – worth 2000 yo-yo’s – was ripped out, but worst of all they took the kids presents! I mean, what kind of scum steals from kids, I ask you?!?! Imagine if that had have been Christmas, and the car full of presents…? Ok, I still feel that society should take blame, but I don’t bloody see why I should (another ‘sic’)! I have done nothing but defend these people to my family and friends, and now I feel betrayed! What leg have I to stand on now? How can I defend the indefensible?

The Garda (most helpful – kudos to Tallaght Garda Shickoliní) was very impressive, and told us that there had been three other cars broken into that night, and two others had actually been stolen – so, in the grand scheme of things, at least we had a way home! Most interestingly/scarily enough, he told us that they had put an undercover Garda into the car park of The Square for a month’s reconnaissance work and, in that time, not a single car was broken into or robbed. He feels, and I tend to agree, that the Security Guards who work in the centre are ‘giving the nod’, so to speak, to local gurriers as to which car to go for. And they were also telling them that the undercover Garda was on the beat.

I still feel that a society is only as strong as it’s weakest members the same way that a chain is only as strong as it’s weakest link, and that we need to protect and help those in lesser circumstances than us…not in a Nietzsche superman way, but in simple day-to-day ways. And I will still argue that we need to protect ourselves as much as we need to protect others, and the easiest thing to lose in these situations would be our sympathy…but that doesn’t stop me from feeling this way! Right now, if I saw some scum with a game of Screwball Scramble under his arm I would take a baseball bat to his head. No kidding.

And, I suppose, the lesson in all this is that to lose our humanity would be to let this aggression change our life. Something I am not willing to do for the sake of a Spiderman web-shooter, a chemistry set, a ballet centre, a marble game and an insurance-covered radio. Not just yet, anyway.

My next port of call is The Square itself. I stood waiting for a squad car for 30-40 minutes and in that time not a single Security Guard was to be seen. The area was badly lit and, according to the Garda, the security cameras are just for show (I’m sure the security scum/guards are telling the car-robbing scum/people this vital piece of info). Now, someone will take the blame for this. If not today, then soon. If not The Square, then the security firm it hires.

I will not rest until I see someone’s head on a platter and policy in The Square change to stop this kind of thievery.

And so the quest begins……(I’ll keep you posted)

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