The Theft of the Individual

My return was necessary. As I study social institutions over and over, I can't help but find myself overwhelmed with frustration. So here is the latest rant on institutional bastardization.

Please, bear in mind the following while reading this:

1. Due diligence to the people

2. Admissibility of evidence in court (and the restrictions on entering evidence)

3. A duty of police to protect the people

I can't say I've always been the most law abiding citizen. In fact if I were to say that it would be a complete lie. I'm sure this goes for most of you as well. We aren't perfect and cannot function under a myriad of laws of which we are unaware. So, under the assumption that we are all incapable of following the letter of the law perfectly, we must prioritize which crimes are worth investigating and prosecuting.

Among these prioritized crimes would be murder, rape, assault, sex violence, intimate partner violence, theft, etc. You know, the crimes where someone's person or property is damage. Seems very basic, right? This, however, has no been my experience as a victim of a crime against my property.

On Wednesday, November 9, 2011, my car was stolen from the parking lot 20 feet away from my door. It was an overnight theft which left me with nothing more than a pile of shattered glass in my parking space. Logically, I call the police in an effort to ascertain the location of my car. About an hour later, the police arrived took my statement and said that they would attempt to locate the vehicle based on the tag number and vehicle identification number. About two hours passes when I get a phone call stating the my car had been found in a city about 30 miles away. Aside from that bit of information little is said. I was obviously very happy that my car had been recovered. Soon after that call, I received another call saying that the police were towing and impounding my car to be processed since it was involved in another crime (a car jacking at gun point). Here's where things get a little strange .... well not strange just wrong.

Because my car was used in another crime and needed to be processed it was taken to a storage facility where it could be combed over and searched for evidence. I was told the location and notified when the processing was complete (Friday, November 11, 2011 - Veteran's Day). Because of the holiday weekend, I was unable to pick up the car until Monday, November 14, 2011. I was promptly asked to be nearly $300 for the towing, impounding, processing, and storage. I had to pay to have my car stolen, have its window shattered, and have the driver side paneling damage including a mirror that was torn from the body. I was enraged to say the least, but I could have handled that little bit of violation for the return of my car.

Upon the return of my car, I drive it back to my house (listening to the hispanic rap CD still playing in my car). The police had somehow missed the extensive collection of Hispanic rap in my car. Ok. So I could listen to Hispanic rap, but my first name is Abraham, and it might be worth some time to ask if the CDs were in fact mine. They had no problem accusing me of smoking marijuana, since they had found an empty bag in the car with residue. But, ok, let's say that the Hispanic rap CDs were an honest mistake. I call the police report the evidence. The police department asks me to drive my car without a tag to Lancaster to drop off the evidence for them. Additionally, I had to mention touching, handling, and bagging the evidence in accordance with procedure. I assure you that I am completely untrained in the handling of official evidence, but I do know a thing or two about fingerprints and validity of evidence in court. AFTER all of this, the police pick up the evidence themselves (1 week later). I did not use my car in this week waiting for the police to ascertain this evidence. Then once I replace the window, fix the mirror, and get new tags, I start to drive my car. Looking for my sunglasses, I open the center console where I find 3 flathead screwdrivers the were clearly used to start my car in the left. Yes, that is correct, the police failed to look in my center console and did not see the tools used to commit the crime. Again, I call the police department (specifically, the auto theft unit) leaving a voicemail for the Sargent in charge of the unit. I have waited nearly two weeks now with a return phone call.

So where's the problem? What's wrong with this? The problem here is that the people we trust to protect us and to catch the people disturbing society's peace are making little to no effort in solving the problems we as citizens face. In a society where we all fear speeding, it is apparent that auto theft is a safer crime to commit. What can we do though? Write a letter the police department that is bound to be loyal to itself? Write a letter to the congressman of the area who is more concerned with his payroll than crime, poverty, education, or the budget? We have come to the age of violation. The Constitution and the rights given in it are slowing slipping through our fingers. Property, happiness, liberty, and free speech are all rights that are rapidly slipping away. The institutions we created to make our lives better and orderly are now controlling us in ways that were unintended. We are becoming slaves to our institutions.

Where Do My Taxes Go?

One of the biggest debates between conservatives and liberals is the debate on whether to raise or lower taxes. As a citizen of a now conservative state, I have certain observations on state and local taxes and where they go. As a citizen, my impression on government is that it is designed to serve and protect the population which it governs; however, this does not seem the case. Very selfishly of me, I am going to discuss the organizations, regulations, laws, and other government run programs which do or do not serve me as a result of the taxes I pay.

One of the main focuses of taxes is to run the transportation of a given area. In York County countless road projects have been started and underway. I would normally argue that this is a positive constructive thing meant to serve the citizens of an area. The road "improvements" in York County have hardly been improvements, but instead they have made the means of transportation worse. Any construction project which has been started has not been thoroughly finished but instead has caused the roadways to be worse. The roads are patched unevenly and ruts are created. Popular streets like Philadelphia Street and even highways like Interstate 83 have been severely affected and have become nearly impossible to travel. Which brings us to the mass transportation of York County, Rabbit Transit.

Rabbit Transit is also an ineffective means of transportation. The bus routes are not only inconvenient but are also inexpensive and often off schedule. The tax money the citizens of this county pay are meant to provide public transportation which is to be used effectively. With the buses rarely on time, many citizens miss the bus not of their fault but of the organization's fault. This leaves citizens with a choice to purchase their own means of transportation (which will be destroyed by the poorly paved roadways) or take a means of transportation which is inefficient and unreliable.

Taxes also provide things like welfare, public housing, police forces, and other public works of that nature. Since I am not on welfare or public housing, this has little impact on me. I appreciate the socialization of certain programs and in fact encourage necessary programs such as these, but they must be monitored more closely. We are paying out massive amounts of unemployment and welfare money on people who are unwilling to make their own and instead become reliant on the state. It is important that if we are willing to provide services such as welfare that we monitor those who are receiving money.

Lastly, the police force in this area is ineffective in stopping any real crime. It has, however, become very adept to generating revenue for the state in the form of traffic violations and petty crime. There is a massive heroin epidemic surging through York County which the police forces have done very little to stop. This includes the use of the drug in local high schools. The numerous police forces of the area (frankly, a little too many unorganized, independent departments) are able to arbitrarily stop traffic offenders for going a few miles over the speed limit. In the society I would like to live in, I would prefer felony grade crimes to be a priority over traffic and summary violations.

Conclusively, the high state and local taxes are doing very little to help or encourage the everyday citizen living in the area. The only state program which benefited young people in Pennsylvania, educational grants, are being cut severely (53%) by our new governor. In colonial times there was a phrase "No taxation without representation", the fact of the matter is the everyday citizen has become inadequately represented by those in office and those running for office (a system which has been broke and seems like there is no way out). The consequences of this misrepresentation was revolution. Perhaps, the state and local governments ought to look more closely at the history and establishment of this country while making policies that are not beneficial to those they govern.

Alex Smith

The Irony of Higher Education in United States Society

Having recently joined the higher education community, I am beginning to notice certain problems with high education through my own personal experience. Student contributions in the classroom are not only on a decline as a result of students not participating, but are also a cause of the restrictions placed on students by professors. It has become disrespectful or deviant to challenge or question a professor's line of thinking or even the logic of their favorite thinker. Perhaps, student contribution has become rebellious and controversial for the sake of controversy or due to a lack of intellectual thinking, but a more likely view on this trend is the likelihood that a habituation has occurred where students have become docile in contributing and accepting professor's information as axioms and furthermore, the professors, themselves, have accepted the information they present as absolute. I wish to share with you my personal classroom experience within the last year to further develop this idea.

The classroom layout may be a large contributing factor to the higher education being in decline. In nearly all classes, a lecture setting has been established. There is one focal point - the lecturer and the material presented. It is a formal setting meant to mass produce students of the same mold. The lecture halls have become caverns of habituation and brainwashing. Looking at the concept of a lecture, there is one speaker and a room full of note-takers intent on every word spat worrying if this topic is on the midterm. The concept in itself encourages an authoritarian/submissive relationship between student and teacher. It is a one-way street of superiority. We have placed one thinker on a pedestal - or behind a lectern - and focus endlessly on one perspective and interpretation of history, literature, art, philosophy, English, history, or any other subject presented. How is this format problematic?

This relationship between student and teacher creates several problems. The first problem created by this relationship is the inability of students to grow into critical and analytic thinkers. It is a process of digestion. The students absorb information, digestion, and live according to this information without ever questioning why this is the way to exist. By doing this we create the next problem with is to perpetuate this relationship. As teachers retire, grow old, and die, there is but one way for new teachers to submit information to students which is the same broken cycle they experienced as students. The former students take the same unquestioned information provided and present it to new students in the same format as their teachers. The cycle of habituation is continued by students. Furthermore, if misinformation is provided (which does happen; believe me, I've been through it), we continue in a cycle where bad information is reused.

Considering the dangers of lecture driven classrooms, I encourage all students to discuss! Interact. Throw your opinion out there. Take the information and question it. Create your own interpretation based on fact not on a professor's opinion or thought.

Alex Smith.

Introduction to Idle Times

Welcome to Idle Times! This is a new blog (and certainly not an original idea since there are literally thousands upon thousands of these sites) for anyone to share opinions, thoughts, ideas, problems, or solutions to current issues of society.

Mission Statement: To create and develop a functional and free exchange of ideas and frustrations for those living society.

How Idle Times Works

Idle Times is a free exchange of information and ideas meant to spark discussion and education to a society which has no time for discussion or exchange. Anyone is free to submit to Idle Times via email Idle.Times.Submissions@gmail.com. It is my promise that all submissions will be published for discussion with no restrictions applied. I strongly urge all submissions be revised, so that this blog may in fact maintain a level of respectability and held to a high standard. All topics, discussions, ideas, and submissions are welcome for discussion. Please have a clear subject line as to the topic and author of the piece submitted, so that I can clearly determine the email as non-spam email. Lastly, as operate of this blog, I am not responsible for any posts submitted and do not take any credit or flak from any posts which I did not write (If you wish to be recognized for your submission, please mark the bottom with the name you wish to be presented; otherwise it will be marked anonymous or through your email address. If you do not want credit or your email address given out, please specify so in your submission.)

With all of that said, I leave the submissions up to you. I will also be participating in this blog, so I will see you on the page and look forward to reading and discussing!

Alex Smith, creator.