
People can be like those Kinder Eggs they used to ban in the United States (for some unknown reason). On the outside, you're getting something you think you know. A person might be small, appear timid, or made out of chocolate. It's the inside, however, you need to be wary of. Sometimes a person might be more talented or dangerous than you realize, and the other times they'll probably just embarrass someone who deserves it with those hidden talents.
These are those stories!
Quora posed to its users:
What is the best case of "You just picked a fight with the wrong person" that you've witnessed
Samoan Superman
I was a very young man eating pizza in a small restaurant in the Marina District in San Francisco. It was 1987 the summer time, late at night, and most in the crowd were pretty drunk. Two yuppies with their navy blue shirts and red power ties walk into the restaurant and cut in front of a Samoan and his girlfriend. When the Samoan said something, instead of just saying "I'm sorry," one of them made a smart remark.
Then I stopped eating my pizza. I knew something bad was going to happen. I have always had good experiences with Samoans. They always treated me with more respect than most people do. But I never met a Samoan who would back down or suffer BS. I had a Samoan friend of mine literally pick me up and throw me into a bar fight, because I told him took martial arts classes, and he wanted to see if they were working.
The yuppie smart mouthed the Samoan patron some more and threatened to call the police if he did anything. Faster than I could stuff another pizza slice into my mouth the Samoan gentleman did something I did not think was physically possible. He picked the yuppie vertically off his feet then turned him horizontally superman style. He held the yuppie's face over a pizza pie then literally dropped him straight down face first into the pizza.
The amount of strength it took to literally turn the Yuppie's body side ways seemed amazing. The Samoan turned to me staring at him and said "You one of them?" Shook my head no and went back to eating my pizza. He left with his lady friend.
The police shortly arrived. No one saw anything. The yuppie's smart suit and tie and big paycheck did not shield him from his big mouth. Be careful what you say, smile and always be respectful.
Never Cross A Man That Can Double Check All The Forms
Once upon a time, my parents hired a company to redo their kitchen. They were basically supposed to change the marble countertops.
The company was formed by husband, wife and three employees.
They set up the countertops and soon realized a minor part of the marble did not fit exactly. They had to take the small bit that didn't fit back to their headquarters to redo the work.
At that point, my parents had already paid 90% of the price.
One week later they came back without prior notice and gained access to their apartment through the maid, who opened the door to let them finish the job.
My parents were out on an errand.
After the contractors finished their job, the owner called my father on his mobile and told him the job was completed.
Since there had been problems with the execution before, my father told the man that he would come back home in about an hour, check the quality of the final touches and promptly pay the remaining 10% of the price.
The man went ape and told my father that payment was due on the spot.
My parents interrupted what they were doing and hurried back home.
But at this point the contractor was already mad at them and took out every single bit of marble he had put in place and put it all in his van. Never mind the fact that, as I said, 90% was already paid for.
Upon arriving home, my father noticed that all the stuff he paid for was in the van and being taken away.
He is a man of action, and promptly put himself in front of the van to impede its exit.
The contractor did not back down and just ran over my father, who was 65 at the time.
His bruises were not grave, but he filed criminal suit against the man.
The problem is that he hired a company, so he didn't know the contractor's name. And to file suit against someone, you must indicate his name, of course.
The police weren't very eager to determine the identity of the perpetrator. And that's when my parents called me.
I dived into the matter and found out not only his name and address, but several lawsuits against this guy and his wife. They took several loans and had not repaid them, they sold real estate and did not deliver, they crossed many people in business deals. In short, they owed a lot of people and banks in consequence of morally doubtful behaviour.
And they had empty apartments in Copacabana, a very prized area of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
I gave the Police the name of the guy and, on the side, purchased some of the credits against them owned by financial institutions.
I represented my parents in the criminal lawsuit against these people and got them sentenced to jail (the husband) and reparation (the wife).
But I also pursued the exaction of the debts I bought and, six years later, I got one of their apartments as repayment of one of the debts.
Now I am still waiting for judicial decision on the second apartment. It seems I will also take this one.
The best part is that I paid only 25 thousand reais to buy the credit and the apartments are worth, together, a little under 1 million reais.
This guy should not have run over my dear father… I bet this is one decision he regrets every day.
You Never Know Who Might've Won A Boxing Competition Before
Actually didn't witness the fight, but the results were quite interesting.
Was just thinking about this call yesterday, while driving by a skateboard park. It was near the end of my career, but a rather unique call. Not really sure why we even responded as it was a pretty simple medical call. Perhaps the ambulances were all delayed? We got called to a skate board park for an injury, expecting a broken bone or scrapes and bruises we found instead a big kid over 6 feet with a broken nose. The RCMP officer on scene was having a good chuckle when he introduced the patient, saying this guy likes to start fights with girls.
There were about half a dozen other people hanging around both friends of the guy and this young girl on scene. As my guys were treating the patient I was getting some information on what happened. The girl was visiting from California with some friends here in British Columbia and they went down to the local skate board park for some fun and exercise. The girl was around 5 ft. 5 in. as best I recall and not very big, but a rather attractive young lady in her late teens.
Seems that this guy is a bit of a bully and takes a liking to this cute gal visiting her local friends. The girl is however not impressed by his rather crude advances. They have a bit of a discussion and the guy winds up grabbing her and saying something along the lines of, "Why don't you suck my c@#k b-tch?" as he goes to lay his hands on her. The next thing he knows he is on the ground with a broken nose.
So in the conversation with the girl and her friends it comes out that she is here to participate in a boxing competition tomorrow. Well it seems she certainly has the skills for it, I wished her luck.
Reddit Users Share Their Best 'It's A Small World After All' Experience
Never Cross The Nana...
...What you have to understand about my "Nana" is she strived to weigh more than a 100 pounds all her life, only weighed 102 pounds when she was pregnant with my mom, but she was relatively tall for a lady, so she looked like a rail! People mistook her size, later her age, as weakness, what they didn't realize is- she had grown up on a 98 acre working farm, had worked alongside share-croppers on the next farm over (she swore her Daddy worked the family harder), had 9 brothers and sisters, and could out eat me any day of the week, she was not a wilting flower!
When I was in school my "Nana" was always the first car in the pick-up line, she never wanted to be late to anything! I was in junior high, probably the middle of 8th grade, I always had my book bag ready and rushed out the door when the bell rang, because I knew she was waiting. One afternoon, I got to her car and realized that I had left a book in the school, so I turned around and ran back in. When I came out the side door of the school, I was met by the assistant principal.
He was a big, burly, gruff man and he grabbed my arm (fatal error), so he could fuss at me. I immediately thought, "oh, crap, you've screwed up!" About the time I finished my thought, I heard her car door slam, I tried to hurry him up, because I knew this was about to get ugly! Then, I see a little bony finger with pink fingernail polish come over his shoulder, tap, tap, tap, and these weren't the kind of taps you use at church, I'm pretty sure she was going for blood!
He spun around there stood my "Nana" standing with her arms folded, foot tapping, and a look that would give Satan chills. In a fury and missing the obvious clues that were in front of him, he started telling her about my "misdeed" of going back in the building and complaining about her being the first person there and how I should hurry up since she was blocking the pick up lane. At this point, she put her finger up in his face and said, "shut up, little man!"He straightened up like he was going to correct her, he didn't realize that she was just giving him time to pray, "YOU put your hands on my grandbaby, her momma, her daddy, her poppy, and me don't put our hands on her and YOUSUREASHELLAIN'T… AND another thing, I'll park where ever and for however long I want to in this school parking lot and she can go in and out of this building as many times as she wants to, DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?????"
This very large man was now trembling and repeating "yes, ma'am, I do," in a near catatonic state. She looked at me and nodded towards the car, needless to say I ran and got in because this was not the first, nor the last time I'd seen "Nana" in action. She got in the car, still mumbling under her breath, "just who the hell does he think he is???"
My "Nana" was active right up until the end of her 90 years on this earth...
"Have yee got a problem with me food, pal?"
I was serving in the Reserves (Territorial Army as it was back then), and was getting some breakfast in the mess at Grantham. Some Americans were on the base, and a trio of them were eating, poking around at some black pudding (blood pudding). They weren't quite sure what it was, so I explained.
They blew their top. "It's pig what? That's terrible!" they exclaimed, and one of them stormed off to the counter. "I wanna speak to the chef" he spouted. The server replied, "are you sure?". Clearly, he didn't relish the thought of disturbing the chef. "Of course I'm goddamed sure, the chef is trying to poison us with his barbarian food" the American spat. The server disappeared into the kitchen, and the American sat down.
Shortly afterwards, the Chef came storming out of the kitchen.
He was 6 foot 5, built like a brick sh*thouse, and bore a Scots Guards tattoo on his forearm. He spied the Yanks.
Striding over to the table, he growled in the thickest and most menacing Glaswegian accent, "have yee got a problem with me food, pal?" The American all decided to look at their boots.
He put his face inches from the nearest soldier. "I said, have YEE got a problem with me FOOD, pal?". The table all shook their heads and muttered about the weather. The chef turned about, and headed back to the kitchen. The 3 Americans all lost their appetites and left the mess.
Breakfast with a slice of humble pie.
...Batman?
My friend whom everyone calls Doc, has 2 Ph.D's and is a very low key person, entered a convenient store wth me one afternoon. Doc is 57 years old and average build. He later told me he saw these 2 early 20's jitterbugs casing him in the store. As we left, we each went to our own vehicle. He said he saw them following him to his truck. As he went to get in, one pulled a gun from his pocket and said I'll take your money. Doc's back was to the guy at this time.
He immediately spun around, side kicked the guy and sent him over the curb whereupon he hit his head and was out. We later found out the guy got 3 broken ribs as well.
I saw what happened and asked him, where did you learn that ? He said I'll tell you later. Having to know I followed him home whereupon he showed me he held 4 black belts in 4 different styles of martial arts. That wasn't the best of it as he was always careful for no one to see him shirtless. I always wondered why until this moment.
He pulled back his shirt, he was a Yakuza. These guys definitely picked the wrong guy on this day. The other guy, well he ran off. Funny thing was I heard several people harass the kid that he let an older man kick his a--. Doc told the observers not to call the cops. He said I'm sure the kid is embarrassed enough.
Never Bother A Kid Reading
I've been teaching anger management classes for a decade. Many people in the classes are there because they've done something legally notable but have never offended before and show little to no likelihood of offending again. From these classes I have so many stories to share, but one in particular stands out.
A 16-year-old tall slender boy showed up one day for class. He was polite, quiet, committed to paying attention and did a great job earning his certificate. He didn't really want to share his story during introductions. He generally shared that he got in a fight at school.
Later in the day after a lot of vulnerability was demonstrated by many of the participants, the boy raised his hand and asked if he could talk. Of course, I gave him the floor.
He explained he had been bullied at school for as long as he could remember. He was beaten up often by the same groups and this lasted for years throughout elementary school and high school.
I'm assuming he had changed a lot as he grew because the boy in my class seemed gentle but not necessarily an "easy target." Kids can be cruel, of course, but it's often the case that bullies choose targets that wouldn't stand a chance at defending themselves. In my mind, this boy was once an easy target, but no more! Even though he grew up, sprouted tall, somehow he kept the target image even though he was developing into a strapping young man.
One day in the cafeteria he was reading a book and a neighbouring table of boys started picking on him. He ignored them until it was no longer possible. Then he got up to walk away. They pursued him and were throwing pennies and trash at him. They called him worthless, and garbage, and other demeaning things.
At one point one of the bullies said something that the boy couldn't ignore. At this point the boy stopped walking away and turned to face the group of bullies. He walked towards them and asked who had said the one specific comment. Proudly and immediately one of the bullies claimed responsibility. Without another word, the boy punched the bully in the face. It was one shot but it shattered the bully's jaw and knocked him out. The boy was suspended and mandated to take anger management classes.
To my knowledge he had never been violent before or since. In that moment, however, it was as if he was standing up against all the years of abuse and all the bullies.
It wasn't a "fight" per se, but I would definitely say that the bully "picked on" the wrong person at the wrong time. This one bully certainly wasn't every bully in the boy's past, but he most certainly received the boy's wrath as if he was.
I can't say what the boy did was right. But I understand what drove him to react the way he did. Insofar as he was defending himself, I'm glad he was done being a victim. Often the trouble with being passive in the face of threats is that you'll explode at some point. And he did...
Never Think You're Too Big For Your Britches
...I worked at GT for awhile. We had this Chinese fellow there who was a graduate assistant. This guy was the most stereotypical "Chinese graduate student" you've ever seen. Google "Chinese graduate student" and I'm pretty sure his picture would come up. I'll call him Li
Except
This guy could fight.
Really, really fight.
The school had their athletic complex, and there was a guy that taught kung fu.
I'm pretty sure you have seen the type. Arrogant, has to be the center of attention, couldn't stand anyone calling him on anything.
Well I see Li walk past and he's going to attend the class. Since the weight machines I want to use are over there, I follow. I'm on the leg press and the guy starts his class.
Five minutes in an Li points out something that the instructor says is wrong.
Instructor asks:
"How would you do it?"
Li gets up and demonstrates. The guy doesn't like getting showed up.
"Well in a fight that would never work."
Li points out again, he's wrong.
The instructor gets mad and tells Li to put up or shut up.
At this point, I want to reflect that maybe, just maybe, when the Chinese student who muddles his way through English who's already shown you up once already says something, challenging him is a bad idea, but I digress……
Li gets up and takes off his sweatshirt. I've always seen him in long sleeved dress shirts. This guy is cut. He's solid muscle.
They start sparring. It's at this point I realize that Li has this guy licked. Not just licked, but Li isn't even trying. The "instructor" is throwing everything he has at him. Nothing is connecting.
Finally the instructor says "come on and hit me if you can" because at this point, Li's just been dodging and blocking.
There's a slap as Li catches the guy's right ear.
Now the instructor is mad. He goes at him again.
nother two slaps, and the instructor is holding both his ears.
Li isn't even sweating.
Holy crap.
Li "plays" with him for about another minute. Somehow the "instructor" gets close enough to try to lift him off the ground.
This is a mistake.
He drives an elbow down hard into this guy's back. There's a yell. Li explodes on this guy. The whole time I'm thinking about Jet Li or Anyone I've seen in Chinese action movies.
Guy is knocked off the mats. He's hurt. Li isn't even sweating. After that. He just turns, grabs his top and walked off.
He stuck around school for another year, got his PhD and went back to China. I really wish I could find him today.
Former Inmates Disclose Which Things People On The Outside Wouldn't Understand About Prison
Being a law-abiding citizen shouldn't be that difficult.
As long as people obey the rules, maintain their morals, and avoid making extremely bad decisions, they will never see the walls inside a prison cell.
Unfortunately, people do often break the law and find themselves in the slammer where their contemplations on life choices come a little too late.
But now that they have nowhere to go, what is the wisdom inmates acquire?
Curious to hear what some of those might be, Redditor Max_Fenig asked:
"Former inmates of Reddit, what are some things about prison that people outside wouldn't understand?"
Many speculations about life behind bars are confirmed here.
Boredom
"how boring it is. you spend your entire time just waiting. waiting for court. waiting for a sentence. waiting to get out. it’s a level of boredom i never want to experience again."
– Necessary-Rabbit-340
Misery Loves Company
"Starchy food and a lack of dental care."
– tacopony_789
Waiting In Lines
"Seriously. Between regular prison stuff, it's all just waiting in lines. Picking up commissary? Go wait in line. Doctors appointment? We'll wake you up at 4am so you can go wait in line. (Also, why did the doctors always have to check me out at 4am? One time, they woke me up for medical and for a split sec I didn't know where I was so I just put my hands down my pants and went back to sleep. Guards just laughed and told me to wake my a** up...lol)"
– nnnoooeee
Like A Psych Ward
"No kidding. Your feeling of helplessness is so intense. I sat there thinking I was just a bit down and sad. So now you lock me up and treat me like child and expect me to suddenly be happy? I didn't gain anything from it except learning to keep my sadness to myself and not reach out for help."
"Left the place barely being able to function from my depression to being so drugged up I could barely function. No change in my status to society etc. Just a change in the cause."
– Ashotep
Some former inmates miss the established sense of order and the mundanity of life in prison.
Weird Kind Of Freedom
"Sometimes you miss it once you're out."
"There are some days where I just feel defeated by the daily stresses of life, and I remember being able to wake up every day and not really have to worry about a lot of things: I don't have rent or utilities to pay, I don't have to go grocery shopping, I don't have to do yard work, I don't have to keep a schedule of places to be and worry about making sure I have enough time to get from place to place or anything. It was a weird kind of freedom while being extremely un-free."
– bstyledevi
The School Analogy
"I think this is part of what I miss about being a kid. School was like an optimistic 'prison' in that we were told what to do and when. But that in itself was freeing, because I didn’t have to worry about planning the day, or my life. I didn’t miss out on things bc we all went to the same things. It felt like the guidance we had would make everything turn out okay."
"This is part of what’s difficult about being an adult, that you don’t know what you’re doing. You don’t know if youre making the best choices, you constantly fear missing out on other things while doing anything, you got no guarantee of social interaction with others. People aren’t trusting of you by default, and every first interaction is an attempt to convince people that you’re a good enough person to engage with."
"Someone’s always there to catch you from falling and help you out in school as a kid. As an adult, there’s no safety net, no one’s coming to save you, because you’re on your own."
– ItActuallyIsGullible
Going Through The Motions
"Yeah, its so easy once you get used to it. Everything is figured out for you, you got a stable rutine and there are clear rules and bounderies. Also you usually have a tight group of friends that you share everything with."
"I spend a year in the army as a conscript and I was pretty down after it ended, because I had to return to a life of a young man where everything was still so unclear and difficult."
– ManyPerformance9608
Finding A Community
"Honestly, it's not always so bad. These days there are so many drug addicts in low sec prisons that they sometimes group them together in the same blocks. I was one of them, and everyone was respectful and friendly. When I got there I was in full opiate withdrawal and my cell mates gave me food and comfort to help me get through it. This is not always the case, for sure, but I've dealt with worse people on the outside than when I was locked up."
– boston_nsca
For the most part, ex-cons believed the reality of life in prison didn't closely reflect Hollywood depictions.
Don't Rock The Boat
"Ex-Con here. One thing about Prison I feel like people don’t understand when I tell them my story is that Prison (at least for me) isn’t entirely like what it is in the media. Yeah sure there is Riots, Yard fights, people get shanked, and there scary dudes who look like they want to kill you but in reality they just look mean and scary as a way to protect themselves. For instance there was this big tough dude who was actually a chill dude and got cigs and stuff for others guys if you treated him right. So in reality if you treat other inmates right and don’t bad mouth anyone then you’ll be fine. Just don’t do the what the 'skinny idiot' did, and that is act all SUPER tough and get in peoples faces because that is what will get you beaten up."
– Suitable_Panic_7558
Surprising Civility
"Prison society is exceptionally polite 99% of the time. Inmates have some of the best manners of anyone you will ever interact with. They hold doors for the next person even if they are far away and have to wait. They say please and thank you. They do not insult each other or show disrespect."
"If you are ever in prison and see inmates acting impolite towards each other, get the f'k out of there. That 1% when it's not polite is extraordinarily violent and dangerous."
– Duke_Shambles
Unexpected Comfort
"I'll take a different angle on this instead of the usual horror stories, as violent and crazy as it was, there were a lot of good parts too. As someone that has had a pretty chaotic life, having a secure day to day life, employment and lots of trusted friends around me for a few years was really nice."
"There's a certain level of comfort that comes with being surrounded by murderers that you're actually friends with, new inmates come and go but you're tucked away in the long term unit where there's a 3 month waiting list to even apply to transfer in, it really was a very peaceful experience for me."
– Totallycasual
Based on the majority of what was shared here, it may seem those of us who have never served a sentence have wrongful impressions of life behind bars.
We just have to take their word for it.
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I know we're a culture full of over the top whiners.
We love to go on and on about all the things that bother us.
And all of the life impediments that stand in the way of our happiness.
But we need to dial it down a notch.
There is a difference between actual bodily harm and an inconvenience.
Redditorseesnawsnappywanted to mull over what aspects of life make us feel like actual pain but maybe we're exaggerating. They asked:
"What isn't torture but feels like it?"
I hated waiting tables. You have no idea the actual torture, ok not actual, but misery one must endure.
Dial Up
"Slow internet."
sev45day
"Slow internet : pretty salty"
"Connected but no internet : a n g r y"
Out of the Way!
"Traffic when you’re already late."
EdibleTurds
"Being stuck in traffic, and having a poop locked and loaded in the chamber. Stupid drivers wrecking all the time and having me prairie doggin' for an extra hour."
pineappledaddy
"Worst part for me is I don't have to poop until Im stuck in the car i get the urge before I leave and I try to go and it doesn't happen but when I'm the car without a bathroom within 50 miles it's like I've taken a laxative it's so terrible."
bknox1789
Extensions...
"Food delivery being over the estimated time."
leswhinin
"Or when the time keeps getting extended further and further and further and you have a 6 AM flight the next morning and then you check and it turns out the restaurant closed 2.5 hours ago but Doordash still says that a Dasher was waiting for an order and you have to give up and have sleep for dinner."
THROWRA302376
Midday Blues
"Having a 230 appointment the whole day is ruined."
LikelyGeoduck85
"I had one of those today! It was the only appt available this week, and fell right in the middle of an 8 hour shift. So I left and took my cat to the vet, brought her home, and went back to work. Honestly, not nearly as bad as if it was scheduled on an off day. Lucky to have a boss that understands pet needs, too."
verycoolfarts
If I hear that song again... I can't even think about it.
Swollen Glands
"I caught strep for the first time in my early twenties when working at a daycare/preschool, and it actually was torture. My throat was so swollen it felt like I was swallowing glass and every time I tried to swallow I couldn't really get all my saliva to go down so I was pretty sure I was just going to drown in my own spit."
Timely-Tea3099
It's Lost
"When you lose 5g and it kicks you back down to 4 and it won’t load a webpage even though 2 years ago it would’ve had it up in 2 seconds."
EggsAndBeerKegs
"Long story short with physics, it’s frequency vs power. Then providers think they need to upgrade some parts but not others. There’s a reason, but it’s a stupid reason."
hoosier268
"This makes me furious. How in the hell is having only 4g as slow as when we didn't have 4g at all years ago? Ridiculous."
FainOnFire
MOVE IT!!
"Being on one of those slow-moving people movers and stuck behind someone who is just standing there instead of walking."
bassistmuzikman
"I yelled 'get out of the way' this morning to a guy that was walking slow when a car was behind him and I need to get to where the car was coming from."
coolcrushkilla
Eternity
"Waiting at the doctor's office. (USA). They have the audacity to charge you a fee for being late and calling it a 'no-show' but damned if I've ever been to a 2pm appointment that actually began earlier than 2:30-2:45."
sexapotamus
"45 minutes is ok, in France we don't pay for doctors but it's possible to wait 2 or 3h after the original time of appointment."
Rabanaaash
"I remember having regular appointments for physical therapy that never started on time. The magazines in the waiting room were crap, so I started bringing a really long novel with me."
Annihilated_Matter
Forever
"Watching 2 unskippable 30 second ads, it's only a minute but it feels like an eternity."
Formal_Activity5040
Well there are worse things in life. We do whine a lot.
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America is in a terrible situation.
We are addicted to guns and nobody seems to care.
And nothing seems to get done.
RedditorSpecktakles88wanted to take a serious moment to ask:
"What, in your opinion, is a realistic solution to gun violence in the United States?"
I don't know what more there is to say on this topic. But let's try...
American society failing...
"A school shooting is the ugly culmination of multiple facets of established American society failing. A single 'solution' would mean a complete overhaul of countless modern systems."
Lupia_
"Indeed, the whole idea that there’s no, one solution, is what people who don’t really want this to be sorted out rely upon."
"Every time this sort of thing happens and people talk about solutions they demand you give them A solution, pretending to care and be engaged. Then they can easily point out the one you’ve suggested won’t fix the problem, make out that you’re eating everyone’s time and are stupid, and nothing changes."
Aloonatron
Swiss Cheese
"There's a model used in risk analysis called the swiss cheese model - in short, every tactic that you throw at a problem will be like a slice of swiss cheese. Each hole in the slice of cheese is an opportunity for the problem to still slip through. Some slices will have more holes in than others, but if you have enough slices stacked, you won't have any holes."
"So it's not just one solution that's needed - it's lots of solutions, all working together. Some may be less directly effective (such as restricting lobbying), some may be more directly effective (such as making background checks 100% required in all cases)."
Blythyvxr
Too Much Effort
"Well for starters, make sure your local police force isn't made up of a gang of cowards."
CannaPanda69
"How dare you expect police to waste their time stopping mass murder?!?! They have speeding tickets to write and drug kingpins to arrest for having a dimebag in their car!!!"
TheMadTitan2016
"Don't forget about stopping parents from going in to save the kids."
therealbeeblevrox
Complex Issues
"I get that this is the internet, and hence 5000 people have expressed a mostly non-expert opinion, but there are actual public health experts in gun violence, mental health, and injury prevention science that politicians should take policy direction from. Wicked problems require complex, systemic, and science-based solutions."
jamafam
Culture Shifts
"Everyone is arguing that it's a mental health issue, but there are people with mental health issues and crap healthcare all over the world and this STILL doesn't happen. I think the states needs a huge culture shift."
LuigiLoly
"And the vast majority of people who have mental health issues in the US are... not violent. I agree it's mainly a cultural problem. The government can't fix radicalization or the glorification of violence. Better gun laws can help too, but it's a cultural issue."
The_GREAT_Gremlin
Well those all sound good. And not at all new. Gimme more...
No Safety
"People realizing two very important facts that have become painfully clear in the last 4 years:"
"The Government does not care about you. They will not protect you or your children."
"Law Enforcement does not care about you. They will not protect you or your children."
"No one is coming to save you. Act accordingly."
SaltyPilgrim
From Afar...
"In NZ we have a massive mental health problem, yet mass shootings are extremely rare. We also have good gun control laws, with most people with guns using them for farming, hunting, animal population control or hobby shooting."
"Looking at the US from afar, there seems to be a very paranoid culture centred around a need to protect oneself at all times, and personally I think that’s a core issue. Why are people so scared? Addressing that issue would probably have a substantial effect."
grizznuggets
Media Issues
"Change the media culture, stop publishing names and pictures of shooters, increase mental health awareness and risk assessment when someone wants to own a firearm. Do actual background checks."
ThePantsMcFist
"There has been a major shift in reporting on mass shootings (at least on the local level) where the name of the shooter is reported in the immediate following of the event, and then not mentioned again. Everything afterwards is focused on the names of the victims and community reaction to the shootings. Both local stations I have worked for have implemented this method of reporting."
Hybrid_Johnny
Broken
"As someone on the outside looking in. I feel you have a broken nation and I have no idea how you can fix it. I don't know how well received this will be and I maybe wrong, but I feel like the corrupt elite in your nation are playing with our patriotic values for their own greed under the guise of national security. I mean. A few thousand Americans die in one day and you spend trillions of dollars and 2 decades to bomb impoverished nations, destabilise regions and directly and indirectly kill thousands across the 3rd world in the name of national security and the war on terror."
"Yet tens of thousands of Americans die each year to gun violence and nothing can be done. Is this not a national security issue. How much talent are you losing every year that could benefit both your country and the world if you would just give them a chance to live."
bushmanbob_82
Something to Cling to...
"We also need to give our children hope. They currently do not see a life ahead of them that is equal to or better than the one their parents lead. They see nothing but pain, strife and hopelessness. We need to show that we can give them a world that is as clean when they are adults as it is now. We need to show there will be a career waiting for them, that they will be able to afford housing and be a member of a healthy society. Hope is one critical part of the solution."
GamemasterJeff
We're in some troubled waters friends. We can fix this. We just have to want to.
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There are obvious signs of high intelligence.
People who can do the NY Times crossword in ink.
People who cure things.
People who know not to re-date a serial philanderer.
Those are signs of brain power.
But the lower end people, i.e, most of us, tend to be most subtle in the flag waving.
A lot of lower IQ folks are good at hiding the lack of intelligence.
It's a gift.
That's how you get a job in politics.
RedditorRecipeNew7219wanted to discuss the red flags to look out for when dealing with people who have "less than stellar" IQ scores. They asked:
"What’s a sign of extremely low intelligence?"
I'm afraid to start reading this. I may end up with more self loathing than I already have.
Hands Up
"Having your hand be bigger than your face."
RichFamiliar9715
"I just put my hand up to face to check lol."
SorryBooBoo
Equals...
"Equalling contrarianism with intelligence."
AustrianReaper
"Also, equalling contrarianism with critical reasoning and skepticism."
p0lisz
"A lot of people confuse rhetorical questioning and skepticism with critical thinking. Doubting information you don’t like is just the default and framing your doubts as questions is disingenuous."
Jeremy_Winn
Backfired
"My boyfriend was telling me about his new coworker today, who decided the best way to get acquainted with him was to tell him 'I have an IQ of 115' and then later 'only when someone is more intelligent than me in an opposing idea, I'll yield.'"
"So basically, if he doesn't like what you're saying, and you can't prove your IQ is higher than his, he can just ignore what you're saying. So intelligent."
ruckingroobydoodyroo
Knowledge is NOT power...
"Making strong opinions on topics you don't understand."
Key_River5489
"Worse when they don't want to admit that they don't know much about it. There are people who admit they are not the most knowledgeable about a topic but will still give their thought."
User Deleted
"I’m a lawyer. The same thing happens to me. Great example is the Johnny Depp trial."
"I’ll give my understanding of the law as well as the logistics of the way trial witness testimony works and people basically respond by saying she’s a liar and you shouldn’t support her. I was just explaining how trials work. I think many people watch movies about trials and they don’t realize that in real life they are pretty messy. There are always errors on both sides. Those attorneys are up all hours of the night prepping."
pedrojuanita
Positions
"Inability to take new information onboard and change your position on subjects."
Totallycasual
These are the people that haunt my dreams.
Proof
"Difficulty understanding analogies. Using anecdotes in an argument as if they prove something."
vellyr
Shut Up!
"Talking louder/over someone to win an argument."
Emergency_Pudding
"God this drives me nuts. I've worked with one woman for years and this is her M.O., all while espousing crap about nothing. She retires in 17 days and I cannot wait."
ThatWasNotMyName
"Or talking faster to win an argument."
sammysummer
Repetition
"Parroting the talking points without being able to discuss them, even in their most basic terms. That indicates that they have no knowledge, and no curiosity about the world."
hmmm_thought_pig
"This. Especially in politics, funny names and sayings might be ok on a sign in a protest or on a bumper sticker, but if you're using those in an actual argument I immediately assume you can't think for yourself."
zachtheperson
Cult like...
"People incapable of independent thinking and being unable to solve small problems by themselves."
Ompare
"My mother was 'book smart' and could learn just about anything that was in a book. But she couldn't logic her way out of a wet paper bag. She'd need a pamphlet with written instructions. Fell for every kooky scam product, MLMs, infomercials, weird diets, and even a cult. Tell her two truths and a lie, she'd believe all three without question."
OpheliaRainGalaxy
Not so wise...
"If I claim to be a wise man, it surely means that I don't know."
EhlersDanlosSucks
"A fool thinks himself wise. A wise man knows himself to be a fool."
AthenasApostle
Let's be honest. How many times did you see you on this list?
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