The gypsy problem

Soldato
Joined
12 Jul 2007
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Stoke/Norfolk
The people who rock up and set up camp illegally, leave all their trash and burnt out vehicles when they move on, leave human excrement everywhere, nick everything in a 5 mile radius, cause property damage, intimidate the locals, yadda yadda.

Anyone involved with them is probably a "bad person", yes.

I try not to judge people based solely on "one thing" they say/do but try to look at them and their situation as a whole but, and this is where I'm admittedly a huge hypocrite, in a half dozen or so interactions over just 3 years I've had nothing but negative experiences with travellers including theft, violence, intimidation and so on, so I can't help but regard them all as "bad people" now.
 
Soldato
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6 Jan 2013
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Rollergirl
I try not to judge people based solely on "one thing" they say/do but try to look at them and their situation as a whole but, and this is where I'm admittedly a huge hypocrite, in a half dozen or so interactions over just 3 years I've had nothing but negative experiences with travellers including theft, violence, intimidation and so on, so I can't help but regard them all as "bad people" now.

Regarding them all as "bad people" isn't much of an issue IMO (other than it's a bit of a child like term). There's cultural issues there and it's probably fair to conclude that if there's a Traveling Community in the area then a portion of the population may be engaged in criminal activity, maybe even the majority.

What I find utterly distasteful, is the attitude toward fellow human beings like "neuter them all, they are scum of the earth, send in the army and open fire". It's a point blank refusal to make any attempt to understand the issues let alone solve them.

As a society, we're making great progress with the eradication of intolerance but unfortunately the Travelers remain the overweight ginger step kids, destined to reside in the cupboard under the stairs.
 
Caporegime
Joined
29 Jan 2008
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58,898
One would assume you would have had lots of first hand experience and interactions with the traveling community,or someone living in a bubble preaching virtues
.
So painting gypsies as all being criminals is bad but painting all English as xenophobic is fine?

Neither is fine.

It's a subset of gypsies/travelers that people tend to have issues with... especially groups that are happy to pull up and camp illegally in some area that is super convenient for them but causes chaos for the local community - ie. when a load of carvans pull up and park on a village green or occupy half of a supermarket car park etc... (and when they're prepared to stick two fingers up at society like that it tends to go along with other behaviours like a mini crime wave of petty thefts and a load of rubbish being dumped when they leave).

Given that that is often the typical way people encounter travelers then... I mean some other travelers you might well have walked past in the local supermarket and not even known they were travelers - it's the problematic ones that get noticed (and there isn't a shortage of them either).
 
Soldato
Joined
14 Feb 2004
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14,309
Location
Peoples Republic of Histonia, Cambridge
Neither is fine.

It's a subset of gypsies/travelers that people tend to have issues with... especially groups that are happy to pull up and camp illegally in some area that is super convenient for them but causes chaos for the local community - ie. when a load of carvans pull up and park on a village green or occupy half of a supermarket car park etc... (and when they're prepared to stick two fingers up at society like that it tends to go along with other behaviours like a mini crime wave of petty thefts and a load of rubbish being dumped when they leave).

Given that that is often the typical way people encounter travelers then... I mean some other travelers you might well have walked past in the local supermarket and not even known they were travelers - it's the problematic ones that get noticed (and there isn't a shortage of them either).

Anyone who has had the misfortune of living close to travellers, either a temporary or permanent site, knows full well that the community has as disproportionately large subset of undesirable people, and the problems they bring are disproportionately damaging.

Not all gypsies are the same, but it would be a gross misrepresentation to suggest that they are just another community with a typical number of bad apples etc etc.

At least those that "pull up and camp illegally in some area that is super convenient" eventually bugger off. Permanent sites can blite a community permanently.
 
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Soldato
Joined
12 Jul 2007
Posts
7,864
Location
Stoke/Norfolk
What I find utterly distasteful, is the attitude toward fellow human beings like "neuter them all, they are scum of the earth, send in the army and open fire". It's a point blank refusal to make any attempt to understand the issues let alone solve them.

"Solving" the issues requires both parties work at it. I very much doubt the Travelling Community would be willing to turn over a new leaf, drop the vast majority of the criminal behaviour and act like decent humans to others - all of which would massively help change peoples opinions of them and make them far more likely to be sympathetic to the Travellers issues, but it'll never happen because that lifestyle is "bred" into them from birth by their own insular community.

If they can't/don't/won't meet society at least half way then it's no surprise that the rest of society wants nothing to do with them, but again thats just my heavy bias showing.
 
Associate
Joined
20 Mar 2014
Posts
2,359
They could always rent or buy a house, pay council and other taxes and get legal work but they dont choose to do that. Perhaps it should be a right not to but most I have met are wronguns. Including one that punched my friend at ice skating.perhaps if they showed some willing then the rest of us would assist them.

Obviously not all of them are like that. But it seems like a lot of them are. No smoke without fire.
 
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