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Originally Posted by Master_Shake
I disagree. Strangers are just people you don't know. If you don't have some real evidence that the person is engaged in illegal activities (or about to be engaged in illegal activities) then leave the person alone.
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I said inqiuiring (well, misseplled it). When you expect to know everyone and someone new shows up, inquiring about them is pretty justified.
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Originally Posted by Master_Shake
Hiding? There was no allegation that the person was hiding. Now you're making stuf up. A stranger was in a small dark room. That's hardly something to call the cops about.
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Hidden from plain view. Hiding does have negative connotations, my apologies.
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Originally Posted by Master_Shake
You didn't answer the question. You claimed that "if someone is tresspassing for extended periods of time, I'd call the police" I asked you if someone might be tresspassing (might meaning YOU DON'T KNOW IF HE'S TRESSPASSING) would you call the police. That's a different question, and it's relevant here because the original poster did not know that the guy was tresspassing, he only though he might be tresspassing.
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Oh, my bad -- I misread you. I thought you where putting forward the claim that "even if the was tresspassing, it wasn't justified", and the 'MAY' was your 'for the sake of arguement, lets assume he was tresspassing'.
On review, I misread it.
In this case, the original poster had a reasonable suspicion that the person could be tresspassing. "He isn't the landlord" and "the apartment which owns that storage unit is unoccupied" and "the person is staying inside a 3 by 4 foot room" together amount to reasonable suspision.
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Originally Posted by Master_Shake
So what is your position? Do you or do you not fear strangers?
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Fear isn't a binary condition. I fear government power. I fear cars. I fear electricity. And yes, I fear people who I am not familiar with.
In this case, I'm probably using 'fear' in a broader sense than you. 'Respect the possibility of danger from' perhaps?
As I have said, a random stranger is almost certainly an honest, honourable person. A stranger who self-selects for interaction with you is far less likely to be such.
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Originally Posted by Master_Shake
What is B here? You're just making stuff up. I think it's clear that when this guy has the slightest inkling of danger he won't sit around saying "Ho-Hum." I think that implies he would get involved. Clearly he gets involved by calling the police (because he did so). His first impulse is irrelevant, only what he did.
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He called the police because of mitigating circumstances. The B in this case was 'his girlfriend was worried about interacting with a stranger acting strangely in a strange situation'. He would have preferred to talk to the person.
This does not mean that the response to every 'inlking of danger' would be to call the police.
[quote="Master_Shake"]Ok, but that hypothetical is completely unrelated to the situation at hand. The guy here wasn't in a dark alley and the stranger never approached him. Again you're just making stuff up.
I was responding to your attack:
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Originally Posted by Master_Shake
Wow, you really don't feel safe do you? I had no idea you lived in an area with such a high crime rate.
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not to the situation at hand. I made a highly qualified global statement, and you interprited it by ignoring the qualifications, as far as I can tell.
In this case, it was a storage area. I would guess it would be accessable to/from the outside, with few witnesses nearby. I could see his girlfriend's fear at him approaching and confronting a stranger in a storage unit being justified.
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Originally Posted by Master_Shake
THAT HAS NOT BEEN CONFIRMED, and even if he's right; using his slightest inkling standard would certainly get a lot of people involved with the cops for no reason.
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I thought it had -- I probably misread.
In this case, they had more than the slightest inkling.
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Originally Posted by Master_Shake
Unless they don't want to be interacted with. Some people just want to be left alone, so don't bother them.
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An interaction that is rebuffed is still an interaction. And I could see people who are protective of their children being hostile to nearby, standoffish, people.
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Originally Posted by Master_Shake
I don't know what this is referring to.
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I said that "people not living in your property is a valid property right". You said "people spending time in your property is not a valid property right". I asked where the line you drew between the two was, based off your assumed acceptance of my statement.
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Originally Posted by Master_Shake
What I was trying to get across is that the person's fear of strangers is wildly inappropriate.
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Strangers in areas where you have a pretty reasonable expectation to know everyone, acting in ways that you wouldn't expect someone who was a stranger to do, is different than 'strangers'.
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Originally Posted by Master_Shake
I can't speak for California or Washington, but not here in Pennsylvania.
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/shrug. One of the many reasons I don't live in Pennsylvania.
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Originally Posted by Master_Shake
Do you disagree with the slightest inkling standard? If so, what standard do you suggest?
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I agree that someone not 'minding their own business' at the 'slightest inkling of danger' to their children isn't wrong.
I don't agree with the caracature of the position you put forward, read:
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Originally Posted by Master_Shake
Not for very long if everybody starts calling the cops based on the slightest inkling of danger.
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which you keep repeating, and not justifying, and I continue to object to.
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Originally Posted by Master_Shake
It's not ok with me when they infringe my rights to protect their children. Prostitution may be illegal, so it's not the best example, but adult bookstores and strip clubs are not illegal, and yet NYC and parental groups all over the country do everything in their power to destroy them.
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Communities making local (not global) restrictions on commercial activity seems reasonable to me. I'm for legal prostitution. I am also for people being able to form communities where prostitution, adult bookstores, and strip clubs are locally disallowed.
People should have the freedom to live in a restricted environment, or in an unrestricted environment.
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Originally Posted by Master_Shake
When people fear for themselves they have the right to call the cops. [...] That your irrational fear resulted in a call to the police is regrettable, but not my main objection to your actions. That you got involved in the situation at all is my objection.
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Civilization relies on people getting involved with each other's lives. Because there are negative and positive externalities to every move you make, your acts are not just your own business.