We can't explain the universe, just describe it; and we don't know whether our theories are true, we just know they're not wrong. >Harald Lesch
Damn lost my text 3/4 of the way through. So I'll be brief.
In Germany that's a solved problem. You have to put in 50ct or 1€ into the cart to unchain it from the rest of the carts. You only get that money back if you return it and put the chain back in.
We have a grocery chain, Aldi, that does that with a quarter, and it completely solves the problem. Why other stores here haven't picked up on this is beyond me.
I probably don't need to tell you the origin country of Aldi, do I?
The shopping cart is the ultimate litmus test for whether a person is capable of self-governing. To return the shopping cart is an easy, convenient task and one which we all recognize as the correct, appropriate thing to do. To return the shopping cart is objectively right. There are no situations other than dire emergencies in which a person is not able to return their cart. Simultaneously, it is not illegal to abandon your shopping cart. Therefore the shopping cart presents itself as the apex example of whether a person will do what is right without being forced to do it. No one will punish you for not returning the shopping cart, no one will fine you or kill you for not returning the shopping cart, you gain nothing by returning the shopping cart. You must return the shopping cart out of the goodness of your own heart. You must return the shopping cart because it is the right thing to do. Because it is correct. A person who is unable to do this is no better than an animal, an absolute savage who can only be made to do what is right by threatening them a law and the force that stands behind it. The Shopping Cart is what determines whether a person is a good or bad member of society.
I get where he's coming from, but this one behavior is probably too minor to judge a character by. If you see a trend for similar things, then I'd agree.
His video footage is not just "for protection". Straight up lie. Also he argues that he's just filming "the general area" but in reality he's filming the guy he's talking to and he needs their consent to do that. Public space or not.
I see this is more of a lie by omission than a "straight up lie". He does wear it for protection and evidence of false accusations (which he also admits when he's talking to people), so those things are true, but clearly there's more of an agenda than just wearing it for protection.
He says he does it
just for protection. But his main reason is to show them off on youtube. And to have a way to show them and us who's right, which would only count as protection in court. He's never been to court and always keeps his distance. Hard to argue that protection is the main purpose. If he were honest he should say it's
also for protection and tell them they're going on youtube. That would probably calm them down though, so he prefers his little lie.
While I'm no legal expert, I know he has a legal team which he mentions from time to time and I believe he's continuously exploiting loopholes to be able to do what he does. From my understanding, in the US, when someone is in public space they have no expectation of privacy and so requiring permission for having them on film goes away. He uses businesses that run security cameras as an example of this.
Might be different in the US. In Germany you can freely film in public as long as you're capturing the whole scene and are not focusing on specific persons. Security cams clearly focus nothing and also mostly film private property. Fun fact: In Germany this
mostly is of course not enough. Generally you have to black out the parts of a camera picture that show public spaces. It
has been enforced by court on occasion, but luckily it's not that common.
I imagine the fact that his camera is a bodycam gives him some legal leeway, too. He's not really pointing the camera at anyone, it just faces whatever direction he does.
You might have a point there. Could well be that this makes it legal.
form of assault [vs] harassment
Language AND legal knowledge barrier here, so don't quote me on the terms.
Yeah... nah. The words may sound polite, but the conversation certainly is not.
Definition of polite
2a : showing or characterized by correct social usage
b : marked by an appearance of consideration, tact, deference, or courtesy
c : marked by a lack of roughness or crudities
c might apply, but he clearly violates a and b.
goes away when anyone with more authority than the customer asks him to, and tends to go away much sooner whenever someone actually calls the police (he says it's because he doesn't want to waste police resources on carts, but I imagine it's really because he knows if they actually get involved it would likely cause problems for him)
Yeah, another lie.
(Even though we can't prove it)
police here [...] will often use their own judgment in situations, so I would guess that when they show up on the scene and one person is going berzerk and the other is just acting a little silly talking about putting away shopping carts but not really being aggressive they decide it's not a real problem and just tell everyone to act like adults and go away.
Which is exactly what they should do unless they're holding up traffic like in the screamer vid.
There's at least some police who agree with him as well. Interestingly, a police officer actually sent him the bulletproof vest he wears when he's 'on duty'.
Yeah. He's right about the carts.
The psychology of this is what fascinates me most about these videos. My girlfriend's theory is that the people being confronted aren't willing to let him have the "last word" in the argument and the magnet triggers the feeling that he has gotten the last word in and therefore won which is intolerable to them.
Yeah interesting. Sounds plausible.
Fascinating stuff, thanks for humoring me and having the discussion Nude
Sure. It's an interesting situation. It's such an everyday and minor thing that we all can relate. We all cheer for Sebastian for being the moral pointing finger - we don't actually care what happens to the carts, we don't even care about order is being served. We love that he exposes the wrongdoings of others, so we can feel better about ourselves. At the same time it's funny to see people get tilted. That's enough that we ignore that he's being a total jerk, many still see him as a hero. What does that tell about us?
Spoiler
Just that we're human, I guess.