Rushkoff/NPR

treetopview

Did anyone catch Rushkoff's comments on NPR? I am interested to hear them.

anonymous

Did anyone catch what he said? He's really using this mugging to get plenty of publicity for himself, isn't he? I still want to know why he had his wallet and cell phone with him to take out the trash, and why he and his wife made the ridiculous decision to wait until morning to call the cops.

apollonia666

ILuvBrooklyn wrote: Did anyone catch what he said? He's really using this mugging to get plenty of publicity for himself, isn't he? I still want to know why he had his wallet and cell phone with him to take out the trash, and why he and his wife made the ridiculous decision to wait until morning to call the cops.

Frankly, I find it sad that you'd be so critical of someone who was the victim of a crime.

First of all, the guy's a writer; he does interviews all the time. It's doubtful that he's using this any more than anyone who speaks frequently to the media uses any big event him his/her life. Second, I don't know if this was the situation with him, but I usually take the trash out right after returning home from being out and lots of people -- men, especially, I think -- tend to keep their wallets and cell phones in their pockets a lot of the time. That he had them on him when he took the trash out just doesn't seem that weird to me. When you step out for two minutes to take out the trash, do you stop to empty your pockets and take off your jewelry first? And finally, it is odd that they didn't call the police until the next morning, but lots of people don't act particularly rationally when they're shook up, as I imagine they must have been. Geez, give the guy a break. Is this how you'd want people to treat you if the same thing happened to you?

anonymous

Apollonia, I have been the victim of a crime, and I did call the police shortly after the incident. How else are they supposed to try and catch the guy? It just doesn't make sense to me, particularly with a mugging.

And yes, I do drop off my purse and cell phone and jewelry as soon as I get home, and I know my husband does the same. Just seems to me like he and his wife are getting an awful lot of publicity out of this incident.

apollonia666

ILuvBrooklyn wrote: Apollonia, I have been the victim of a crime, and I did call the police shortly after the incident. How else are they supposed to try and catch the guy? It just doesn't make sense to me, particularly with a mugging.

I'm not saying it makes sense. Like I said before, people don't always act rationally right after being victimized

ILuvBrooklyn wrote: And yes, I do drop off my purse and cell phone and jewelry as soon as I get home, and I know my husband does the same. Just seems to me like he and his wife are getting an awful lot of publicity out of this incident.

Wow, you're really conscientious, then. I set my bag down when I get home, but if I have to turn right around to take out the trash or go check the mail or run to the bodega or whatnot I don't usually empty my pockets or take off all my rings and my watch first. So that part of his story just doesn't sound at all fishy to me.

sarajean8

Subject: Re: Rushkoff/NPR

TreetopView wrote: Did anyone catch Rushkoff's comments on NPR? I am interested to hear them.

You can listen to the archived show from yesterday here:

http://www.wnyc.org/shows/bl/episodes/2007/01/08

sarajean8

There will be a spin off discussion sometime on the Brian Lehrer show on NPR today (10-12) regarding Park Slope property prices vs crime in the nieghborhood.

anonymous

Subject: The Rushkoff backlash ...

I think if you read the original blogs you might see a reason for some of the backlash.

http://gowanuslounge.blogspot.com/2007/01/rushkoff-update-original-deleted-blog.html#comments

rose

I have total sympathy about the mugging, and certainly don't judge them for leaving the city, but some of his statements about the neighborhood have me shaking my head. One thing is that without having done any research into his zoned public school or other public school options, he has concluded that the only desirable school choices are PS 321 or private school, and if he can't have them, he doesn't want any school in Park Slope.

Another is his apparent belief that Park Slope was a ghetto until shortly before he moved here, that it's a rich neighborhood superimposed on a poor neighborhood (I think those were his words), and the pissed-off poor people who were displaced from Park Slope are returning to mug the newcomers. Well, I lived on his block of 7th Street nearly 15 years ago and that block was solidly middle class then and quite a few of the solidly middle class people had been living there for decades, had raised children there, in some cases had grown up there themselves. The difference in the Slope from fifteen (even ten) years ago is that there used to be a lot of teachers, Legal Aid lawyers, non-celebrity writers, and other people who were middle class but not rich. Those are the people who were displaced, if they didn't own their homes, and they moved to Kensington, they haven't turned to a life of crime.

Then there's his complaint that the local drug dealers don't recognize him as part of the community . . . . :roll:

anonymous

Muggings or no muggings, I love Park Slope and when you live in an urban setting, crime is to be expected. It's not worth leaving such a great neighborhood.

willregistersoon

I read his writings on the subject and frankly he sounds like an oaf. I hope he keeps saying these things though. Maybe it will lower the property values so I can finally buy something here!