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Car-sharing service HiGear shuts down due to theft of 4 cars worth $400,000

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Re: Car-sharing service HiGear shuts down due to theft of 4 cars worth $400,000

#81

Post by dennisgorelik »

shadowfiend wrote: post #73
dennisgorelik wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know from my own experience about being poor. How about family of 4 living on less than $100/month income? That's me as a teenager 20 years ago as a member of said family. I never implied that quitting criminal gang is easy. The hardest part though is to overcome greed and change mentality. Unemployed mom and baby sister would likely to be better off without criminal gang member in the family.

Would they? Recall that gangs are partially a matter of self-defense. You join a gang because otherwise rival gangs try to hurt or kill you. You join to defend your family. At least that's the story they spin. Once you buy into the story, it becomes even harder to convince yourself that it's a good idea to leave. I do not claim to know your past. But I know my parents were also poor, and the difference between them a…

1) It's more likely to get killed if you have criminal gang member in your family. So yes, mom and baby sister are better off without such "help".

2) Why do you equate greed with being rich? These are orthogonal concepts.

3) Yes, it's hard to make right decision when you grew up submerged into bad culture. Fortunately good culture is available too. Even more - bad culture is at disadvantage due to schools, popular mass culture, law enforcement and mutual gang killings.

So in the end the decision of quitting the gang is a matter of personal choice.

Re: Car-sharing service HiGear shuts down due to theft of 4 cars worth $400,000

#82

Post by dennisgorelik »

sathishmanohar wrote: post #80
dennisgorelik wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The same reason he launched his criminal business in the first place - to make some easy money.

I don't want to comment on all criminal business. I'm against murder, rape, kidnap and many other crimes. In my opinion prostitution and theft fall in the gray area. Risk-Reward balance in theft is probably the same as in every other risky business. The difference is barrier to entry is so low. That makes all the difference. Alright, I'll just say this, because I don't want to look like a guy who takes moral high-gro…

Do you have better alternative than jail when you are dealing with thieves?

I guess 2x loss monetary fine could be a good replacement to jail time for first time thieves.

Re: Car-sharing service HiGear shuts down due to theft of 4 cars worth $400,000

#83

Post by oz »

dennisgorelik wrote: post #65
asdkl234890 wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would guess that former gang member should be able to flip burgers, mop the floor and collect trash from the streets. And with the pay from that he could afford to live where? No place better than where he came from!

New place does not have to be better. It could be even worse. That could be part of the price of quitting criminal activity. The point of moving to new place is to eliminate all the ties with old life and gang members. But I guess even that is not necessary. I'm not expert on quitting gangs, but would assume that most gangs would not really force gang member on staying in the gang against the will of quitting gang me…

"New place does not have to be better. It could be even worse. That could be part of the price of quitting criminal activity."

Great. So you move to some other depressed community, which will have all of what you were trying to escape. Only now you have no support network, nobody who's got your back. Guess what that's a recipe for?

It's not as easy as you make it sound.

Re: Car-sharing service HiGear shuts down due to theft of 4 cars worth $400,000

#84

Post by lionhearted »

jackowayed wrote: post #11

I felt worse for these guys until I read to the end of the letter and found out about the "HiGear girls". It's not quite as bad as I thought because they don't seem to "rent out" these models like they do cars; I guess it was just a publicity thing. But still, having revealing pictures and even stats (measurements) of the women is pretty much the definition of objectification. FOLLOWUP (responding to comments): I'm n…

Well, c'mon, can we be real here? If a guy is paying $600 to $900 to rent a car for a few hours, he's probably trying to get girls or close a business deal. People don't do that just to hang out with their buddy, unless they've got silly-money, in which case they just own their own cars.

Also, some of the shots were rather tasteful (others, not so much, but this one for instance) -

http://www.higear.com/images/our_community/shar_large/shar_0...

Re: Car-sharing service HiGear shuts down due to theft of 4 cars worth $400,000

#85

Post by [deleted] »

jackowayed wrote: post #11

I felt worse for these guys until I read to the end of the letter and found out about the "HiGear girls". It's not quite as bad as I thought because they don't seem to "rent out" these models like they do cars; I guess it was just a publicity thing. But still, having revealing pictures and even stats (measurements) of the women is pretty much the definition of objectification. FOLLOWUP (responding to comments): I'm n…

[deleted]

Re: Car-sharing service HiGear shuts down due to theft of 4 cars worth $400,000

#86

Post by scrrr »

jackowayed wrote: post #11

I felt worse for these guys until I read to the end of the letter and found out about the "HiGear girls". It's not quite as bad as I thought because they don't seem to "rent out" these models like they do cars; I guess it was just a publicity thing. But still, having revealing pictures and even stats (measurements) of the women is pretty much the definition of objectification. FOLLOWUP (responding to comments): I'm n…

Parent and some others in this thread: What is wrong with you?? (Sorry, just typing out my initial thought when I read this page verbatim.) It's just marketing involving some attractive girls standing next to cars..

I don't understand why such comments get so many upvotes, really. And where such sentiment comes from. I really wonder if my parent comment's poster should claim to understand the problems of the majority of young women and the society impact of such pictures.

Re: Car-sharing service HiGear shuts down due to theft of 4 cars worth $400,000

#87

Post by shin_lao »

Why don't they require the peers to provide them with a bank account and then check up with the bank?

It would require setting up a false bank account with enough money. That's harder than false ID and stolen credit card.

If the above isn't enough, add an income statement.

Then you get billed for how much you use the car.

Re: Car-sharing service HiGear shuts down due to theft of 4 cars worth $400,000

#88

Post by Shenglong »

jackowayed wrote: post #11

I felt worse for these guys until I read to the end of the letter and found out about the "HiGear girls". It's not quite as bad as I thought because they don't seem to "rent out" these models like they do cars; I guess it was just a publicity thing. But still, having revealing pictures and even stats (measurements) of the women is pretty much the definition of objectification. FOLLOWUP (responding to comments): I'm n…

it makes it harder for people to accept their own non-ideal bodies as beautiful

That's because usually (if not always) non-ideal bodies are not beautiful. I feel like there's a giant disconnect between people like you (sweeping generalization, no offense intended) and people around me. You see a girl with some extra weight and you may think she should ignore it, and hop on a computer. Here, most (yes, most) of the girls go to the gym and exercise.

Also, often the girls aren't even trying to please men. One friend of mine spends a lot of her time making Youtube videos on nail decoration. Do her thousands of followers think men will be irresistibly attracted to the detailed glitter polish on their nails? No.

I understand your desire to make the genders equal, but I think you're being blinded because of it.

Re: Car-sharing service HiGear shuts down due to theft of 4 cars worth $400,000

#89

Post by rimantas »

jackowayed wrote: post #11

I felt worse for these guys until I read to the end of the letter and found out about the "HiGear girls". It's not quite as bad as I thought because they don't seem to "rent out" these models like they do cars; I guess it was just a publicity thing. But still, having revealing pictures and even stats (measurements) of the women is pretty much the definition of objectification. FOLLOWUP (responding to comments): I'm n…

Please, stop this crap. Or ban pictures of man and woman: god forbid someone will find them attractive! Attractive people are attractive, deal with it. Your last two paragraphs are just speculation.

  > Girls grow up with the message that pleasing men,
  > by being attractive among other ways, is good
Cannot tell, if this is more naive or stupid. Girls grow up knowing that by being attractive they will be able manipulate men, not to please them :)

Re: Car-sharing service HiGear shuts down due to theft of 4 cars worth $400,000

#90

Post by rimantas »

mattdeboard wrote: post #53
yanowitz wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I came here to post this too. I felt bad for them until I got to the "girls" part, at which point I didn't feel bad. Although they didn't go out of business because of their sexist business practices, I don't shed a tear for them. Yes, this is a marketing stunt, but I hope the day comes when the cost of this marketing outweighs the benefit (i.e., more people find the objectification of women offensive to the point of…

No, it's completely unrelated. The only topic this is related to is, "Why do people care so much what women do, of their own free will, with their bodies?"

I think this is the true sexism: to think that some are entitled to tell others what and how we should think about the women and what they should do. "No girls, you should not care about your body, go tinker with computers!"
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