On the one hand, it's brought an amazing number of gamers up from the basement, to blink in the sunlight and sneeze the pollen-laden air, stumbling down sidewalks and through parks they might never otherwise visit--
On the other... Look, stereotypes exist for a reason, and "socially-inept nerd" is a real thing.
Put them together, and you get a spate of news stories about Pokemon Go going on in the Holocaust Museum, in Arlington National Cemetery, and much closer to home.
Tl;dr is that Pokemongers are haunting a cemetery in Plainfield, Indiana, and a young widow who goes there to spend time at the grave of her late husband finds it obnoxious. There's a sign at the gate, "Out of respect for others, NO GAME PLAYING." It's not working.
Sadly, this is a Westboro-Baptist problem: you can expect a degree of mutual courtesy from others and usually you will get it -- but not always. If the disrespectful behavior is not causing you harm -- the Jeffersonian construction is that it "neither picks your pocket nor breaks your leg,"-- recourse is limited, even when the offending behavior is quite distressing. If the cemetery can't afford to police the actions of visitors, then all it can do is ask. Not everyone responds to a polite request as we might wish.
Life's hard. It's harder if you let the ijits get to you. And some days I'm embarrassed to admit I'm a human being.
BUILDING A 1:1 BALUN
4 years ago
3 comments:
TBH, I'm more concerned about someone driving out on the highway at the same time as I am deciding it's a good time to look for Pokemon.
The cemetery thing is disrespectful but at least it doesn't mean someone else may have to go into escape-maneuver mode to avoid becoming road pancake. (I was very nearly in what would have been a bad head-on because the other idiot was texting while she drove. Luckily I was able to run up onto a curb and avoid her being in "my" lane)
Still idiots gonna idiot. I thought it looked like a fun game but there's always that guy who will spoil it for everyone.
Y'know what the difference between my handgun and an ijit's smartphone is?
It's very simple: I don't mess with my gun when I'm supposed to be driving!
Texting, Pokemongering (20 mph and below -- how much energy is a couple of tons at 20 mph?), whatever.
Last night I walked downtown, playing Pokemon Go, and there were people all over, all of them hunting Pokemon. 10pm on a Thursday night. Friendly, pleasant, having fun. My town is not usually like that. I hope it continues.
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