Can't believe all the stealing around here.

[Oillover]

A friend of mine is an successful psychologist with a track record of 40+ years of involvement in some incredible things. He related to me that what you are describing is subconscious self-sabotage that is perpetrated by those with low self-worth (a financial term) so much so that they are willing to drag others down because in some twisted way of thinking they feel better as a result. He simply refers to it as the "ghetto mentality" and though the word ghetto historically refers to a place where some are forced to live, in this case the subjects forces themselves to stay in such a position because they refuse to do anything which would free themselves from this mentality.

AKA "Crab mentality"
Crab mentality - Wikipedia

I grew up in a community like those described in this thread.
As a child of immigrant parents who worked hard, I was always disheartened when we had something nice and it was vandalized by the neighborhood kids (cars, lawn ornaments etc.).

As an adult, I feel very grateful to be living in a rental apartment building which has extensive security cameras and screening of new tenants (no children allowed).
As a result, most are professional 35+ year olds who live alone and retired folk.
There isn't a day that goes by where I don't appreciate not being in that environment.

 

[JTK]

Living in the Buffalo NY area has it's benefits. The weather is bad ~7 months out of the year and no one wants to live here. It makes the crack-head per square mile number quite low.

 

[ArrestMeRedZ]

Well, Chris, was it 25 years ago that things started to get worse in Apple Valley? That just happens to be when my ex-wife moved back there. Hmmmm.....

 

[jimbrewer]

It can happen very quickly. I had a summer job in high school moving furniture into a newly built high school. It was a fast growing area and the new high school was in the middle of a cotton field, maybe 3/4 of a mile to the nearest development.

Twenty years later I drove my toddler daughter to a swim meet in an unfamiliar part of town. I was trying to navigate and it was a poor side of town. All of a sudden I rounded the corner and there was the high school! The area had completely built up and deteriorated into a slum in the space of twenty years.

 

[Leo99]

My first wife had this ghetto mentality even though she was born and raised out in the country. Very self destructive. Never wanted to build any wealth or spend money intelligently. I was too straightlaced. Last I heard she's homeless.

Another woman I know lives in a unkempt trailer and barely has 2 nickels to rub together but she's vehemently opposed to poor people getting any government handouts.

 

[PimTac]

Not all that long ago I had to drive my wife to work at 0330. It was unreal how many people were up and about. Walking, riding bikes. None of them were up to any good.

 

[brianl703]

Not all that long ago I had to drive my wife to work at 0330. It was unreal how many people were up and about. Walking, riding bikes. None of them were up to any good.

"Nothing good ever happens after midnight"

 

[measureman]

I have a 75 lb. dog thats not nice with strangers and a gun.
That's my crime prevention.
In Colorado if someone breaks into your home shoot first and fast.

 

[MrPlow]

Met with a buddy a few years ago in Seattle for a Mariners game. I walked, and he drove his van. He wanted cheap parking in the boonies and I warned him he was asking for trouble. I had a 1/2 ounce of medical oregano I didn't want to bring into the stadium, so I put it into a small paper bag with trash in it and left it on the floor. We come back to his window smashed (surprise) and all of his stuff taken. I found my paper bag of high-grade medical oregano sitting on the ground a few feet away. The crooks had tossed it to the side, not realizing it had $140 worth of good in it. LOL

 

[SSerian]

I work for a utility company. About 9 or 10 years ago someone broke into the fence around one of our substations to steal copper. From the news reports and later confirmation through other employees, the intruder effectively took themselves out of the gene pool but managed to survive.

 

[M56959]

Locked. Please thank the members who insist on inserting politics into everything.