The Purge: be honest, would you be a purger or an abstainer

Author: Castin

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Castin
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Confession time. In the Purge universe, would you be one of the folks who battens down the hatches and waits it out without committing violence... or one of the ones who give in to their darker nature and inner crazy, and tear around the streets howling and hunting. Keeping in mind that *who* you hunt is completely your choice.
Swagnarok
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Even if there was somebody I wanted dead badly enough to act on it, venturing out to commit the deed would be extremely dangerous and I'd likely end up dead before I could even get to his house. And if that person were to successfully kill me in self-defense before I could do anything to him, not only would I have accomplished nothing and lost everything but I'd also be remembered as a bad person.
So no. I'd just retreat to an innocuous and remote hiding place with a loaded shotgun in hand and wait it out.
Castin
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@Swagnarok
I think whether or not you're part of a formidable group would be a large factor.
RationalMadman
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abstainer who would purge in proactive defense. I'd work with some local neighbours i trust deeply and build a fortress and plan out our system of defence (it would be a kill first, have qualms later mentality) and we'd be a threat indeed. 
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@Castin
I find the entire concept of an annual "purge" to be ridiculous. This is primarily due to the fact that millions would be spent on rectifying the carnage that such an event would create.

In addition, I would abstain for moral reasons. 


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Considering I have an arrangement with a close friend and her family to skedaddle into the boonies if anything should hit the fan, I'd be defensive, likely just hit the boonies with some supplies and the aforementioned group, guns in hand, and sit it out. 

By arrangement I mean, stockpile of weapons and ammo, plenty of preserved foods from farming over the years, took the GPS out of a couple all terrain vehicles, gasoline stocks, etc. All hidden out in the boonies in a cabin not another soul knows about, least of all the government 😂

Castin
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@Zeichen
When you watch the Purge movies you really need to suspend your disbelief because the underlying premise is absurd and untenable. But once you get past that I find them to be entertaining. Particularly when the purgers are people you wouldn't normally expect to be psychopathic.

Does anyone remember the high school girls in princess dresses. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAxf1HKf5ac Gotta admit, they were pretty freaky. And hilarious. They bedazzled their assault rifles. I'll repeat that. They bedazzled their assault rifles.
Buddamoose
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They bedazzled their assault rifles. 

Hey, if ur gonna kill, at least  kill with style 😎🔥
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I think the Purge movies, beyond the absurd premise, is actually a perspective in exactly what you mentioned. That the people who are those types, are the people who you would generally leaat suspect. It presents an interesting perspective on how a potential societal breakdown quickly results in people who otherwise would not act that way, would regress to the natural propensity in humans and one of our proposed evolutionary ancestors in chimps. 

Tbh its a miracle to me that we can cram overgrown chimps into a place like a seminar for a few days and not have it devolve into those people tearing each other apart. 

Its an interesting take, the movie, that humanity is just a few short steps away from absolute barbarity 🤔

Castin
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@Buddamoose
Precisely. We've all seen how little it takes for people to turn into animals. They just have to see that everyone else is doing it. Riots, mobs, mass frenzies. I think almost everyone is capable of violence. The movies touch upon that element of the human condition even though the premise is so silly.

Also I would totally find a safe place and bunker down as well. The danger is too great. But I wonder how many people would still abstain if their own safety was somehow no longer an issue.
Buddamoose
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Also I would totally find a safe place and bunker down as well. 

There are definite benefits to living in Wisconsin and one particular one is that absolute wilderness where you won't ever likely be found even if people are looking is a hop skip and a jump away. 

Tbh, one of the reasons i moved back here from Florida was because, if nukes ever get used, I'm already northward enough to skedaddle farther north and have the southward winds from the arctic circle blow fallout in the opposite direction 👏👌
XLAV
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This thread be like at the FBI's watchlist.
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@XLAV
Then I am proud of my answer as it's what any FBI agent would do with their neighbours.
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@XLAV
Nice try, FBI 😤
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Ain't nothin i said is illegal 😏
Castin
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@XLAV
This thread be like at the FBI's watchlist.
We are harmless innocent lambs. Harmless innocent lambs talking about whether they'd become bloodthirsty psychopaths in a fiction universe. Totally normal harmless innocent lamb stuff.
Polytheist-Witch
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The trick would be to set up taking care of the target just as the purge starts. Then getting to a safe place quickly. Perhaps inviting them out of the city to a safe house and then using that to do what you wanted. At this point I can't think of anyone I hate bad enough to put that in my wyrd. But you never know.  
ravensjt
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I find it extremely unlikely if not impossible for someone to kill my family member on a Tuesday and me being able to squash it on Wednesday (at least until next year)
Castin
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@Polytheist-Witch
The trick would be to set up taking care of the target just as the purge starts. Then getting to a safe place quickly. Perhaps inviting them out of the city to a safe house and then using that to do what you wanted. At this point I can't think of anyone I hate bad enough to put that in my wyrd. But you never know.  
I admire your cold calculation. It sounds like you can get shit done. Like if there was a serial rapist whose high priced lawyers got him off, and I was planning to take him out on Purge day because I 100% knew he did it and would keep doing it, I'd be like let's call Poly, we need her on board right goddamn now.

Though in that case, it would be difficult to lure the target to a remote safehouse because there would presumably be no preexisting relationship with the serial rapist to exploit. He wouldn't trust you. Furthermore I imagine slimeballs like him would be particularly wary of vigilante justice on Purge day, and would make their positions very defensible. Quickly taking him out and retreating to safety would be a challenge.
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@Castin
Yeah I would imagine you would almost have to go in their home before, hide, kill them and ride it out in their house till morning. It would be almost easier to kill them on another day and risk getting caught. If in your case they wouldn't know me who would put two and two together. :)
Castin
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@Polytheist-Witch
I'm pretty sure Poly just won the Thread Badass award.
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@Castin
I'm pretty sure Poly just won the Thread Badass award. 

I have to work around sex offenders. Even when they do time the never really pay for what they do to the victims. It's a lifetime of pain and recovery. 
Castin
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@Polytheist-Witch
Had no idea. How do you keep it from getting to you? Seeing offenders whose punishment is nowhere equal to the damage they caused would present a real and serious threat to my peace of mind and emotional health. I can only take so much corrosive injustice.
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@Castin
Had no idea. How do you keep it from getting to you? Seeing offenders whose punishment is nowhere equal to the damage they caused would present a real and serious threat to my peace of mind and emotional health. I can only take so much corrosive injustice. 

I like the work in general and they are a small population. I work in the criminal justice and not just regular counseling because I think some people could decide to get their shit straight at any time. Sex offenders rarely take on responsibility or accept they are perverts. 
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@Polytheist-Witch
So you've sat down and talked with some sex offenders in a counsel capacity? What's that like. Is there any acknowledgment at all that they knew it was wrong, or are they just totally remorseless and vacant of empathy?
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@Castin
So you've sat down and talked with some sex offenders in a counsel capacity? What's that like. Is there any acknowledgment at all that they knew it was wrong, or are they just totally remorseless and vacant of empathy?

Not completely as a counselor, one on one,  but it's a day program and we have sat in on their group. They sort of know it's wrong but still have little to no remorse. Or it's such a compulsion they have to really tamp it down and abstain from most sexual stuff like even normal porn. I will say the ones who do the counseling and actually engage are better at trying to not offend then the ones who don't. But we had a guy in a nursing home, can't get hard, trap another resident from his chair in her chair. She's non verbal and assaulted her even though he couldn't get erect. He is on dialysis and dying. Still dangerous. 
ravensjt
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@Castin
So you've sat down and talked with some sex offenders in a counsel capacity? What's that like. Is there any acknowledgment at all that they knew it was wrong, or are they just totally remorseless and vacant of empathy?
I have (I'm a Social Worker). Many offenders are anti social(among other things) which many describe as prefrontal cortex issue since thats where complex ideas and behaviors form.


As a side note..... the Agency I work for views violent crime from a public health perspective and in such have concluded that  simple biological interventions ,either separately or in conjunction with psychological interventions like cognitive behavioral therapy , have the ability to reduce violent behavior.


Castin
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So you've sat down and talked with some sex offenders in a counsel capacity? What's that like. Is there any acknowledgment at all that they knew it was wrong, or are they just totally remorseless and vacant of empathy?

Not completely as a counselor, one on one,  but it's a day program and we have sat in on their group. They sort of know it's wrong but still have little to no remorse. Or it's such a compulsion they have to really tamp it down and abstain from most sexual stuff like even normal porn. I will say the ones who do the counseling and actually engage are better at trying to not offend then the ones who don't. But we had a guy in a nursing home, can't get hard, trap another resident from his chair in her chair. She's non verbal and assaulted her even though he couldn't get erect. He is on dialysis and dying. Still dangerous. 
This has been disturbing me for two days.

Castin
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@ravensjt
So you've sat down and talked with some sex offenders in a counsel capacity? What's that like. Is there any acknowledgment at all that they knew it was wrong, or are they just totally remorseless and vacant of empathy?
I have (I'm a Social Worker). Many offenders are anti social(among other things) which many describe as prefrontal cortex issue since thats where complex ideas and behaviors form.


As a side note..... the Agency I work for views violent crime from a public health perspective and in such have concluded that  simple biological interventions ,either separately or in conjunction with psychological interventions like cognitive behavioral therapy , have the ability to reduce violent behavior.
"Biological interventions"? Are we talkin' anaphrodisiacs?

ravensjt
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@Castin
"Biological interventions"? Are we talkin' anaphrodisiacs? 

No sir, I'm not referring to any libido quelling or disruption, I'm referring to psychological interventions like cognitive behavioral therapy and biological interventions like monitoring brain areas that are relevant to generating aggressive intentions.

Then those who pay grades far exceed mine generally conduct double-blind randomized control trials


Sorry, my time is hectic right now to go into a more in depth explanation, but read this :