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> They threw rocks and bottles and sticks and if they succeeded in knocking over the rider sometimes followed up with fists and knives and seized the bicycle as
by rmellow 3y ago
> They threw rocks and bottles and sticks and if they succeeded in knocking over the rider sometimes followed up with fists and knives and seized the bicycle as a trophy.
This is different from what happens in Brazil. That situation looks like it's primarily driven by sadism, whereas in Brazil it tends to be primarily financially motivated, though sometimes sadism is a secondary objective.
- youngNed 3y agoGig workers are an easy target, in Brazil, in Ireland, in the UK, wherever. Whether they are being attacked for their phone, for their bike, because racism, whatever. It doesn't change that they are an easy target. This is a gig worker problem, not a Brazil problem.
- rocketbop 3y agoIt's a gig worker problem but it's also a much larger societal problem, particularly in the Irish case. The kids who get involved in those attacks would look for other targets if there were no gig workers. The roots behind that include poverty, stagnant residential areas with few prospects, and of course lots of other things like more general cultural deficiencies in the national psyche. I'm sure there are good social historians who can describe this far better than I can. The GP's description of the behaviour as sadistic is pretty on point, I think, and makes it more despicable and worrying than when the cause is financial.