(July 25, 2016 at 4:49 pm)Rhythm Wrote: It's illegal for pedestrians to be on interstate property, scenic byways, national park throughways, etc.  Enforcement is spotty, and obviously we see a ton of em.  No matter what you want to do here in the states, it's probably illegal on some technicality or another.  

It's illegal on land controlled by the National Park Service, except in cases where local exceptions exist. Elsewhere, it's up to the states, and only five prohibit the practice. The general federal statute only forbids pedestrians from being in the roadway - that's literally in the roadway, not on the shoulder.

Huh, learn something new all the time.  So...I guess I shouldn't have taken any shit on that one after all.

I just googled Hitchhiker Robberies.  This was in the first 30 results.  Mostly guns.  A couple knives.  A kidnapping was in there.  Usually people get robbed at gun point or carjacked in the stories.  One guy got shot in the head.  This is just the people picking up hitchhikers. I have no idea what the statistical likelihood is. But it isn't nothing, and is discouraged by highway patrol, who suggest you call 911, and then they'll try and help them out after checking their id.


http://www.wlox.com/story/10334492/highw...ck-them-up

http://www.kxii.com/home/headlines/Hitch...57471.html

http://www.kltv.com/story/28047837/armed...ned-on-him

http://search.lib.virginia.edu/catalog/uva-lib:2217953

http://www.thestate.com/news/local/crime...52152.html

http://www.wect.com/story/24743083/coupl...hitchhiker

http://wishtv.com/2014/08/26/hitchhiker-...arjacking/

https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1...8483&hl=en

http://www.canoncitydailyrecord.com/news...ed-robbery

http://blog.al.com/breaking/2013/09/hunt...ker_l.html

Now all you'll need is a complete list of all hitchhikers picked up who didn't rob anyone.... in the same span, in order to put together some sort of -factual- risk assessment. You know, the sorts of numbers we have...for refugees and terror attacks.

(July 25, 2016 at 6:17 pm)Rhythm Wrote: Now all you'll need is a complete list of all hitchhikers picked up who didn't rob anyone.... in the same span, in order to put together some sort of -factual- risk assessment.  You know, the sorts of numbers we have...for refugees and terror attacks.

What if they pulled a gun?
--They don't.

Not "That's rare."

That's the problem with pointless hyperbole.

(July 25, 2016 at 6:05 pm)wallym Wrote: I just googled Hitchhiker Robberies.  This was in the first 30 results.  Mostly guns.  A couple knives.  A kidnapping was in there.  Usually people get robbed at gun point or carjacked in the stories.  One guy got shot in the head.  This is just the people picking up hitchhikers.  I have no idea what the statistical likelihood is.  But it isn't nothing, and is discouraged by highway patrol, who suggest you call 911, and then they'll try and help them out after checking their id.


http://www.wlox.com/story/10334492/highw...ck-them-up

http://www.kxii.com/home/headlines/Hitch...57471.html

http://www.kltv.com/story/28047837/armed...ned-on-him

http://search.lib.virginia.edu/catalog/uva-lib:2217953

http://www.thestate.com/news/local/crime...52152.html

http://www.wect.com/story/24743083/coupl...hitchhiker

http://wishtv.com/2014/08/26/hitchhiker-...arjacking/

https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1...8483&hl=en

http://www.canoncitydailyrecord.com/news...ed-robbery

http://blog.al.com/breaking/2013/09/hunt...ker_l.html

In a way this is more making my point then yours, what you see here is media alarmism. Nobody claimed nothing ever happened picking up hitchhikers, but statistically you aren't more likely to be robbed by a hitchhiker then just walking down the street, not according to the one study done on it. But boy is it sure more likely to get reported by the media. Refugees aren't more likely to murder, but I bet every time they do it'll get media coverage. One those stories even illustrates the difficulty of robbing someone in a moving car.  Most of them include calls not to pick up hitchhikers, which is bullshit. It's cherry picking incidents to try to make something seem more dangerous then it is and leaving us with a less friendly society because of it. If I choose to, I can make literally any activity seem just as dangerous by cherry picking . We live in the safest time in American history, but people have never been so afraid. I'd hate to live my life in such fear and to become a worse person because of it.

Here are the last three hitchhikers I picked up, every one was chocked full of interesting and incredible stories, two were extensive world travelers. I'd imagine that with the refugees, like with these three, if you lived next to them you could get to know them and enhance your experience as a human being.
Or you can live your life afraid of strangers, assuming that they are bad people and miss out on so much of the human experience. Either way at the end you die. Isn't it better to live a life getting to know, and helping people. I pick up hitchhikers and would live next to the refugees, not because I consider myself a good person, but because it enhances my human experience in the short time I have on this planet.

Dmitry the Russian hitchhiker. Picked him up going to Death Valley. He once hitched from Bangkok to Moscow. He got my pyched for a future trip to Asia.

He introduced himself as Jim. I asked him if that was his real name, he said no, it's Dmitry, but they are very similar, no?


Rita the Finnish survivalist girl- Picked her up outside Yosemite and drove her just north of San Fran. Rita is an expert survivalist who hitches around different countries and teaches survival classes. She killed a snake an used it's spine to make a necklace. Rita is tougher then you

This is another of my hitchhikers. I forget his name, he was a 28 year old gutter punk who had never had a job before but did have a smartphone. He was going up to portland to visit his girlfriend

(July 25, 2016 at 6:38 pm)wallym Wrote:

(July 25, 2016 at 6:17 pm)Rhythm Wrote: Now all you'll need is a complete list of all hitchhikers picked up who didn't rob anyone.... in the same span, in order to put together some sort of -factual- risk assessment.  You know, the sorts of numbers we have...for refugees and terror attacks.

What if they pulled a gun?
--They don't.

Not "That's rare."

That's the problem with pointless hyperbole.

Is there a qaulitative difference, in the context of risk, between "they don't" and "it's rare"?  You're arguing rhetoric over substance....but substance doesn't sway you on this issue anyway.  You don't mind that the numbers contradict your risk assessment.  You don't mind that your mis-perception is a massive category error backed up by non-seqs.

What's left but to employ rhetoric for dissonance? I'm a pragmatist, not a saint.

(July 25, 2016 at 6:38 pm)CapnAwesome Wrote:

(July 25, 2016 at 6:05 pm)wallym Wrote: I just googled Hitchhiker Robberies.  This was in the first 30 results.  Mostly guns.  A couple knives.  A kidnapping was in there.  Usually people get robbed at gun point or carjacked in the stories.  One guy got shot in the head.  This is just the people picking up hitchhikers.  I have no idea what the statistical likelihood is.  But it isn't nothing, and is discouraged by highway patrol, who suggest you call 911, and then they'll try and help them out after checking their id.


http://www.wlox.com/story/10334492/highw...ck-them-up

http://www.kxii.com/home/headlines/Hitch...57471.html

http://www.kltv.com/story/28047837/armed...ned-on-him

http://search.lib.virginia.edu/catalog/uva-lib:2217953

http://www.thestate.com/news/local/crime...52152.html

http://www.wect.com/story/24743083/coupl...hitchhiker

http://wishtv.com/2014/08/26/hitchhiker-...arjacking/

https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1...8483&hl=en

http://www.canoncitydailyrecord.com/news...ed-robbery

http://blog.al.com/breaking/2013/09/hunt...ker_l.html

In a way this is more making my point then yours, what you see here is media alarmism. Statistically you aren't more likely to be robbed by a hitchhiker, not according to the one study done on it, but boy is it sure more likely to get reported by the media. Refugees aren't more likely to murder, but I bet every time they do it'll get media coverage. One those stories even illustrates the difficulty of robbing someone in a moving car.  Most of them include calls not to pick up hitchhikers, which is bullshit. It's cherry picking incidents to try to make something seem more dangerous then it is and leaving us with a less friendly society because of it. We live in the safest time in American history, but people have never been so afraid. I'd hate to live my life in such fear and to become a worse person because of it.

Aren't more likely to get robbed by a hitchhiker than what?  The alternative is not picking up a hitcher, which comes with a 0% chance of them robbing you.  I can't imagine what other comparison they felt was relevant.  I agree it's unlikely you'll be robbed by a hitchhiker.  How unlikely, I have no idea?  And even with stats, we need to break it down by specific circumstance.  Picking up a kid in a college town in the afternoon vs. picking someone up in a bad neighborhood.  Picking up one person vs. two, age, appearance, location...etc..

I can't imagine the data exists.  Even reading the sites that encourage picking up hitchers, they stress safety first, and give tips that try to help identify shady situations.

(July 25, 2016 at 6:44 pm)Rhythm Wrote:

(July 25, 2016 at 6:38 pm)wallym Wrote: What if they pulled a gun?
--They don't.

Not "That's rare."

That's the problem with pointless hyperbole.

Is there a qaulitative difference, in the context of risk, between "they don't" and "it's rare"?  You're arguing rhetoric over substance....but substance doesn't sway you on this issue anyway.  You don't mind that the numbers contradict your risk assessment.  You don't mind that your mis-perception is a massive category error backed up by non-seqs.

What's left but to employ rhetoric for dissonance?  I'm a pragmatist, not a saint.

Give me a number.  In the riskiest hitchhiking scenario, what's my risk of someone pulling a gun on me. Then we can argue over whether or not that's significant.

(July 25, 2016 at 6:55 pm)wallym Wrote:

(July 25, 2016 at 6:38 pm)CapnAwesome Wrote: In a way this is more making my point then yours, what you see here is media alarmism. Statistically you aren't more likely to be robbed by a hitchhiker, not according to the one study done on it, but boy is it sure more likely to get reported by the media. Refugees aren't more likely to murder, but I bet every time they do it'll get media coverage. One those stories even illustrates the difficulty of robbing someone in a moving car.  Most of them include calls not to pick up hitchhikers, which is bullshit. It's cherry picking incidents to try to make something seem more dangerous then it is and leaving us with a less friendly society because of it. We live in the safest time in American history, but people have never been so afraid. I'd hate to live my life in such fear and to become a worse person because of it.

Aren't more likely to get robbed by a hitchhiker than what?  The alternative is not picking up a hitcher, which comes with a 0% chance of them robbing you.  I can't imagine what other comparison they felt was relevant.  I agree it's unlikely you'll be robbed by a hitchhiker.  How unlikely, I have no idea?  And even with stats, we need to break it down by specific circumstance.  Picking up a kid in a college town in the afternoon vs. picking someone up in a bad neighborhood.  Picking up one person vs. two, age, appearance, location...etc..

I can't imagine the data exists.  Even reading the sites that encourage picking up hitchers, they stress safety first, and give tips that try to help identify shady situations.

Sure, but what you originally said was that you never pick up hitchhikers and would be uncomfortable if someone else did with you in the car.  Nobody is arguing that you are obligated to drive crackheads around the inner city. It's a moot point anyway, since people don't hitchhike in the city but between cities. I generally pick up anybody who doesn't appear under the influence of drugs or alcohol. It doesn't mean I don't talk to them for a bit before letting them in my car. It's the same with refugees, vet them before letting them into the country. Nobody is arguing that we just let people flood in unchecked.

I'm not afraid of the refugees and I'm not afraid of hitchhikers. If that's the way you are going to live your life, it's up to you. But the idea that safety should come before having enriching experiences and meeting interesting people from foreign lands is a dismal one, in my opinion.