SCREAMING AT BULLIES IN THE PARK TODAY
EXTREME CONSENT CULTURE
Today, I went to the park before work teaching computer science, and ran into my friend, the local chess teacher, with his chess table set up on the sidewalk near the picnic table I'd chosen to claim. He came over, and I gave him some help setting up his new website, to help his fledgling chess-teaching business, which I had encouraged him to start, to advance his situation -- the man is a homeless under-employed recent pagan immigrant who plays a mean chess game.
Eventually he left to get lunch and asked me to watch his things while he left his portable radio there playing classical music from Radio 2. When he returned, he shared a piece of meat with me and said he eats once a day. At that exact moment a man interrupted the man's lunch, to complain about the presence of the chess table which occupied a very small section of a very long bench on which he wished to do artwork. I learned later that this same man had already harassed the chess teacher previously, only for a stop to be put to it by local street artist Anthony Schofield.
Ironically, just the previous morning, I had spoken to "Goodbye Graffiti" staff and ownership, and my local city councilor, to oppose the wanton removal of local artworks at a cost to the taxpayer which, like the ineffectual private security budget, should be diverted in entirety towards funding HOUSING OFFERS.
But this man wasn't actually looking to solve a practical problem, he was finding a reason to interrupt this man just as he had begun his only meal of the day, and the chess teacher immediately told him, as clear as day, to leave him alone.
The moment the harassing man continued, complaining about the presence of a chess table -- a portable version of the kind I'd asked the city to install -- I stood up and walked immediately over to him, bellowing "HE SAID TO LEAVE HIM ALONE"
The moment you witness anyone violating someone's personal boundaries you must SCREAM AT THE TOP OF YOUR LUGS if you really want EXTREME CONSENT CULTURE.
I explained to him, at maximum volume, his error: "I DON'T CARE WHO YOU ARE, I DON'T CARE WHO HE IS, SOMEONE SAYS LEAVE THEM ALONE YOU LEAVE THEM ALONE, IMMEDIATELY, NO DELAY"
The man refused to stop harassing the chess teacher and threatened to tear down his table and scatter all the pieces, reaching hold of the portable chair the teacher had been storing in his car -- I grabbed the chair myself, bellowed at him to LEAVE OTHER PEOPLE'S BELONGING'S ALONE and he kept talking, not respecting the man's no, the chess teacher's no.
He kept telling me to stop protesting and I said I would only do so after he respected the teacher's NO, and, not liking this, the man proceeded to GOUGE ME IN THE EYE -- I immediately told him I would be involving the police, and flagged down the nearest cruiser, after asking private security to summon them, but it turns out they were already on their way for another, unrelated matter.
When they arrived, I told them the story, and instructed them not to press charges, but to correct the man, who is not normally violent, and warn him to leave the chess teacher alone. They spoke to him separately while I sat one picnic-table further a way with a small group that had gathered in support -- and old white lady and an old black man -- they both said he was completely in the wrong, and that I was right to call them, the police -- I said sure, who am I gonna call, GHOSTBUSTERS? Them? No, they won't do anything, they're not paid to anyway -- these cops are paid to do this, and they listened to me, keeping it at a warning, and I told the table, "Let the record state: DAVID GILHOULY IS VERY LUCKY THAT ADAM GOLDING DIDN'T PRESS CHARGES. HE CAN BE REMINDED OF THAT FOREVER.
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adamgolding.ca
PS here’s chatgpt’s depiction of the text:
