Parking Video On YouTube

I've been looking at the YouTube video of a woman in Toronto hurtling coffee at a person after he confronted her about parking in a handicapped spot when she had no handicapped parking tag, and apparently had no handicap, other than her atrocious attitude and inability to understand why handicapped parking spots exist.

The video originally appeared on YouTube, but has subsequently been reposted on news sites and blogs around the world. The original poster, after seeing threats of violence and rape against the young woman decided to try to remove the video. He pulled it from his YouTube site but has been unable to pull it from the thousands of sites reposting it. This is the way of the Internet; once it's out there, it never goes away.

There are a number of things which could be said of this woman, many of them unkind. However she was just unfortunate enough to be caught on video, and to have behaved badly when caught. I've had to deal with this kind of thing myself, people parked illegally in handicapped spots responding poorly when confronted. That's why I don't do it anymore. I am simply not strong enough to react to a physical confrontation with someone unencumbered by a handicap.

I've had people threaten me with violence, swear at me, and just plain ignore me when asked why they parked in a handicap spot without a tag. I've heard every excuse you can imagine, from "I left the card at home" to "I'll only be a minute" to "What fucking business is it of yours". I used to have the energy to respond; not any more. It's just not worth the hassle.

I really appreciate what this young man did. He confronted someone on my behalf, on behalf of all of us who struggle with this inconsiderate illegality. Make no mistake about it; she broke the law. It may not seem like a big deal to you, but it sure is to me. I see it all the time, and I am really tired of it all.

The thing which annoys me most of all about this is that the police merely gave her a warning. She did not get a ticket. She did not get a fine. She received no actual punishment other than the temporary notoriety of public exposure, the short term impact of public shaming in a world where this kind of thing passes within a day or so. She will do this again, I guarantee it. It costs her nothing in real terms, just some embarrassment, something she will easily be able to blame on the young man who took the video. With no consequences, she has no need to change. And she won't,