What is in the future of NWI? (Gary, Hammond: for sale, houses)

[magik]

i dont think theres much hope. lake station will be like a little east chicago. portage in like 20 years will be like a little hammond. hobart will be ****ty as well. gary will just get worse and hammond and e.c. as well. ive been going there my whole life. i lived in detroit area my whole life and came down every year for holidays cuz both my parents r from there n rest of my family. every year is just got worse. lake station has drug busts and gun busts buncha gang wanna bes. pretty soon its gonna be real gang members. portage some lady got carjacked, some lady got shot or something like that at willowcreek estates. it just gonna get worse.

[jc76]

Originally Posted by WildWestDude

Either I asked a dumb question, or the future on NWI does not look that bright

The latter. I live in Indiana but saving my tokens to get as far away from here as possible. I don't ever see it changing, and I'm usually a very positive person who welcomes change....This state is neither of those things...and no matter if it ever did change, the weather is still horrible.
I travel all over the country and when people ask me one word to describe my state I reply, "Stagnant".

[Lake County IN]

Originally Posted by Chuckity

So, you're saying that killing becomes normal, right?

Because they see it everyday, crime becomes a normal way of life right?

So you must be saying that when they kill or rob someone, they have no idea what they did was wrong?

C'mon.

Of course they did. They knew it was wrong. They did it anyway. That's called choice.

There comes a certain point in life where you must take personal responsibility for your own actions and not have your actions excused away.

So, like I said, you believe that all the "bad" people just choose to live in "bad" places and the choices they're given in life has nothing to do with it?

Of course if you kill somebody, you should go to prison. You wont get an argument against that from me.

My point is that the same things happening over and over indicate a societal trend, as opposed to a bunch of people just "choosing" to do something.

If you keep locking people up and putting people on death row, yet the killing doesn't stop, then what's the issue?

The people killing now weren't even born when the first generations of gangbanging started. How did they know killiing in the first place?

Like I said, you have to stop with the platitudes and cliches and look at the data. The evidence.

Certain parts of the WORLD, due to environmental factors ENCOURAGE crime. When you put the same issues together, you get the same thing over and over and over. And just telling people to "take responsibility" doesn't stop it. They will take responsibility . . . . in a jail cell or coffin, but the point is to not get it to that point. You have to change the environmental factors that lead to that point.


Most people do not commit crimes because they have controls in their lives which mean that the costs of crime far outweigh the benefits of crime. Such controls include attachment to family (e.g., marriage and children), commitment to a career, active involvement in a community and reputation, and belief in rules and discipline. Certain groups, i.e., the young, the working class, the underclass, etc. are less likely to have such controls in their lives and the benefits of crime clearly outweigh the risks of being caught and punished.

-- Sociology, Steve Chapman (Letts and Lonsdale, 2004)

[SoHoVe]

Originally Posted by Lake County IN

Do you send your kids to a good school, or care at all about the school your kids go to? Do you care about the neighborhood your kids grow up in?

Of course you do. Why? Because you don't want your kids to grow up in a bad environment. Why? Because you know that if you send your kids to bad schools in a bad neighborhood, their chances of succeeding in life will decrease dramatically.

I guarantee you are a hypocrite. I'll bet you probably make sure your kids have a good environment, because you know that it helps their chances. Now, if you will try your best to create a good situation for your kids, knowing that who they are and what they will become is at least partially determined by their environment, then who are you to tell people who don't have that opportunity that environment doesn't matter.

Okay...I know that wasn't directed at me but perhaps you could enlighten me as to WHY people who live in areas such as Gary continue to give birth to children they cannot afford to provide a good quaility of life to (and then blame everyone else that their kids don't have a fair shot at success)?

[Lake County IN]

Originally Posted by SoHoVe

Okay...I know that wasn't directed at me but perhaps you could enlighten me as to WHY people who live in areas such as Gary continue to give birth to children they cannot afford to provide a good quaility of life to (and then blame everyone else that their kids don't have a fair shot at success)?

I really don't know that many people who do that.

I have no kids. And none of my friends who live in Gary do either, and we all pretty close to 30, so I think once again, you may be watching a lil' bit too much of the Fox News or Limbaugh on that one Mr./Mrs. Stereotype. Hell, my parents only had 3 and have been married over 30 years. I don't know anybody who's having 7, 8, 9 kids. Maybe you need to go to the forums with all the trailer trash and ask them why they have so many kids and live in a trailer.

Hell, I wonder why Britney Spears and a lot of these Hollywood celebrities keep having children. . . . and they're rich

[Chuckity]

Originally Posted by Lake County IN

I really don't know that many people who do that.

I have no kids. And none of my friends who live in Gary do either, and we all pretty close to 30, so I think once again, you may be watching a lil' bit too much of the Fox News or Limbaugh on that one Mr./Mrs. Stereotype. Hell, my parents only had 3 and have been married over 30 years. I don't know anybody who's having 7, 8, 9 kids. Maybe you need to go to the forums with all the trailer trash and ask them why they have so many kids and live in a trailer.

Hell, I wonder why Britney Spears and a lot of these Hollywood celebrities keep having children. . . . and they're rich

Oh geez. Give the Fox News comments a break already. It does nothing to help your debate. When some throws out that retort, it's a cheap shot and says to me that your argument is weak and you need to resort to name calling to prove your point.

[It'sAutomatic]

Originally Posted by Chuckity

So, you're saying that killing becomes normal, right?

Because they see it everyday, crime becomes a normal way of life right?

So you must be saying that when they kill or rob someone, they have no idea what they did was wrong?

C'mon.

Of course they did. They knew it was wrong. They did it anyway. That's called choice.

There comes a certain point in life where you must take personal responsibility for your own actions and not have your actions excused away.

It's not so much "excusing" their actions as it is finding the deeper causes of them. I don't think there are many poor people out there on the lower rung of society who would actually tell you these reasons why they are poor. I think that very few of them are terribly aware of them.

Pointing your finger at every poor person and calling them stupid and lazy isn't going to help them, now is it??? You need to step off your high horse and try to understand the root causes of these problems.

[Chuckity]

Originally Posted by It'sAutomatic

It's not so much "excusing" their actions as it is finding the deeper causes of them. I don't think there are many poor people out there on the lower rung of society who would actually tell you these reasons why they are poor. I think that very few of them are terribly aware of them.

Pointing your finger at every poor person and calling them stupid and lazy isn't going to help them, now is it??? You need to step off your high horse and try to understand the root causes of these problems.

Show me where I called the poor stupid & lazy.

I'm waiting ....

You can't because I didn't.

If anything, you and the posters who are arguing against me think far worse of those types of people than I do. You think that they can't help it, it's their environment. You pity them & you pidgeonhole them forever. I, on the other hand, think that they control the outcome of their own lives - and they can choose their own paths.

When grown adults continue to make bad lifestyle choices - why should it be excused away because of their socioeconomical level? You cannot for one second tell me that a grown adult doesn't understand the difference between good and bad and right and wrong.

[LIS123]

Originally Posted by Chuckity

Show me where I called the poor stupid & lazy.

I'm waiting ....

You can't because I didn't.

If anything, you and the posters who are arguing against me think far worse of those types of people than I do. You think that they can't help it, it's their environment. You pity them & you pidgeonhole them forever. I, on the other hand, think that they control the outcome of their own lives - and they can choose their own paths.

When grown adults continue to make bad lifestyle choices - why should it be excused away because of their socioeconomical level? You cannot for one second tell me that a grown adult doesn't understand the difference between good and bad and right and wrong.

This is an excellent post! I know a lot of people in the NWI region who are unsuccessful as adults. Some were raised in above-average circumstances and others in below-average. That said, virtually all of them had opportunity to lead respectable lives as adults and most of them blew it. They don't deserve sympathy and have received more than enough Government assistance. As the above post says, they have control over their futures and it's their bad choices that placed them in difficult positions. At the same time, I know people from the region who are now doing well. It is clear that these people made good life decisions and the unsuccessful people made bad decisions. The distinction is clear.

[SoHoVe]

Originally Posted by Lake County IN

I really don't know that many people who do that.

I have no kids. And none of my friends who live in Gary do either, and we all pretty close to 30, so I think once again, you may be watching a lil' bit too much of the Fox News or Limbaugh on that one Mr./Mrs. Stereotype. Hell, my parents only had 3 and have been married over 30 years. I don't know anybody who's having 7, 8, 9 kids. Maybe you need to go to the forums with all the trailer trash and ask them why they have so many kids and live in a trailer.

Hell, I wonder why Britney Spears and a lot of these Hollywood celebrities keep having children. . . . and they're rich

I never mentioned 7,8,9 kids...there are plenty of people out there who are unable to even care for ONE. Also I actually don't watch TV...I base my opinions on what I see going on in the world around me. And I could care less if someone lives in a trailer and has children. As long as the parents are pulling their own weight, who am I to judge? I don't have problems with people living their lives as they see fit UNTIL its my tax dollars supporting them.
There REALLY seems to be a false sense of entitlement among some of those who consider themselves "disadvantaged" it's as if the rest of the population OWES them something and that mentality is not specific to any particular race of people. I agree with the other poster who suggested that YOU are actually doing these people a disservice by labeling them as such. I have known people from all walks of life who have overcome tremendous odds and become successful and productive people and at the same time still have family members involved in crime and drugs. And those people agree...they wanted something better so they made a CHOICE and worked hard to get where they are. People do make it out of the ghettos but it takes the desire as well as a commitment to do what it takes to become successful.