twochordcool said:
I'm not being racist - I only gave you a description of what I saw that day. It's not my fault that 95% of the scalpers were rap culture lookin' black kids. Don't shoot the messenger.
It is possible I painted an unnecessarily detailed picture of what I witnessed that day, but you shouldn't be so sensitive that I can't simply describe what I witnessed that day.
In this case who is getting wronged, the people trying to acquire tickets through these scalpers? Or the scalpers because they are being described as exactly who they are? Give me a break.
"the scum of society"
"the scum of the earth were out in full force"
"hiring homeless drunks"
"I don't know how close I came to getting a knife in the gut that day"
"it's as if half the youth population of Compton and Harlem decends on it"
"some punk inner city street kids"
"And whether you like it or not, out of about 20 of them in Hartford that day about 19 of them were black street-types with no interest whatsoever in U2.
And I was told it was even worse at Madison Square Garden."
the funniest part of this entire thing is that here you are talking about what it was like/will be like at Madison Square Garden, and you didn't even wittness it yourself. You wittnessed Hartford.
see, i'm as far from a member of the "PC Police," and i rarely go "ACLU" on someone. you're probably not trying to be racist, this is true. but you are implying that a black man who dresses in the way of "hip hop culture" is some inner-city punk who may or may not knife you in the gut. that's a rather broad stroke there... how do you know the person isn't from the suburbs and commuted in because he's trying to make a buck? privliged kids from the 'burbs can be just as scummy as those from the "inner-city."
why are those who work for companies like the one who's ad adorns this page not "scum of the earth?" for one, i see absolutely no difference. both are trying to exploit supply and demand for their own financial gain. why does one's appearance even need to be brought into the conversation? just make the point about the tickets, if you have one, and leave the rest out of it.
the reality of the entire situation is that it's up to the bands themselves to combat scalpers... pearl jam does it, springsteen (who's demand in the NYC area is as big if not bigger than U2's) has done it, u2 does not. there is your #1 problem.