Quote Originally Posted by scottography View Post

Great to hear that confrontation went well Troy! I must say "those" people (of Middle Eastern extraction) are exactly the ones that cause me the most concern here in Sydney.
Regards,

Scotty
Welcome to the forum, Scotty.

Let me add a counterpoint to the incident I related to everyone...

Fifteen minutes later, my wife and I were at Central Station waiting for the last train home - we live near Merrylands, which will be familiar to most Sydneysiders. Anyway, we find ourselves on the platform next to six young guys who, judging by their vernacular and the music emitting from a mobile 'phone one of them was holding, were of Lebanese extraction. Not one of them gave me so much as a second glance. Before to long, we were chatting and having a good natured giggle about some poor guy (obviously a bit worse for wear)who was walking the length of almost every platform trying to find his mates, whom we had seen jump on a train a few minutes previously - in the words of the Lebanese boys, he'd been "dogged".

These young guys and my wife & I were the only people in the carriage for most of the way home, and they did nothing at all to harass, intimidate or annoy us. Sure, the were noisy, but they were just behaving like many of us probably did when we were in our late teens.

Sadly, in Sydney at least, young guys from this background have all been branded as thugs & criminals who are above the law, and who should never be stood up to because they will always find a way of getting you back. Even sadder, some of these young fellas, like the one who verbally attacked me, like to play on this image and think that they can say or do anything to anybody and get away with it because everybody is scared of them.

Am I proud of what I said to my antagonist? Not really - I do wish I had chosen my words a little more carefully and not played the 'race' card, so to speak. But, hey, it just goes to show that even though I'll be 40 in a few weeks, I'm still capable of learning.

By the way, Scotty, where in Sydney are you based, and where did yiou grow up.

Regards,

Troy