Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson for May 27, 2014

Unfortunately, in many places homes do have to be fortresses.

Oh yes, I can understand!!

Once broken, never completely repaired… ;)

This nation will never be the same!You can’t go anywhere, without this happening. My local cop said, get a big dog. By the time we get here, it’s all over. The alarm system is the dog.

I honestly believe the only thing that has kept our home from being hit is that I work from home, I’m here all the time.

Wait…you mean Dad is HUMAN?

Feelings and failings…who woulda thunk it.

Economic disparity leads to more crime. In the US you can be really rich, and you can be really poor. Mr Watterson apparently suffered a home breakin, and that’s partly why we’re reading this in Calvin and Hobbes. When I was in San Francisco many years ago, it was unsafe for anyone to walk the streets at night. Here in Canada it’s unsafe for women to walk the streets at night. In Tokyo anyone can walk the streets at any time. It’s a quality of life issue that doesn’t get discussed a whole lot. The US response is, “carry a gun”, get “a vicious dog”, but some cities, don’t have that problem, even within the US. My parents had several good locks on our door in Toronto. In Santa Barbara, they left the door unlocked. In any Caribbean country every window has burglar bars. Dogs aren’t pets there. They are for security only. Reality is just accepted, never questioned.

Ok…. the comment section has taken an unusually dark turn.

Thieves not only steal a piece of your property; they steal your peace of mind.Click here: Garfield (January 16, 2003)Click here: Peanuts (August 7, 1960)Click here: Peanuts (January 27, 1966)Click here: Peanuts (January 28, 1966)

The best security is community. Most of the world is communal, the US is individualistic, and the results are insecurity, economic & physical.

don’t worry Hobbes in house

I have 3 dogs. They put of a racket when neccessary.

This has been my life for a while now…

Alwright Joan Helen! I just visited Joburg for the first time and at first found the electric fences, two guard dogs per house, no walking allowed at night & none alone in daytime daunting, but with optimistic comments such as yours I am eager for a return visit!! C&H readers: lets all travel there now!

A simple exercise of second amendment rights would go a long way toward calming his nerves.

@Sammy Shizznatz: For some reason, we humans have a strong tendency to wish that things were black-and-white, with very easy solutions. Alas, most of the world’s major problems are very complex and there are no simple answers.

Poverty is sometimes a result of crime, sometimes a cause. There are poor communities that have not resorted extensively to crime directed at the acquisition of wealth. On the other hand, poverty does often increase family stresses.

Self-esteem, hope, and other similar things tend to help one survive. When those go, and a poor economic state with little hope of getting out of it tend to do that, substance abuse, domestic violence, and so on may ensue.

Mental health issues of all sorts are not well spotted and treated in North America. That’s behind most violence including the gun rampages. Not all gun owners end up committing a violent crime (most never will) but most violent crimes have mental health dimensions.

Addictions are a mental and physical health issue.. They play a role in many domestic violence and child abuse cases as well as many robberies. Drug addicted people pursuing money for drugs is a major source of robbery of various strains.

If we want to address crime, we need to address:Mental healthAccess to affordable education (to get good jobs and build self-esteem)Access to good, sustaining jobsThe cultural tendency to seek respect through violence and the need to demonstrate power

If you want to limit crime, get a big dog. We had a chesapeake bay retriever. A home we moved into had been broken into 7 times in 5 years. It was never broken in during the 8 years we lived there, even though the dog only stayed in the garage (the house cats wouldn’t have scared off anyone).

Being armed is a two edged sword. Lots of gun-supporting people have made poor decisions when they thought there was a threat or couldn’t get to their firearm when their really was one. And kids can amaze you with how fast they learn to compromise any security system.

Guns don’t shoot people, people do! If you are not home the gun won’t shoot anyone and in most cases will get stolen along with everything else, wind up on the street and add to the violent crime.

I’m curious to know what was going on in Bill’s personal life at the time he first drew this particular strip. It’s evident that some kind of trauma occurred in his life.

If I were him I’d by a handgun to protect family and himself. No wait….. a ferocious tiger with huge teeth; mandibles of death they are!

Two Calvin-less strips in a row. Is this a record?

Arm yourself and protect your family. 911 can only do so much AFTER the fact.

He’s right, it shouldn’t have to be. It’s best to make it one, though!

Exactly why shouldn’t a man’s castle have to be a fortress? This is the type of mentality that enables politicians to pass multitudes of ineffective laws that sap our treasury. The police will never be able to protect you. That should be the lesson taken from this event, not what laws can we pass to make me safer.

I am touched by both the strip, sympathizing with Dad; and with the torrent of comments, a reflection of the rampant insecurity felt around the world. While I did have my car broken into, I finally realized there is no security, ironically, when trying to sell one house and buy another. We had to move to another city during the time when mortgage rates were 17%-18% and needed to sell our current house to buy another. Needless to say our house wasn’t moving at those interest rates. I was very uncomfortable where we were for the interim and became increasingly anxious to be able to buy. Sitting one day, trying to think a way out of it, I envisioned an endless row of domino-like people like me, each waiting for someone to buy so they could buy. I realized then that what we think of as control in our lives is pretty illusory. We (sometimes) control ourselves, and that’s about it.

That’s deep thinking but true. I feel for you dude.

A castle IS a fortress, silly!

Ok, Dad, you had your chance when Mom wanted to snuggle! Apparently you blew it and now you are paying the penalty.; >)

Nun’Ya Bidness: I recognize that – the primary alternative to divorce.

Sammy Shizznatz said, “Poverty does not create crime; poverty is the result of crime.”Wow, you made me think almost as much as the strip. I agree with you 99% of the time on that one.

I agree with Dad completely.

xxx

I looked up the annual national crime statistics, and pretty much every type of crime has been on a decline in the last twenty years, generally to a level last seen in the mid ’70s. Small consolation to any victims of crime, I know, but worth keeping in mind.

Um, well, that is why they were CASTLES, which are, by definition, fancy fortresses. “A man’s home is his castle” means it is worth defending and sometimes NEEDS to be defended. Reality does indeed bite.

@Sammy Shizznatz: Facing the complexity of the world also requires courage.

In most cities, the police won’t investigate a break in unless they take over $2000 or 3,000 worth of stuff. If they break into your car the cops say get online and file a report. They’re too busy busting the kid down the street growing a couple pot plants.

Me I don’t care about drugs if they don’t sell to kids. I care about rape, robbery, burglary, assault, theft etc. Those are the real crimes.

You grow pot, who cares. You mug my mom and break into her house, now you got my attention.

You apparently are not reading the news.

JoanHelen: Are overnight guests introduced to all those guards, or simply warned never to wear a hoodie nor get snacks after dark? Or is apartheid still in effect like Jim Crow is here?

@mklangeYou’re absolutely right. What does it matter if a burglar stole 2 or 3 guns in the house as long as the one in the car is safe? I am sure the stolen guns will find loving homes.