Grrr - Vandalism: Was This Sports or Politically Motivated (or Both)?

 

So as part of my husband's birthday gifts in 2019, I bought the below decal, which he waited to put on our new car this year.  I looked for a long time, and had a really hard time finding one with the Detroit D in orange on blue background (Tigers colors), and this one was in the shape of Michigan, too - and he loved it.

Apparently, despite living in one of the nicest apartment communities in Lexington - which is kind of isolated and off by itself, not too close to town - some A-hole ripped it off his window, on Saturday night :/

We were heartbroken - and then pissed. 

As I've mentioned many times, we love most of our neighbors and vice versa, especially in this building, we're very like-minded,  and we look out for and help each other - which of course also helps to narrow down the suspects, you see ;)

So, the first consideration is the most unlikely - that someone actually liked it, thought it was cool, and wanted it for themselves - HOWEVER - that's extremely unlikely, both in our community and here in Kentucky, for two very different reasons lol.  

Meaning, we know most of our neighbors well, and that they wouldn't steal from us or vandalize us or anyone - in fact, we have  given keys to each other's apartments in case of emergency or vacation plant-watering.  The other very different reason from the first is that Kentucky people in general aren't fond of Detroit lol.

The second and most likely explanation is that Kentucky won their football game against LSU (Louisiana State University), who were the 2007 and 2019 national champions (and previously top-ranked), on Saturday night, which is a rarity for our football team to win at all, let alone against powerhouse SEC teams like Florida and LSU - and some drunken asshole beat his chest and then began ripping shit off cars that didn't match his Kentucky sports pride?

Yeah - we only won because LSU and Florida aren't very good, this year, and we are (for a change) - but we're not THAT good.

Don't forget, we play Georgia this weekend -  who IS that good and always has been (possibly better than ever, this year)  - thus, we'll likely get our arses kicked lol.

(Usually, only our basketball team wins, as Kentucky Basketball has, and continues to be, consistently in the top 5 elite college basketball teams in America, has been for decades -  but our football, well - sucks.)

Now, we heard drunken neighbors a few buildings over, screaming, yelling, chanting, late/early morning on Saturday night - but we did not expect someone to go around vandalizing people's cars.

Now, look - I went to UK, and though a basketball fan rather than a football fan, I get excited with wins, too - but I've never understood getting as crazy as our Kentucky Wildcats fans do.

I mean, our fans our legendary crazy, and winning isn't enough - because after a win, they have to secure their dominion over everybody else by jumping up and down on cars, setting things on fire, and pummeling the other fans into a bloody pulp in the street, after beating their chests, like insecure, immature, unevolved Neanderthals.

I just don't get it and never have.

In fact, even in basketball, though MSU and UK still both reign supreme in the college basketball world and are considered rivals, it's not like it once was - they're now mutually respectful, almost even supportive of one another (also North Carolina is in our good competition mix).

In fact, I think MSU and UK have actually bonded because of their hatred of the other two consistent legacies, Duke and Kansas,  for good reason - because they are either known for playing dirty and targeting players (Kansas) and/or faking injuries for fouls a lot (Duke), with especially Duke getting favored with ref calls, because people are afraid of Duke's Coach K lol.

All of this to say, I don't think this was a UK/MSU thing, because we weren't playing MSU, in football OR basketball, so this would just be yet another "UK won, we're better than everyone else, we're not happy just winning, we have to destroy everyone else, as well as vandalize and destroy property so secure our superiority -  it's our God-given constitutional right" moment.

No, it isn't your God-given constitutional right, actually - and I'm sorry you think your constitutional rights to health and safety are more important than anyone else's.

The third and less likely reason is perhaps it was slightly a political thing - perhaps even combined with Reason #2 of sports rivalry - because Kentucky is a particularly angry shade of red state, and  Kentucky Republicans/Trumpers hate Democrat-led Detroit and Gretchen-Whitmer-led Michigan - especially after the last election and COVID.

Also, possibly related to Reason #3 would be this little tidbit Mark told me about, which he forgot had also happened on Saturday ...

We have some friends/neighbors two buildings down - he's South African (white but liberal) and his wife is from China (also liberal) - and they also own a pug, which is how we became acquainted - yay!  

Mark was out walking Brookie, when the husband yelled down from his balcony that they were moving to Cleveland so that his wife, who is a doctor, could do her MD fellowship at Cleveland Clinic.

My husband congratulated them, then yelled up to them (who were on the balcony) - "Lucky!  You're getting the hell out of the South,  ESPECIALLY Kentucky - I wish I was!"

The people walking their dogs nearby apparently heard him and made mean faces at him.

I told him that was completely unnecessary to say so loud, and he was asking for trouble :/

He said he didn't care, as long as he and and the husband thought it was funny.

Then his decal went missing that night  ;)

As mentioned, we mostly have extremely cool neighbors, especially in this building, despite their politics (but most are Dems like us).

In fact, also as mentioned, we even give each other our keys to water our plants and watch our apartments when away, Democrat, Republican, or Independent, or just to have extra keys for the elderly in case of emergency (most of the elderly here are typically Republican, mind you, but not A-holes, and typically not very fond of Trump).

However, we also have just a few loud, obnoxious Trump assholes, in the neighborhood, too, that mostly all live in the same building, a few buildings over.  

In fact, the same building has loud parties about every other weekend, at which we have heard people screaming off their balconies about the superiority of Kentucky versus everyone else, as well as fights, and the police have been called more than once (we didn't call the police on them, I actually think one particular couple that gets drunk and loudly fights and kicks in doors called them on each other lol).  

In fact, that is the only building that has ever caused any trouble or had the police there, so we all just avoid them and focus on each other lol.

 

Thus, I have this to say to those few, outnumbered, loud, obnoxious, in-your-face, Trump assholes that live in that single building, in our community, and apparently think that Kentucky is better than any place else in the world, despite never having been anyplace else ...  

First of all, I went to UK and am a Kentucky (basketball) fan, myself, dumb asses.  

(However, I don't like football much, because it stops every two seconds, for too long, and I get bored - sorry.) 

In fact, I was likely a fan before at least two of you were ever even born. 

Secondly, Michigan is pretty effin far away from Louisiana and had nothing to do with that football game on Saturday. 

 

But even when MSU has won against Kentucky, (basketball  only, because they never play Kentucky in football), did my husband beat his chest, scream and yell until 4:30 in the morning, and then vandalize your all's shit? 

No, he did not. 

 

When you put Trump stickers, Infowars, anti-BLM, anti-mask, anti-vaxx, and confederate flag decals and bumper stickers all over your cars -  and then proceeded to parade around the parking lot in your pickup trucks, several times a day, with giant American, Confederate, and Trump flags flying from poles, which extended from your truck beds, shouting at us all to vote for Trump - did we display anything political on our home or cars or vandalize YOUR cars and homes, or even say anything back to you? 

No, we did not. 

 

At most we shook our heads or laughed at your cult-level idolatry and general foolishness. 

 

That is because we actually do believe in the right to freedom of speech (that isn't harassment, hate speech, or verbal abuse) and expression, as well as the right to peacefully assemble and protest - for everyone - not just those we agree with.  

 

Then when management asked that people clean off their balconies due to fire hazard, and that nothing be further hung off of balconies, to comply with community rules found in your lease - but you continued to hang your flags, signs, and banners off your balconies, draping down onto the patios of the people below you (despite the fact that not a single one of us Dems did so) - did we report you? 

No, we did not.  

 

At the very most, my husband was overheard voicing to a friend on his balcony that he wanted to move away from Kentucky as soon as possible - and he has every right to, in the same right to freedom of speech as you (and less loudly and belligerently, and never drunkenly).

 

Also, his decal was NOT political, or even about basketball or football  - it just represented his home town of Detroit and the Detroit Tigers baseball team.  

 

But now, " ya' dun pissed us off " - and as I said, I went to UK, and I am half-redneck myself - so you want to get down into Kentucky crazy? 

Let's dance - because I don't like to stoop down into Kentucky crazy with you, but I do know how it works - happy to meet you there, should you persist and find yourself unable to keep your hands to yourself, ever again.

(Message to be continued below ...) 

 

As an aside, Detroit crazy is different from Kentucky crazy, which my husband has finally come to understand.  

In Detroit, it's direct - you simply ask the other person to step outside and knock the shit out of each other, and when it's over, maybe even have a beer together - or not - there's also the possibility, depending on the affront, that you could find that one of the two have disappeared, likely under ice in Lake Michigan, in the Detroit River, or wherever Jimmy Hoffa went - gulp.

In Kentucky, on the other hand, it's passive aggressive - meaning they smile in your face, and then do crazy, vindictive shit behind your back, when you're not looking - so that you look like the crazy asshole if you say anything about it.

Now, this can range from something as small as vandalizing your car or home - to using the good ole boy/girl social network to smear your reputation and/or get you fired, or filing a civil suit that's not over the real issue at all, rather something frivolous just to intimidate you.

The next level is either using "mountain code kinship" to manipulate their Eastern Kentucky relatives and/or literally hiring some impoverished Eastern Kentucky rednecks to harass and bully you in real life (plus nowadays  impersonate you on social media and cyberbully you), threaten you, beat you up, and even drug you up with OxyContin and try to frame you for a crime.

Then last, but certainly not least, if all else fails - hiring one of those impoverished, crazy-ass-rednecks from Eastern Kentucky to kill your dog or your horse and/or burn your house down, as a last resort.

(I wish I was kidding - the latter method of dealing with conflict is extremely popular in Eastern Kentucky.)

They call this passive-aggressive, smile-in-your-face-but-activate-the -good-ole-boy-network-and/or-a-crazy-ass-Eastern-Kentucky-redneck-to-do-your-dirty-work method the "Kentucky Colonel" way or the "Southern Gentleman/Belle" way.

I call it the "Chicken Shit" and  "Coward" way :)

Now, the problem with that is that I'm not the passive-aggressive, vandalizing, vindictive, violent, pet-killing, arsonist type lol -  nor am I a reputation-smearer and bully.

I'm too direct for that passive-aggressive, behind-the-back, cowardly BS - so my particular brand of crazy and Kentucky crazy don't mix well.  

This means that though I have social anxiety, and I like to give people the benefit of the doubt and many chances, the right to have bad days, and will always try diplomacy first - BUT - if someone gives me, and especially the people I care about, too much shit for too long, or crosses a line, I will start giving it right back (verbally) - only 10 times harder,  more articulately, and with pinpoint-accurate aim  - but always directly to them, instead of behind backs -  I will verbally chew them up and spit them out, right out in front of God and everybody.

Then, having said my piece, I'm done, I walk away, while they're left sucking their thumb and running home crying to their momma and their little wolf pack, trying to play the innocent victim and calling me crazy -  which I have finally learned to take as a compliment, considering the sources ;)  

This, you see, is why I mostly don't fit in here, in central Kentucky, with both Dave Chappelle and Trevor Noah having described Lexington as "The land of charming racism" and passive-aggressive Southerners. ;)

HOWEVER, I certainly have been the target of that level of Kentucky crazy, and I know how it works, the kinds of things they resort to -  and though it took me long enough, I finally learned how to deal with people like this. 

Mostly ghosting them is effective - they simply hate it if you don't react at all and don't let them have the satisfaction of letting them have feel like they have power over you.

HOWEVER again -  I've also learned to report them immediately, once they've crossed the line and taken their "freedom of speech/expression" way too far, don't wait, imagining they'll calm down, because they won't.

They'll retaliate for reporting them, of course, which you are also wise to simply ignore, until they do something so over the top and criminal that even their good ole boys and girls distance themselves from them lol.

So now hear this - this incident has been reported to management and community security, and we're in excellent standing with both, they even ask our opinions on certain matters - AND - we're also very good friends with a few high-level cops at LFUCG.


Now - I'm getting another decal AND a Ring camera, which will be on my balcony, with approval from management.

So feel free to continue to act like a damn fool, shouting about the superiority of Trump, Kentucky, and UK sports, and against masks and vaccines, at all hours of the night, and parade around parking lots with Trump and confederate flags -  that's your American right (and to hell with everyone else's?)

But should you EVER remove, vandalize, or touch anything of ours, ever again - here's your one and only warning ...

The video will be shown to management, and good luck to you then - because as mentioned, we've lived here almost 5 years and are in excellent standing with management, maintenance, and the courtesy cop - and all three have asked our opinions on many things.  We're never late on our rent, never had a single problem or complaint, and are very well liked by management and most of our neighbors and vice versa. 

 

Also, as mentioned, we're good friends with some high-level cops at LFUCG.

 

So good luck finding a legal argument that allows you to continue live here instead of result in an immediate eviction based on the strictest terms of your lease -  PLUS  -our friends at LFUCG will arrest you, faster than you can say "Make America Great Again" or  "Kentucky Pride" or even "Go Cats" - I guarantee it  :).