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Role model: who is yours?

Posted: 24 Jan 2016, 1:56pm
by Cyril Haearn
My role model is Horst Nilges of Osterode/Harz, Germany. As a private person he has reported tens of thousands of traffic offences.

He really should be a hero for all right-thinking people, but he is a bit in-famous too unfortunately.

I am scared to do what he does because one must give ones name and there is no guarantee of anonymity.

But I do often put notes under the wipers of illegally parked vehicles. Just hope the idiots can read.

Who is your role model or hero?

Re: Role model: who is yours?

Posted: 25 Jan 2016, 9:04am
by pwa
I share your dislike and frustration with badly parked vehicles. And I do wish something were done about anti-social driving in general. But with the police being over-stretched already, I think forcing them to focus resources on ones own priorities is arrogant. I may think they should spend more time on traffic offences, but I don't see the detail of their work and I don't know that the other stuff they do is less important. For an individual to steer scarce public resources in this way is not good.

Re: Role model: who is yours?

Posted: 25 Jan 2016, 9:17am
by beardy
The late Brian Haw was a man who stayed and did what was right when the rest of us went home.

Re: Role model: who is yours?

Posted: 25 Jan 2016, 10:13am
by Bicycler
pwa wrote:I share your dislike and frustration with badly parked vehicles. And I do wish something were done about anti-social driving in general. But with the police being over-stretched already, I think forcing them to focus resources on ones own priorities is arrogant. I may think they should spend more time on traffic offences, but I don't see the detail of their work and I don't know that the other stuff they do is less important. For an individual to steer scarce public resources in this way is not good.

It is up to police to decide how to allocate resources. That doesn't mean offences should go unreported. We accept that the police must prioritise, but we don't suggest that any other crimes should go unreported because there might be something more serious on the to do list that day! At the very least increased reporting of crimes increases the accuracy of statistics.

Re: Role model: who is yours?

Posted: 25 Jan 2016, 11:16am
by pwa
Bicycler wrote:
pwa wrote:I share your dislike and frustration with badly parked vehicles. And I do wish something were done about anti-social driving in general. But with the police being over-stretched already, I think forcing them to focus resources on ones own priorities is arrogant. I may think they should spend more time on traffic offences, but I don't see the detail of their work and I don't know that the other stuff they do is less important. For an individual to steer scarce public resources in this way is not good.

It is up to police to decide how to allocate resources. That doesn't mean offences should go unreported. If nothing else it makes the statistics more accurate. We accept that the police must prioritise, but we don't suggest that any other crimes should go unreported because there might be something more serious on the to do list that day! At the very least increased reporting of crimes increases the accuracy of statistics.


It depends on whether the police are forced to follow up each and every complaint. If not, then yes, I agree.

Re: Role model: who is yours?

Posted: 25 Jan 2016, 1:26pm
by simonineaston
I tried to find out more about Horst, but the Google translation feature has, I'm guessing, slightly missed the gist of this quote, which I'm sure is perfectly pithy when read in the original German...
I do not sit at the table and palaver about problems. I sit at the desk and edit it.
Nilges to a journalist of the Star.

Re: Role model: who is yours?

Posted: 25 Jan 2016, 3:17pm
by PRL
Bicycler wrote:
pwa wrote:I share your dislike and frustration with badly parked vehicles. And I do wish something were done about anti-social driving in general. But with the police being over-stretched already, I think forcing them to focus resources on ones own priorities is arrogant. I may think they should spend more time on traffic offences, but I don't see the detail of their work and I don't know that the other stuff they do is less important. For an individual to steer scarce public resources in this way is not good.

It is up to police to decide how to allocate resources. That doesn't mean offences should go unreported. We accept that the police must prioritise, but we don't suggest that any other crimes should go unreported because there might be something more serious on the to do list that day! At the very least increased reporting of crimes increases the accuracy of statistics.


I would hope that the allocation of resources would be decided by representatives of the public that provide the resources. In London the Mayor has overall charge.

Re: Role model: who is yours?

Posted: 25 Jan 2016, 3:26pm
by Bicycler
Ah, okay, yep I didn't mean to imply that they set their own priorities or levels of resources, merely that they do deal with things in order of priority and use their allocated resources accordingly. Elsewhere in England and Wales policing priorities are a matter for elected police commissioners.

Re: Role model: who is yours?

Posted: 26 Jan 2016, 8:51am
by Mick F
Role model: who is yours?

I don't have one, and I don't think I've ever had one. I don't understand the concept at all.

Re: Role model: who is yours?

Posted: 26 Jan 2016, 10:11am
by pwa
Mick F wrote:Role model: who is yours?

I don't have one, and I don't think I've ever had one. I don't understand the concept at all.


A Role Model is someone who makes you think that you wish were a bit more like them. Obvious contenders are people like Mandela and that Pakistani girl who was shot in the head for campaigning for education for girls. But most of the people I admire for some of their qualities ( e.g. Stephen Fry, Hilary Clinton) have other traits that I'm not so keen on.

Re: Role model: who is yours?

Posted: 26 Jan 2016, 10:59am
by Bicycler
Mandela was hardly whiter than white either (if you'll excuse the term). Same goes to a greater or lesser extent for pretty much all the important historical figures portrayed as secular saints. Even many real saints led highly dodgy lives. Outside of religious texts no-one is perfect. Such is the wonderful complexity of human life. By role model we just tend to mean that we admire a particular thing or set of things that person did and that provides an inspiration for a particular aspect of our lives.

Re: Role model: who is yours?

Posted: 26 Jan 2016, 11:18am
by al_yrpal
Mine is Homer Simpson. I loved it when he got thrown out of the 'All you can eat' restaurant. :lol:

Al

Re: Role model: who is yours?

Posted: 26 Jan 2016, 1:29pm
by Mick F
pwa wrote:A Role Model is someone who makes you think that you wish were a bit more like them.
This is what I cannot comprehend.
Why would anyone want to be like someone else? :shock:

Personally, I'm happy and content being me, and always have been.

I can admire different people for their attributes/qualities etc, but I wouldn't want to be like them.

Re: Role model: who is yours?

Posted: 26 Jan 2016, 1:44pm
by Audax67
Sounds like an American idea. I find the suggestion that you must have one vaguely insulting.

Re: Role model: who is yours?

Posted: 26 Jan 2016, 2:03pm
by PaulB
I agree with Audax67 and Mick F.

I've never understood the concept of 'Role Models'. I am me and try to be as nice a person as possible but why would I want to be like someone else. People who need role models must feel somehow inferior and need guidance through life. As has been said; I can admire someone's achievements but I don't necessarily want to be like them.

I think I may have wanted to be like the cowboy Roy Rogers when I was about 7 years old (that dates me!) but as an adult I want to live my own life and not become a pale imitation of someone else.