An item in today's Seattle Times tells us who might be the biggest jerk in Seattle:
Douglas Harshfield of Seattle says when he moved here in 1977 he obtained Washington plates for his 1976 Volkswagen Rabbit within the first 30 days, while he recently noticed a neighbor has been using out-of-state plates for two years.Yes, Douglas Harshfield is quite possibly the biggest jerk in Seattle. Except, of course, if his unnamed neighbor was an even bigger jerk to inspire Harshfield to rat on him. Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at April 11, 2004 03:38 PMBelieving the monorail needs the cash (from vehicle registrations), Harshfield said he called the Seattle Police Department and was told that since Tim Eyman's initiative passed, the department no longer pursues scofflaws. "What's up?" he asks.
Tattle-tales and rat-finks: hated by schoolyard mobs and The Mob the world over.
Why is it good for the police to enforce laws, but bad for citizens (who pay for the police) to report lawbreakers?
Posted by: Michael on April 12, 2004 01:14 AMI met his brother this weekend at our health club. He wanted to have me kicked out of the family pool with my toddler because I did not shower before entering the chlorine container pool.
Posted by: J. Lichty on April 12, 2004 10:02 AMMichael,
I think it depends on the violation in question. People who turn in, say, murderers and child abusers tend to be viewed as heroes. People who tattle on, say, automobile registration slackers, especially when the question entails an issue of dubious popularity such as the Monorail tax, come across as, well, jerks.
Posted by: Stefan Sharkansky on April 12, 2004 11:13 AMHow many people condemn the brother of the Unibomber for coming forth??
Posted by: Dean on April 12, 2004 03:57 PMMichael,
Mr. Sharkansky is probably the law-breaking neighbor himself. Why else would he waste bandwidth on a bona-fide non-story like this. I generally like reading this blog, but this entry is petty and pathetic.
Posted by: ZVI WOLFE on April 13, 2004 06:04 AM