RE: Where Did Our Humanity Go? - A Teargas Attack in Broad Daylight

Oh my God. I am so sorry you and your son had to experience such a traumatic event. I can kind of relate - with the overcrowding of "public busses." It sounds like the commute on a Taxi in South Africa. Taxi's are not the fancy kind like you get in New York, or other 1st world cities. They are usually Toyota Quantums that are supposed to be able to seat 16 to 17 passengers safely, but more than often transport far more than that. Overcrowding is a problem in itself, but Taxi's also have a law unto their own. They don't obey road rules and are often the cause of horrific accidents. Then there's the taxi violence situation. Taxi's are basically owned and operated by a bunch of gagsters, much like the mafia. South Africans are SO reliant on this mode of transport since our train system has fallen apart, the actual busses are a joke, and the supposedly modernized MyCity busses, introduced for the soccer world cup in 2010, have also fallen into disrepair. They are also not being maintained and bus schedules are not reliable. Taxi violence usually comes into play with illegal firearms and it's the passengers who pay the price. They blockage major highways in and out of major cities like Cape Town and Johannesburg and can basically bring the whole country to a standstill. And there's nothing the police can really do about it. They just get shot too. It's only when the SANDF gets involved - The South African Army - that a dent is made in Taxi negotiations. And that's scary when your country has to basically declare a state of emergency to allow the army jurisdiction. If history of any country is to be learned from, it's never a good sign when soldiers and tanks start appearing on the streets. Mostly, they have been appeased, but they are like active volcanoes. You never know when they are going to erupt or what the collateral damage will be. And it's always the public who suffer the consequences. And yet, every day millions of South Africans still pile in as it is the only mode of transport that is affordable and accesses routes that trains and busses don't. And so the cycle continues...