[diddid]

I don’t think it’s entirely a mentality issue. I think North America created an environment where you wouldn’t want your 8 year old to navigate New York City. I would let my kids wander Tokyo before I would let them wander Chicago. Japan would not tolerate people spitting at and harassing children where Chicago does indeed tolerate that. I’d say ask me how I know but you could probably guess.

[Aeolun]

Guessing leaves me two options, so was you, or your children that were spit on?

Also, what could possibly lead to that happening? Someone upset they were noisy? Or just that they dared show up at all?

[cyberax]

Drugs and mentally ill people.

[johnisgood]

LA is full of those. Mostly junkies. My girlfriend often has such encounters when she takes the bus. It is awful. I am in Hungary and there is no such issues here. It is extremely safe in comparison. There was a stabbing (one in 30 years) and everyone rushed to help and to catch the perpetuator (who ended up stabbing himself anyways).

BTW I am a junkie myself, but I do not engage in such behaviors at all. And by "junkie" when referring to myself, I mean that I have an addictive personality, but I do take opiates ("only") for my mental and physical problems. I was never a safety hazard for anyone, including myself (there were times when I was, but had nothing to do with drugs). I do it at home (and before going out, too, due to its positive effects on my mobility and pain), and it makes me more emotionally stable. It sucks though, because when people think of opiates, what they picture is homeless people being unconscious on the streets with a needle coming out of their arm. No one could ever tell me that I was ever on opiates and this includes a lot of doctors. For one, it affects me differently (just like any other psychiatric medications and other drugs).

Anyways, yeah, junkies are an issue in LA and it pisses me off that my girlfriend has to always pay a lot of attention because one never knows what they might do. They are also loud, they create conflicts, and so forth.

[zo1]

And go one step further: The culture that allows drug addicts and mentally ill people to do that.

And even further: The culture that doesn't want to fix the aforementioned problem with their culture.

[nilamo]

You were wrong in both cases! The GP went to Chicago and spit on people just to prove a point /s