Hypothetical: You have to walk 10 miles, >95% of it on sidewalks, through the bad part(s) of a dangerous American city starting at 9:00 PM on a Saturday night. Who of the following (in the body of this post) would you rather have as de facto bodyguards?

1a. Those randomly chosen consent and will collectively get $10 000 if you make through safely.

2b. No one in these choices is armed: at least not when you all begin your walk.

3c. 6 oz of alcohol is 100% and can be in the form of 12 oz of 100 proof booze, 48 oz of 25 proof wine, 192 oz of 6.25 proof beer, etc.

4d. The Roman, Chinese, and Zulu groups each have a middle age female translator.

16 randomly chosen female Americans, 25 to 35

12 randomly chosen male Americans, 25 to 35, 4’9" to 5’3"

12 randomly chosen male Americans, 25 to 35, each who has drunk 6 oz of alcohol in the past 30 minutes

12 randomly chosen male Americans, 55 to 70

24 randomly chosen Americans, 65 to 80

8 randomly chosen male Americans, 25 to 35

1 random person who’s been in the US Marines for over 10 years, but is under 35

6 Roman soldiers (circa 100 AD)

8 Chinese soldiers (circa 100 AD)

4 Zulu warriors (circa 1600 AD)

1 T-800 terminator in the same condition as the one in T-2 just before it got dipped in the molten metal

  • Vanth@reddthat.com
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    4 months ago

    Do they have to follow my directions?

    Then the 24 random Americans. A large enough group that small groups won’t mess with them, ideally acting enough like dumb tourists no one will bother. Don’t start anything, just keep moving.

    All women would draw too much attention. All men would draw too much attention. Any of the soldiers would likely draw too much attention or be so dumbstruck by modern times as to be a huge liability. Terminator would draw too much attention.

    The biggest problem I see is that I’m not sure how many out of 24 “average” people could walk 10 miles.

    • DMBFFF@lemmy.worldOP
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      4 months ago

      Do they have to follow my directions?

      They want to get you through safely, if only for the $10 000.

      I suppose if any of the 24 can’t make it, they can stay behind.

      • Vanth@reddthat.com
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        4 months ago

        That sounds like they might go cowboy and eff things up. They should keep their head down and keep walking. If the first risk is people not being able to walk 10 miles, the second is someone shooting their mouth off and drawing attention to the group.

      • Vanth@reddthat.com
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        4 months ago

        Yeah, except I could see a group of single gender drawing attention. All women? Draws in men looking for a shot. All men? Draws in men looking to roll. Mixed? Looks more like people who just wandered down the wrong street and will be gone soon enough.

        24 is a lot of people, but it’s the likelihood of mixed gender that made me pick the option.

        • ℕ𝕖𝕞𝕠@midwest.social
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          4 months ago

          The whole idea of “the bad part of town” is inextricable from racism in the US, since most of these “bad parts” were created intentionally through practices like redlining, ghettofication, and white flight. I’d say “crack a history book” but this isn’t even history yet, it’s still ongoing.

          • xigoi@lemmy.sdf.org
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            4 months ago

            Enropean cities also have “bad parts” despite having a completely different history.

          • DMBFFF@lemmy.worldOP
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            4 months ago

            What do you think of a white person who’d walk through a bad part of town, alone (and without weapons), as an attempt to deal with wt:thons racism or possible racism, or at least presumption(s)?

              • DMBFFF@lemmy.worldOP
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                4 months ago

                I don’t think it’s “Oh, look at how the poor people live: how sad.” (or “how resourceful”), but more like, “You guys said that if I spent five minutes in South Central, I’d get my ass kicked; well I spent five hours walking the streets there, and it was basically a good walk with no violence.”

      • DMBFFF@lemmy.worldOP
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        4 months ago

        As they are randomly selected, the Americans could be proportionate to American demographics; but if you wish, we can make all of the Americans of East Asian descent, except for the short guys, who will be all white and of Northern European descent. Does that make you happy?

        • ℕ𝕖𝕞𝕠@midwest.social
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          4 months ago

          No! The problem is the idea that you’d need bodyguards to walk through any part of an American city. You know people live in these neighborhoods, right? And we survive our Saturday nights just fine.

          • DMBFFF@lemmy.worldOP
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            4 months ago

            Yes, and despite the hyperventilating about crime in the US by America’s political right, the murder rate has fallen these past few decades.

            Nonetheless, there are risks.

            You yourself might stride South Central LA, Bronx, Detroit, the nation’s capital, et al, with confidence, and probably incur no harm, but unless you think any of these would increase the risk to your personal safety while you walk the 10 miles, maybe you want to choose one.

  • Bizzle@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    Nobody will fuck with you for walking down the street at night in real life… except for the cops.

    • 11111one11111@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      Lol you should tell that to the 3 seperate prep cooks that were mugged walking home from work on the west side of Buffalo off Richmond Ave over the year and half I worked there.

      The best advice I can give is look at any groups of yougins walking towards you on either side of the street and walk right towards them. Cross the road to go to their side even if you think they’re guna do the same. Make yourself seem crazier than it would be worth for them to fuck with you.

      Anyone with the mindset to mug is on the same level as any predatory animal. If they smell fear your fuckin done-zo. That or have a lit joing or a open container, they’ll think you don’t give a fuck same as them. Or it will be your bartering chip.

    • DMBFFF@lemmy.worldOP
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      4 months ago

      The just-the-torso was in T-1.

      In T-2, the terminator got beaten by the T-1000, including being impaled and losing an arm.

        • Nollij@sopuli.xyz
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          4 months ago

          Ain’t no one approaching the T-800 to steal your wallet or anything. Curiosity, sure. But you don’t look at that and think “easy target”

          Now, if I’ve done something specific to be a target, I’m not sure it would be an effective bodyguard.

  • That_Devil_Girl@lemmy.ml
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    4 months ago

    I chose to forgo the bodyguards as it draws too much attention. I’d rather stealth my way across the ten miles.

  • weariedfae@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    This prompt is bizarre and seeems written by a male 14-39.

    I think I’m going with the short kings as long as the 10k is enough to protect me from them. They did consent to the escort mission and I think 10k is enough of a motivation to keep someone cooperative for a few hours. Plus I’m short too so I wouldn’t have to hear any talls bitching about pace.

    I feel like the soldiers outside of their time might have too much issue coming to terms with modernity.

    Also I think the group of women would absolutely be able to defend themselves but I don’t want to inflict this stress on a group of random women. Although they did consent and I’m assuming gave informed consent. Plenty probably said no, so the ones that said yes are feeling bold about it.

    Fuck it, I change my mind I’m going with the gaggle of sassy ladies.

    They’d all have each other’s back and are used to being on high alert. Probably pretty scrappy too. There’s no city I can think of that has 10 whole miles of "bad’ so really it would be just isolated pockets of heightened danger and a long walk otherwise.

    Plus there’s way less of a chance of them turning on me.