Re: Thugs are Stupid

[Jim Brick <jim@brick.org>]

At 06:02 PM 7/30/97 -0400, you wrote:
>
>You folks really must live in areas with some high-quality thugs.  Hell, I
>DEFEND these guys in Court, and I've yet to have a criminal client who knew
>what in blazes a Leica was.  A 'camera', sure, they'll steal a 'camera' --
>but they'd take a tinny P&S over a Leica any day of the week, as it looks
>more expensive.  These guys are DUMB, or they wouldn't be street thieves.
>They simply don't know the market, and the fences  are almost as
>ill-informed.  A pawn shop might know the true value -- but, contrary to
>their image, most pawn shops are honest operations.
>
>Now, random violence against street photographers, sure, that's a
>possibility.  But I doubt if more than 1% of our criminal element are as
>brand-conscious as some seem to think.
>
>Marc
>

This was basically my point some months ago when someone said that they
were embarrassed to take pictures of villages and farmers in India with
Leica equipment. I think I responded at that time that the MAJORITY of the
people EVERYWHERE, do not know what a Leica is. It's just a camera to 99.9%
of the masses, thugs or not. Run into another photographer, and you stand a
chance that he will have heard the name Leica.

I wear a small round red Leica pin on my lapel, every day of the year. Over
the ten years that I have been doing this, I have been asked thousands of
times "what does the pin say." It's quite obvious that they don't recognize
the Leica logo. And when I reply "Leica" they respond "what's that."

I contend that the majority of everybody, thugs included, have no clue as
to what a Leica is, and simply are aware that someone is taking pictures
with a camera.

Jim