German
Spanish
French
Italian
Portuguese
Japanese
Korean
Russian
ChineseSuperman that Ho on the MARTA
Contributed by Fred Camino on May 12th, 2008 at 12:20 pm
Part of the Transit Oriented Lifestyle is coming into contact with the craziest people on earth every once in a while. I know in L.A. I’ve had my fair share of run-ins with people who are clearly mentally deranged, but this clip of a woman screaming, ranting, and … freestyle rapping at an old lady on MARTA in Atlanta may just take the cake. Let’s just remember that these people are the exception, not the rule, when it comes to transit riders.
Discussion
Both comments and pings are currently closed.
Please keep discussions civil: exercise Troll Controll.
Wow, kinda makes most of the things I’ve seen in L. A. seem mild in comparison.
Aw - that isn’t that bad.
What is wrong with the dudes at the end of the film who pushed that psycho girl around? That is a recipe for more trouble than anyone wants to be in.
that’s great how everyone just stood around and watched the crazy terrorize that old lady.
wonderful.
I hear what you saying Peter, but that’s just the way it is nowadays, people do not want to get involved. A shame but that’s just reality.
Well, duh, because if someone involves with this crazy girls craziness, they are going to feel her wrath and it isn’t going to go anywhere. The best thing to do is to make it seem like she isn’t there.
I’m so tired of people that act like this. High schoolers, middle school kids, immature 20 year olds. Like, do you really have to act like that? Didnt your parents teach you any better?
ANYWAYS this subtitle video is so fucking funny.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LAFmuAbIds
I understand folks don’t want to get involved with the crazy - I sure wouldn’t, but at what point does someone have to do something? It was _real_ close to getting violent. I mean, that lady could have been my mother, or my grandmother. I would have gone beserk on anyone treating my mom or grandmom like that. Can you imagine? How can anyone, myself included, not intervene?
Would I have been able to sit there while this crazy dished out insane verbal abuse, at least, to this old lady? Golly, man. Brutal. Could I live with myself if I didn’t do something?
Even the violent moves the crazy was making towards the old lady, I believe, would constitute the crime of ‘assault’ - some form of it.
I’ve been in plenty of those situations - too many, and I always think back to them. Sometimes I do something, and sometimes not. It’s been a while, but I remember some of the incidents well - like the time I saw some drunk dude kickin the crap out of his girlfriend as they made their way across the street, right in the middle of heavy traffic. There are lots of factors that go into an ‘intervention’ decision, but you always hope that ‘fear/cowardice’ doesn’t come into play too much.
I guess the proper thing to do is wait until it actually _does_ get violent, because that’s the only way you’d be able to subdue the crazy without getting your own teeth kicked in. It sure sounded like people were defending the crazy, there, at the end. Not sure, though.
I’ve definitely been intimidated on my share of public transit, too - including MARTA, and I’m not the smallest dude in the world. Usually gangs of roving teens, but we definitely need to build community. It’d be nice to know we all have each others’ backs - like the NY Subway episode a while ago:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDd-RyDmvZo
The sad part is, that MARTA girl was obviously crazy/high/drunk/etc. If someone is that angry, they have a history of abuse - has to be.
What I would have liked to have seen, is one dude, followed by seven to ten others get up and subdue the girl - get her to move away from the old lady, at a minimum. At the next stop I would have halted the train and called MARTA police. That’s it.
I’m the last person in the world to want to involve police - but life is full of compromises.
p.s. That ‘crazy’ youtube mock video seems a bit on the racist side to me.
Here’s an update - not sure how legit the info is:
http://metroriderla.com/2008/05/12/superman-that-ho-on-the-marta/
That was a great video Peter… you know, sometimes you get from people what you least expect.
When I’ve encountered this in the past I get off the bus/train and catch the next one. Fortunately the routes I take are such that the headways allow this.
I will condemn her actions now and on this web site, but if I were on that bus with her she would be entirely in the right. Nothing she is doing is wrong.
You know what, it’s not my bus. It’s your bus. I am sorry for getting on this bus. What was I thinking? It’s yours. You own it. I will get off now. Thank you.
The bus belongs to those who want it most. Don’t pick a fight with someone who cares less about their life than you care about yours. You will never win.
^ Thank you, summed it up quite nicely.
2 things:
1. we don’t say “the MARTA,” just “MARTA”
2. In Atlanta, people refer to MARTA as “Moving Africans Rapidly Through Atlanta,” due to the paucity of white people on the train. Despite this, the train system is actually fairly quick and advanced and pretty much a pleasure to ride compared to slower/older systems.
Thats so racist its unbelievable. How do you know theyre AFRICAN. What if they come from a small town in mexico that happens to have black people in it? Or Dominican Republic? Puerto Rico? Gross.
“Moving Africans Rapidly Through Atlanta”
Haha I’ll have to remember that as one of the great racial acronyms. My favorite is still NBC, “No Blacks or Coloreds”.
This is the South we’re talking about. You’re shocked?
How about this one: MARTA itself used to run “secret” bus routes for black domestics. These lines would have numbers, but they wouldn’t be issued schedules or appear on system maps or bus stop signs with MARTA’s local bus services.
I rode MARTA last year from the airport to Buckhead (a nice neighborhood with hotels, a big mall, etc.) It seemed ok, probably closer to BART than to LA Metro in terms of cleanliness, but I felt safe riding it. And there were all colors of people on board as well. Quite a few air crew riding with me to and from the airport….
Gating fans will love MARTA gates, they’re about 6 feet tall. No-one’s jumping over these! They use RFID cards to get in and out of the system.
As for the crazy person…unless you have particular training in handling them, probably best to
a. first make yourself safe (change cars or whatever)
b. report to
Not a good idea to confront them directly, again unless you have special training….
By the way, Southern California has a MARTA, too.
Mountain Area Regional Transit Authority serves the Big Bear area. The Off the Mountain buses go from Big Bear to San Bernardino.
Thanks Wad.. that’s good to know.
Has anyone out there been chastised by nitpicky Bay Area residents that “It’s 101, not the 101?” Seems like Atlanta is the (unlikely) new Bay Area.
So the goal of rapid transit is to attract as much white ridership as possible? Good thing the BRU hasn’t heard of this guy, they’d have a field day.
i’m not blown away by the crazy, ult ent for sure, but more blown away by the audacity and fearless wits of the camera person. just rollin that cam through it all, even when she was damn near looking directly at it. medal of honor.
The remix.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13npVQnFFoc
Having been an MTA (and RTD before that) user on and off for years (yes I have owned cars, right now I am in a transit phase) I have come across many people this crazy. Not that often, but over the years they add up.
You can’t berate the other passengers in this clip. At first, they do try to ignore her, maybe she’ll go away, or at least quiet down eventually.
But after a couple of minutes of this psycho abusing an old lady, they take action. At first, Dude tries to be nice and tells her to just “chill out.” Psycho woman doesn’t take kindly to this, and continues her yelling and name calling. Eventually, guy gets fed up and grabs her hat off her stupid head. Doesn’t hit her! Just takes her hat. She goes ballistic, screaming “WHERE MY DOO RAG AT!!!” and then “I’M PRESSING CHARGES! I’M PRESSING CHARGES!!!” What a loon.
I’m just guessing, but maybe she didn’t get enough attention from Daddy? Who knows. But people like this have to be (non-violently) put in the place, based on their actions.