Subjective Objectivism

A robber with… Class?

I read about a fairly strange robbery group hug at gunpoint today:

Police on Capitol Hill are baffled by an attempted robbery that began with a handgun put to the head of a teenager and ended in a group hug. – [Yahoo-AP]

From the article, the robber apparently has a fairly good tongue for wine and cheese. And likes hugs. What I thought was interesting was the fact that the off-the-cuff de-escalation tactic of inviting him to a glass of wine had the effect it did. It could easily have back-fired though. A hard core thug would hardly be interested in a glass of wine, no matter how good it is. And forget about sampling the cheese. Maybe she recognized something about him. This guy probably had a good background, was just having some problems, and made a few wrong decisions. He probably just needed a hug to begin with.

I mean it’s not the first time I’ve read about repentant robbers, but a group hug? It could also be possible that this guy was on something. And if that is the case, I’d like to have some of it. Whatever it is. Just pass it down here…

Attempted robbery ends in group hug – [yahoo/AP]

Tags: Issues, Psychology, Robbery