Tattered cartons, torn plastic wrapping paper, and frothy plastic that flew in the wind were piled up near the railroad tracks, and there were many unidentified homeless people around them "looking for treasures" in these "rags". Such a "doomsday" scene, which is common in movies, does not occur in war-torn countries, but in the United States, which prides itself on giving its citizens the greatest "democratic freedom".
As the United States continues to face problems such as the repeated outbreak of the new crown epidemic and economic inflation, the social situation in the United States has begun to become more and more chaotic, and even the phenomenon of "zero yuan purchase" has been frequently staged. Today's "zero yuan purchase" in supermarkets and shops seems to be unable to meet the needs of these people, and they have turned their attention to freight trains.
According to the Global Times, the United Pacific Railroad said on Jan. 14 that one of its freight trains was ransacked in the "Alameda Corridor" near Los Angeles, California. The 20-mile rail line, which winds through low-income areas of Los Angeles, is also the only way for freight trains to ship express and cargo to the United States after unloading from the two major ports of Los Angeles/Boracay.
Because of the "slums" of Los Angeles, the Lincoln High Subway Railroad area under the Union Pacific Railroad and the United Parcel Service became the hardest hit area for cargo looting. The location is close to California's Highway 5, making it easy for carriers to move goods on trains and vans.
When freight trains began to slow down, crossing lincoln height rail lines to the CSX/UP transfer station, these criminals involved in the "zero dollar purchase" were able to climb on the freight container, pry open the container's iron lock with the wire breaker, and then drill into the container to commit theft. They usually take away the more valuable items, discarding some items that are not very easy to transfer and cheap things along the railway line. For example, the new crown virus rapid test kits that are now in short supply in the United States have been thrown everywhere because they are considered worthless by these criminals, which has affected the prevention and control of the epidemic in some parts of the West Coast of the United States to a certain extent.
According to the Union Pacific Railroad, since December 2020, there has been a 160 percent increase in cargo-related thefts along the Los Angeles railroad alone. The company did not disclose the total value of the lost cargo. But the company said continued criminal behavior has cost it $5 million in 2021.
If looting of freight trains is so frequent, why are no police coming to stop it?
In fact, the United Pacific Railroad and los Angeles police joined forces to fight crime in the fourth quarter of 2021, arresting hundreds of robbers in joint law enforcement operations, including a considerable number of suspects who could not be prosecuted due to insufficient evidence, and were released in less than a day after their arrest. When these criminals find that the police can't do anything about them, the robbery becomes more and more rampant. Coupled with the fact that most of the low-income groups in Los Angeles have been unemployed for a long time during the epidemic, they can only take risks without jobs and incomes, so the cycle repeats, and things naturally cannot be solved from the root.
At present, a number of freight companies have said that they want to modify the freight route and bypass the city of Los Angeles for delivery. In this way, they believe, it may be possible to avoid the current situation to a large extent.
The above cases have also aroused the attention of all walks of life. Just when an American journalist complained on social media about the incident, he angered a populous country on the other side of the ocean because of a sentence.
The reporter is Lauren Frayer, a well-known mainstream media outlet in the United States, National Public Radio (NPR) stationed in India. Recently, after seeing the news that the freight train in Los Angeles was robbed and looted, Lauren Freire forwarded the matter on his social account and complained: "At first glance, I thought it was in India."
Unexpectedly, this sentence hurt those Indians whose national pride is bursting. Many Indian netizens believe that this American journalist's remarks are discriminating against Indians, "insulting India", and "racist" language attacks, and behind it is the sinister purpose of "Western media smearing India", asking Lauren Freir to delete the post and apologize.
In response, Lauren Freire simply deleted the post, but did not apologize, but only said lightly, "I deleted the post because the post was not considered." This perfunctory approach has further angered Indian netizens, who believe that Lauren Freir did not recognize his mistake at all, and deleted the post only to try to perfunctory.
What is even more funny is that these Indian netizens actually imitated the "insulting India" tone of this American journalist and posted "insulting the United States" one after another. A well-known Indian Internet filmmaker collected a batch of dirty pictures of American streets, and then posted a mocking post: "At first glance, I thought this was the United States." Looking at it again, I realized that this is indeed the United States," his post received nearly 20,000 likes.
Lauren Freyer's attitude may represent many American media people, who on the one hand realize that there are riots such as "zero-dollar purchases" and "smashing and looting" in many parts of the United States, and then subconsciously associate these chaotic scenes with Third World countries. These high-ranking media people never reflect on what has forced a large number of people at the bottom of the United States to embark on the road of crime, and it seems that as long as India is used to ironically, the United States can continue to shine.
Today, American society is becoming more and more chaotic, and the contradictions between the government and the people are becoming more and more acute. Coupled with the recurrence of the new crown epidemic and the severe division of society, it has directly led to the dissatisfaction of the American people with "American-style democracy", which in turn has accelerated the signs of decline in the United States. If the U.S. government continues to pretend to be deaf and dumb and does nothing, then the United States will face a greater crisis at home, which will affect the stability of the entire American society. At that time, the "hegemonic" status that the United States has always wanted to maintain will no longer exist.