Bars On the Window of an Apartment

was thinking about this on the way home from school last night. bare are strange in that they suggest entrapment while offering protection. ironically, they also heighten our awareness of threat, calling attention to the defenses that we feel we must muster against it. perhaps a sense of entrapment is what allows us to feel protected, like an animal in a cave. our options for escape may be limited, but at least we are held by something stronger than we might be alone.

i wonder if these same relationships exist in more passive protection systems: car alarms, say. i suppose they must. though the electronic cage is invisible, we still perceive it, still bang against its bars. it announces itself to us in the fobs we must carry, a reassuring procession of beeps and bings, the endless false alarms to which we must attend. i suspect in fact that no sense of protection can exist absent reminders of that which protects (and so contains) us. this scales out in every direction, from the clothes on our backs to the governments we create.

bars protect against threat, in return for an acceptable degree of entrapment. bars create a sense of entrapment, justified by the protection they offer. not suggesting that this is a novel idea...

goddam it. move to ILE.

got it

Like when they had fences around football pitches.

― Mark G, Thursday, 28 October 2010 10:36 (0 seconds ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Ooh, thread got confused and dropped my message during the move!

extending the government idea... perhaps the reason draconian/authoritarian governments appeal to people (some people, sometimes) is that they function as a form of protective cage. the more you feel at threat, the more you want to be put in a big, strong, unyielding box. like, it's not that people accept repression because they don't understand what they're asking for, but rather that they actually desire repression, as a form of parental embrace.

^ terribly obvious now that i've posted it. ah well

it announces itself to us in the fobs we must carry, a reassuring procession of beeps and bings, the endless false alarms to which we must attend.

It's honestly not that big of a deal to have an alarm. I don't get where you're coming up with this correlation between protection and repression.

Basically, if you do not want to have bars on your windows, move to a neighborhood where you are less likely to be burglarized. Even then, having an alarm is a good idea because they are really pretty cheap for the protection they provide, plus you can get a discount on your homeowner's insurance.

it's more about protection and containment, repression being an extreme and negative form of containment. not all containment is negative, though. "limitation" might be another way to say the same thing. like a locked door can limit exit as well as entry. we accepts limitations of this or that sort in return for reassurance. agree that the argument becomes harder to justify in the case of less physically constraining forms of containment (car alarms, etc).

I requested that bars be put on the windows othe apartment I'm living in right now

I don't see how having bars on the windows of an apartment can constitute containment, unless you're always hopping in and out through your windows.

Having lived in a few neighborhoods in my time, the only places where I had bars on the windows they were less for reassurance than out-and-out safety.

Cntdr, the bars on most or all windows sitch has kept me from considering apartments, for sure. Agreed w you on all points.

But I wouldn't nix an apartment with bars from my search on grounds of feeling trapped by the bars. I'd nix it in hopes that I could land an apartment somewhere outside Burglaryville.

Doors: are they a "way in and out" or do they just create an illusion of mobility while actually trapping us?

The toaster oven: a false choice?

Microwaves: they seem to cook things faster, but really they are speeding up time.

Yes, I am sitting in my boxer shorts, looking around my apartment for other fixtures and appliances to make these jokes about.

I don't see how having bars on the windows of an apartment can constitute containment, unless you're always hopping in and out through your windows.

It doesn't constitute containment, it suggests containment on a semiotic level. And yes, one of the most obvious methods of government control is to make people feel like they're under threat.

Yes, I am sitting in my boxer shorts, looking around my apartment for other fixtures and appliances to make these jokes about.

Think closer to home, dude.

btw, bars on apartment windows: not much use if you are trapped in your room and your apartment is on fire.

And yes, one of the most obvious methods of government control is to make people feel like they're under threat.

But government doesn't put bars in peoples windows! Private property owners do!

~the microfascisms of everyday life~

Yeah, I could never live in a place with bars on the windows. If a thief is really intent on breaking into your place, they'll manage it. Especially considering how thin and crappy most apartment doors are.

But government doesn't put bars in peoples windows! Private property owners do!

I was quite obviously responding to another of contenderizer's posts with that sentence. Try reading the whole thread.

I think it's just kind of sad. It reminds me of going into a store in which there is security alarms, cameras, personnel...the assumption being that everyone who enters the store is a potential criminal, no one can be trusted, etc. The bars and other security apparatus serve in part as concretized examples of the background fear and suspicion of others that permeates and limits our lives.

Bars are de rigeur in any Cuban home in Miami – I mean, it goes without saying.

Even our "virtual" worlds are contaminated by these things-- to be wise is to have powerful security measures set up on our computers, browsers, and so forth so that we can defend ourselves against the legions of hackers, virus-spreaders, phishers, etc., that are waiting to assault us and our property anytime that we are online.

Banal observations, but it doesn't make it any less sad, I think.

My parents resisted the bars for many years until our house was burgled twice in '91 (I was in the house when it happened).

Yikes, that can be such a traumatic thing, even if you're not there at the time. Even just the phrase "home invasion", is disturbing-sounding

pretty much every taiwanese apartment building built before say 2000 looks like this: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2302/2227490915_5b23f24868_o.jpg

so ugly. why you need bars on every window of your 15th floor apartment idg.

so unsupervised small children don't fall out of them?

pissed me off when a landlord made my solid doors into window doors. trying to make it all bucolic so they can jack up the rent anyways how bout paving the chewed up parking lot first. i got windows for looking out the fucking window (no bars) it's not liberating its stupid even if it is a so called good neighborhood. tbh stay out my shit

Which ILX posters make you fully bar up??

RE: bars

Where else are you going to put your plants?

But government doesn't put bars in peoples windows! Private property owners do!

i'm suspicious of the distinction drawn here between government and private property owners. we all know what we mean by "government" and i'm not trying to subvert that, but governing bodies exist at every level of human social interaction, and they share characteristics in common. it's not the way we normally think of the world, but we have unofficial "governments" in families, groups of friends, business relationships, etc., just as we do on the municipal, state and national level. the relationship between a landlord and a tenant is similar in certain ways to the relationship between a federal government and a citizen.

eeeps. "it's not the way we normally think of the word, but..."

contenderizer itt is like

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOwtNqDJ0D8

bill stevenson looking pretty HOOS-like in that clip

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4HQyqc-aVU

the relationship between a landlord and a tenant is similar in certain ways to the relationship between a federal government and a citizen.

― naked human hands and a foam rubber head (contenderizer), Thursday, October 28, 2010 12:43 PM (1 hour ago)

it's a lot easier to change apartments than it is to expatriate.

for one thing

those taiwanese bars look more like they are extensions than for security, actually more space, less confinement.

those concertina-style folding bars are ugly but would let you escape, assuming the key was handy. i'd prefer something that looked like it was designed by CR Macintosh.

i like having bars on my windows

do you still live in b-more?

b-ing-more protected from burglars

I hate the accordion ones, I think they're ugly. have had the iron ones on hinges, so they're hinged and you can padlock them. just on the window that led to the fire escape, though, because you could walk down the whole block on the roofs of the buildings - they were all the same height. so you cd climb down the fire escapes to any floor.

i have the iron ones that are small diamonds

not really bars, more like a grate

so unsupervised small children don't fall out of them?

this doesnt really explain why every room in the country is encased in metal bars, and then, aren't there less severe solutions for the small % of homes with agile 4 yr olds...?

those taiwanese bars look more like they are extensions than for security, actually more space, less confinement.

yeah but this is not how it feels imo. like you could make a little shelf if you want the room, but why bars? a lot of them don't just out like in that picture. literally almost every window in the country. the other thing is that for some reason every window has different bars, so it's such a mess to behold.

Landlords might be required to install some kind of barrier on windows of any unit with children resident. Over time, that could be all the units in a property, and would also account for different styles being bought at diff times.

we have billboards here that warn people that kids fall out of windows and die.

determent and prevention yo

Landlords might be required to install some kind of barrier on windows of any unit with children resident. Over time, that could be all the units in a property, and would also account for different styles being bought at diff times.

hmm that makes sense, not sure if it's correct but it's more convincing than the explanation that there was a proliferation of "spider-thieves" in the 1960s

there seems to be a new mvmt towards better urban development/aesthetic awareness over the last few yrs and the bars are being used less and less possibly as part of that

I think it's just kind of sad. It reminds me of going into a store in which there is security alarms, cameras, personnel...the assumption being that everyone who enters the store is a potential criminal, no one can be trusted, etc. The bars and other security apparatus serve in part as concretized examples of the background fear and suspicion of others that permeates and limits our lives.

― dude (del), Thursday, October 28, 2010 9:45 AM Bookmark

Wait, sorry, no. The assumption is not that everyone is a criminal, it's that eventually someone who walks in will be a criminal. Which is generally true. Stores don't invest in security unless they are at real risk of being robbed. Big stores that have security usually have it because they deal with tons of shoplifting. If you're talking about smaller urban convenience stores it's generally because they've either been robbed or nearby stores have. It's not fascism - there is actual crime in the world.

the effect is the same either way. if you've ever been followed around and heavily eyeballed by a store's security personnel or been hassled when a store's alarm thing beeps as you exit after having your purchase run up, then maybe you would feel similarly. fwiw i didn't use the "f" word in this thread; someone else did, and furthermore i'm not especially trying to point fingers at individual store owners, mostly i'm trying to express that the overall effect is unpleasant and contributes to a hostile, dehumanizing environment for all concerned. additionally i'm not really sure how effective those types of measures are in reducing stolen merchandise over time.

if i'm conducting business with someone in my community, then it's nice if there does not have to be a bulletproof glass in-between us when doing so. yeah there is "actual crime" in the world, but if you treat everyone as if they are criminals (and i don't see how this is not the overall effect by default, unless one is privy to some mystical knowledge concerning a given merchant's profiling habits) more people than would otherwise will likely assume that form over time

magical thinking imo

which part? that if ppl are treated like criminals they are more prone to take up the role in earnest?

the roots of crime are more socioeconomic than "local shopkeeper treats ppl like criminals"

by that logic, if the little strip of downtown shops in my town all of a sudden put bars and bulletproof glass everywhere then there would be an increase in the crime rate

and I don't think there would be

i assume that would be included in the "socio-" part, though. anyhow maybe your town should do just that to keep bad elements such as yourself at bay

I think the townspeople would be all like "why so paranoid man just gimme my ice cream"

seriously, though, i think it would contribute to an increased crime level, not necessarily in terms of those shops suddenly being targeted, but more peripheral stuff as a result of a grimmer, more oppressive environment

maybe if they painted the bars yellow and green and put elephant stickers on the bulletproof glass, would that reduce the crime rate

i guess, insofar as confusion might stop some would-be criminals in their tracks. probably warrants a study on crime rates involving toddlers in playpens

well, this leads into endlessly debatable stuff like the broken window theory. my take on this is that social spaces of every sort create "zones of permission". i.e., the nature of a social space defines the sorts of things we are implicitly permitted to do in it. we are led to understand what we're allowed (and not allowed) to do here or there by various means: signs, furnishings, childhood lessons, the law, the responses of others, etc. but one way or another, spaces communicate their tolerances and expectations to us.

of course we can ignore or violate these rules, but most don't, most of the time. and i want to clarify that the nature these "permissions" isn't always what it seems. bulletproof glass separating the clerks from customers in a grubby little run-down corner market might seem to indicate that gunplay isn't allowed, but quite to the contrary: it indicates very clearly that gunplay is expected, and thus permitted (in the sense that i'm using the word).

i won't go so far to say these sorts of protective containment systems actively encourage threatening behavior, but it's an interesting idea to consider.

bulletproof glass separating the clerks from customers in a grubby little run-down corner market might seem to indicate that gunplay isn't allowed, but quite to the contrary: it indicates very clearly that gunplay is expected, and thus permitted (in the sense that i'm using the word).

agree. it's letting ppl who enter it know that they are in a warzone. maybe it's a good idea to arm one's self in such a space

maybe it is a warzone tho?

i think bulletproof glass & crime relationship is a lot more chicken and egg than broken window theory

oh, it is. people respond to their situations, and people in dangerous situations respond more defensively. basic human (animal) nature, and sensible besides. but i suspect that there's a give and take dynamic at work. as the social environment comes to reflect people's anxieties and defenses, overall quality of life deteriorates, apathy and hostility increase, and as a result, so does threat.

broken window theory suggests that you can combat this tendency by presenting a unified response that establishes different sorts of permissions. problem, of course, is that it has to be unified, and that's very hard to manage in complex systems. like, the NY transit authority can do it with subways, but that's only because they have total control of the whole system. a single shopkeeper can't respond in a similar manner.

bulletproof glass is expensive and unpleasant for the shopkeeper, so it's hard for me to believe that the shopkeeper would install it unless there was a very strong perceived need for it. Of course I guess you can speculate about whether that need is real or shaped by media perception or something, but it's also true that in many neighborhoods where convenience stores have glass it's also hard to get certain other kinds of stores, like groceries, to set up shop at all. I won't say that environment doesn't contribute to crime, but I think the root causes are far more easily found in poverty, drugs, availability of guns, the penal system, etc.

Also in re iron bars -- they can be made to look quite nice.

current safety standards require window bars to be equipped w/ a safety latch on the inside that pops the bars open. in my work i've seen three types: one that's like a big button you push, one that's like a handle you pull, and one that's more like a crank that you turn.

they may be ugly and make your neighborhood look like shit, but they keep people from climbin' in your windows and snatchin' your people up.

yeah. no problem with escaping in a fire, they open from the inside!

if you have good locks on your windows i don't really see the point of bars. are burglars really going to smash the glass? i say this as someone who has been burgled three times. i am wayy, way pro good locks.

I don't know, I thought it wasn't that hard to jimmy a lot of windows. It's the landlord's choice for most people in a city anyway, and I tend to think a landlord is better situated to know what's the best, most cost-effective way to secure a window (although maybe bars are more for the sake of making the tenant feel safe?)

Landlords in NYC with children under a certain age in residence are required to put up these toddler-safe things, they're not full window grates but they're a simple hash-mark sort of grid that expands to window size, and gets screwed into the frame. Not meant to stop a burglar, and wouldn't. FULL grates are a first-floor phenomenon, usually not the floors above that unless they're accessible via fire escape or something.

The fancy ironworked kind with a ledge for your AC or for some nice plants would be so preferable, but I find are mostly limited to nice brownstones. Yr average landlord isn't paying more for something that's more work and more materials than the simpler version. :(

Except for the Hasids, for some reason (possibly about 10 reasons per family, ages 25-2), every apartment in South Williamsburg has fully barred windows that jut out almost into little porches.

we had exactly one half of one window barred at my last apartment (the part that slides open, you lay the broomstick handle so it doesn't open for maximum burgle protection i guess), and the rest of the windows were old and solid but probably a joke as far as security, i dunno. i've opted for alarms both real and makeshift for most of the doors and windows since we moved, more portable and probably more effective and fire-safe than what my current landlords would want to shell out for

What about those windows with internal meshing? Maybe not so ugly.

You mean with embedded chicken wire, like in jails and mental institutions? Yeah.

Schools too!

When the apt. complex I lived in a few years ago got hit by a burglary, I bought a whole ton of cactuses and placed them around my only vulnerable window.

http://www.thecinemasource.com/moviesdb/images/news/Home_Alone-Macauley_Culkin.jpg

> What about those windows with internal meshing?

it's called georgian glass or georgian wired glass. i don't know why.

Because it thinks it's fancy.