One has only to visit the forum at VegasCabbie.net and read some exchanges to see a disturbing pattern.

Defeatism and Victimization permeate the place. The only solution to what ails is normally promoted as joining and working through the 2 Cab Unions in town. Anyone reminding these people of the historical failure of this road under their guidance is summarily tarred and feathered, slapped, and threatened with censorship if they persist in discussing the Truth and living in Reality.

The strategy of Unionism to better one’s employment is not a broken concept. The problem is not the structure but instead the mentality of those working the system. Very few who challenge these Union types believe otherwise but are made to feel as if we are and labeled as likely stooges for the Companies.

The operators of vegascabbie.net, and most if not all the Old-Timer Cabbies in Las Vegas I believe suffer from what has been coined….Capture-Bonding.

Capture-Bonding is similar to another psychological condition called the Stockholm Syndrome. The case of Patty Hearst from the mid 1970’s is probably the most famous example of the syndrome. This Victimization present is similar to what one finds in the Black Community. Finger-pointing becomes a life-style along with the promotion of historically losing strategies to overcome what has basically become a reality they have themselves created by their insistence of not taking personal responsibility for their own lives.

When one understands what qualities it takes to last and survive (notice I did not mention prosper since this is impossible under the current employment scheme by design) as a driver in the Las Vegas Taxi Market, it is easy to see why those who suffer from “capture-bonding” last as they do.

from the Defeatism link above…Fighting hard to protect yourself and your relatives is good for your genes, but when captured and escape is not possible, giving up short of dying and making the best you can of the new situation is also good for your genes.

This explains the Defeatism one sees from the Old-Timers. When one understands their Financial situation, and the fact most of these people have nothing to show for years of driving Hack, through poor money management, bad decisions, and bad habits like widespread gambling which piss-away most of their earnings, the muck these people live-in demands they find ways to point-fingers and avoid responsibility for their own bad decisions. Their being, their outlook is one of compensation and justification for their defeated position and if asked, most of them would tell you otherwise I am sure. The fact they will not allow anybody to challenge their positions and beliefs however, tells the real story.

For those of us not playing Victim, and still in a relative Objective Reality, it is important we understand the psychological aspect of the situation their Reality. Understand discussing issues with these victims will never accomplish anything really. It maybe fun to play with these people for awhile if truly bored I guess. The danger comes when we actually do want to better things and are met by their illness and simply give-up hope and slip into an isolated position most work in. Not understanding the real situation, we simply believe these Union-Boys are just closed-minded. Truth is they are sick and inquiry and confrontation is taken personally and they are obligated to get rid of you and your inquiring mind.

Understand the situation. Never assume anything. Judge the actions and not the rhetoric. Understand many of these old-timers have no other place to go and while they may give lip-service to big changes, they really do not want to rock the boat as this change threatens the reality they are stuck in. They could careless about their physical appearance. They could careless their websites are outdated, ugly, and present a horribly unprofessional image of Cab Drivers of Las Vegas. One look at>>> this website and one has to wonder….I have seen more maturity at websites created by grade-schoolers.

A Ruthie Jones (ITPE Union Rep) could careless if she presents a stupid-face at TA Meetings and does not understand the value of simply bluffing. Jones is not capable in my opinion, and thus unqualified I believe, to represent others at functions where it is expected she at least understand what is being discussed. Jones is being paid to represent others in a professional manner. Not even knowing what is being discussed is hardly acceptable but understandable once one comes to terms with the information in this article. We must have more than simply a “smiling face” representing us.

Understand also, and these people are not even consciously aware of as much I suspect, that most of their actions do the bidding for the Companies. This is dramatically seen when they ask people to simply vote YES on every Contract presented for as long as anyone can remember. One can also see this with the AB505 incident a Bill which on balance, would have given us hugely empowering tools and lead to huge pluses for everyone. The club-issue would have worked itself out and anyone telling you different simply does not understand the dynamics of that business.

Because of the psychological component present, many of the actions seen, look like they are coming FROM the Companies. This is not likely but is more an indication we have drivers around who are compelled to protect the Status Quo and the best way to do this is to do the bidding for the Companies most times.