Having killed Drummer Rigby, they were killing time: It took 20 minutes for the somnolent British constabulary to show up. And so television viewers were treated to the spectacle of a young man, speaking in the vowels of south London, chatting calmly with his “fellow Britons” about his geopolitical grievances and apologizing to the ladies present for any discomfort his beheading of Drummer Rigby might have caused them, all while drenched in blood and still wielding his cleaver.The world is changing that way.
If you’re thinking of getting steamed over all that, don’t. Simon Jenkins, the former editor of the Times of London, cautioned against “mass hysteria” over “mundane acts of violence....”
Being jumped by barbarians with machetes is certainly “mundane” in Somalia and Sudan, but it’s the sort of thing that would once have been considered somewhat unusual on a sunny afternoon in south London — at least as unusual as, say, blowing up eight-year-old boys at the Boston Marathon.
It's only a little more shameful than the situation in Sweden, where the persons in stylized clothing masquerading as policemen stand around and watch the rioting, because avoiding getting caught up in the kerfuffle is more important than putting an end to the riots and the rioters. Until the riots die down for a moment, at which point the meter maids dutifully step right up and plant parking tickets on the illegally parked burned out hulks.
ReplyDeleteWe are the last bastion, and we're crumbling.
Eric Hines
Those that lack the spine and stomach to have any beliefs strong enough that they would kill for or die for, can just fall on their sword right now. For the future war of good vs evil amongst humanity will not be decided by them, one way or another.
ReplyDeleteLead, fight, or get out of the way. For you will be churned into mud by either side one way or another; there are no "neutrals" in this war.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_Qpy0mXg8Y
ReplyDeleteThat video was very entertaining. I knew some of that from studying ancient technology and war making from those civilizations, but not as much as that guy.
Justinian might have wanted to save the resources he sent to "retake" Rome and put it back somewhere else that was actually important. Probably one of the dumbest things ever. But I'm sure they'll be calling Obama the Just soon enough.
Those who thought they knew the true nature of Islam in 2001, knew almost nothing. Those who thought they knew the true nature of Obama and the Left in 2008, knew almost nothing in truth.
The onion of evil continues to peel off. Take a seat and keep watching. For you haven't seen anything yet.
The Mail reports 11 people have been arrested and some denied bail for making anti muslim comments on social media following Rigby's murder. Apparently there is an organization specifically to look for and report these thought crimes. In a related theme, red paint was sprayed on London War Memorials , but a motive for the desecration has not been established, despite the fact the word Islam was written in large red letters.
ReplyDeleteSteyn needs to get his facts straight.
ReplyDeleteThe police were on the scene 9 minutes after the first 999 call. Perhaps if they were psychic, they could have arranged to get there before the attack but you know how lazy police are these days.
I'm sure he regrets any error, although the 20 minute figure is one I've seen widely in news reports. The point isn't, though, that it's nine minutes or twenty minutes; or that it was relatively fast or relatively slow. Unlike in the Sweden case, I don't think anyone believes the police in South London didn't do what they were supposed to do.
ReplyDeleteThe issue that the members of society has to harden itself against this stuff, because even if it's five minutes, it's five minutes too late. That's not their fault, it's the nature of the problem.
Well, I agree with that but Steyn's prose (which I initially took to be yours until I re-read more carefully before leaving a comment, and noticed the indent) explicitly paints the police as slothful or asleep at the wheel.
ReplyDeleteAs you know, that sort of thing bothers me very much whether it is aimed at the military or any other profession. People rely on bad information and criticize because it's easy to do so. There's no cost to being wrong when you're a pundit...or a professional journalist, for that matter.
There has been a lot of talk of late about whether police should even *be* armed. I thought this an amusing counterpoint to that debate (though it, too, quotes the incorrect response time of 20 minutes):
“If people don’t want an armed response unit to take 20 minutes to arrive through pretty heavy London traffic, the answer is to have policemen armed routinely.
“That is something I don’t want to see.”
The ironic thing is that if you do the math, it actually took bystanders longer to call the incident in than it did for the police to respond. But I haven't heard anyone complain about that.
Curious.
If we were to take Robert Peels principles of policing seriously, the public would be armed- After all, the police are just the paid public servants doing full time what the citizen must do when he can.
ReplyDeleteThis condition will occur, given time- if the state abdicates it's duty to protect, then the people will step into that vacuum.
This condition will occur, given time- if the state abdicates it's duty to protect, then the people will step into that vacuum.
ReplyDeleteBetter, though, if we did it on purpose, with a measure of organization, training/practice, and deliberation, rather than drifting into it. That would, more likely, lead to a vengeance-driven form of vigilantism.
Eric Hines
Organizations tend to be spotted by drones and then terminated in a fire.
ReplyDeleteOrganizations can be powerful assuming there's anyone competent at the helm. Or at least know who the real enemies are to point the organization's power towards.
Those that do not desire vengeance for something, never loved that something all that great to begin with. That's a different issue from deciding on what to act using that desire for revenge. But the desire has to be there, and it has to be great, else there was no point in having something to protect in the beginning. And there was no point in losing it either.
The goal of complaint is not to fix the police. It is to destroy the enemy using fire and propaganda. In that sense, whatever serves the cause is correct. Whatever doesn't, is wrong. Once the enemy is removed, then the police, almost automatically, become better or at least easily fixed. Whether this is a good or evil thing, really depends on the user's good or evil.
Better, though, if we did it on purpose, with a measure of organization, training/practice, and deliberation, rather than drifting into it. That would, more likely, lead to a vengeance-driven form of vigilantism.
ReplyDeleteAmen, Mr. Hines.