I don't really find the form of humor especially enlightening, but that's the point of free expression. We protect the bad ideas, too.
Of course, "protect" in this case would have better been done by having a couple of rifles in the office and some guys who knew how to use them. If I were running a satirical magazine -- or a think tank -- I'd look into making sure that there was a weapons locker and some training days on the corporate calendar.
Absolutely agree with the weapons and the training. However, I think the better weapons locker is the bottom right (or left) desk drawers of the staff.
ReplyDeleteWhen seconds count is not the time to head for a locker and fumble with the lock.
Eric Hines
True enough. These guys had already been firebombed a couple of years ago. They knew what they were up against.
ReplyDeleteI'm so curious how France will react. Already there are voices arguing that the real problem is we shouldn't antagonize the nuts, not to mention the feared backlash. What they should be doing is get better armed.
I find myself wondering if this is inconsistent with my view that cops should be at least as well armed as any eelbrains they're likely to encounter on their beat. I suppose the answer is that I want the cops to be in a good position to win any predictable firefight, and I want the citizens to be in the same position--only I'm counting on them to get into firefights with the eelbrains instead of the cops, and I'm trusting them to demonstrate that good judgment by pointing their guns at the right people.
Well, this is a job for the citizens' militia -- not because the police shouldn't do it, but because they can't. Terrorists tend to select what they think will be soft targets. This is one area where the police have a role -- to respond, to cordon off, to track them if they escape -- but the citizen has an unavoidable role as well.
ReplyDeleteThere are ways to stop recurrences of this sort of thing, but they do not set well with civilized people.
ReplyDeleteThere is the conundrum-to ensure survival of the civilized, it is sometimes necessary to take a uncivilized, even barbaric approach.
IIRC, in Sir Samuel Bakers auto biography, he relates the tale of an African village which had captured an English soldier and executed him by staking him out face up and having the entire village defecate on him over many days till he was drowned in feces.
His Captain used a "barbaric" means of retribution- the company killed every man, woman and child in the village. They were under no illusions of moral equivalence.
I wish I still had that volume,IIRC,it was edited by his wife ,whom he purchased from a Ottoman slave market in Hungary. She stayed his staunch partner for the rest of her life, accompanying him on his adventures in Africa.
Never Lend Your Books! Of all material items, they seem to have the hardest time returning home.