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How can anyone be a bystander while someone is stabbed? Mark Steyn
Steyn Online ^ | 12 Sep 2003 | Mark Steyn

Posted on 09/12/2003 7:26:42 PM PDT by Rummyfan

How can anyone be a bystander while someone is stabbed? By Mark Steyn (Filed: 13/09/2003)

On September 11, 2001, the first individual to be named among the dead was the wife of the US Solicitor-General, Barbara Olson, whom I'd sat next to at dinner a couple of months earlier. On September 11, 2003, I woke to the news of the death of the Swedish foreign minister, Anna Lindh, whom I also sat next to a couple of months ago, at a conference. I can't claim anything other than the most casual acquaintance with either lady, but even an accidental proximity to the victims of terrible murder is sobering.

Miss Lindh was a charmer, even if you didn't agree with a word she said. It wasn't until afterwards that I found out she liked to refer to Bush as "the Lone Ranger" and that she'd complained about America dropping bombs on six al-Qa'eda terrorists in Yemen. She believed in the "Swedish model", a phrase that to Don Rumsfeld probably means Anita Ekberg, but that Swedes understand as the most advanced form of European cradle-to-grave welfare democracy.

But, for the second time in as many weeks, I find myself wondering where European statism is heading. In France, where the death toll in the brutal Gallic summer is now up to 15,000, the attitude of Junior to the funny smell coming from grandma's apartment was the proverbial Gallic shrug and a demand that the government do something about it. On Thursday, Swedes, though more upset, took much the same line:

"This can happen to anyone, anywhere," said Annika, described as "a 24-year-old bystander", at the scene of the attack. "She should have had bodyguards."

There seem to have been an awful lot of bystanders to Miss Lindh's stabbing - in broad daylight, in a crowded department store, after being pursued by her assailant up an escalator. Granted that many of the people bystanding around were women, it still seems odd - at least from my side of the Atlantic - that no one attempted to intervene or halt the blood-drenched killer as he calmly left the store. I'm inclined to agree with Jimmy Hoffa that I'd rather jump a gun than a knife - and even Jimmy's luck ran out eventually - but, if just a handful of the dozens present had acted rather than bystanding, Miss Lindh might still be dead, but her killer would be in jail and not en route, like Olof Palme's, to becoming yet another man that got away.

"It's terrible wherever it happens," said Fredrik Sanabria. "But you think you would be safe from this kind of violence in a country like Sweden."

Really? Why would you think that? Sweden's violent crime and murder rates have been going up, up, up over the past quarter-century. But just about every Swede quoted in every news story seems mired in what National Review's Dave Kopel described, after 9/11, as "the culture of passivity". The lone exception was Lanja Rashid, a Kurdish immigrant. "If I had been there at the stabbing, I would have ripped his face off," she said. "How could people just stand back and watch?"

You can blame it on a lack of police, as everyone's doing. But Miss Lindh's killer didn't get away with it because of the people who weren't there, but because of the people who were: the bystanders. When I bought my home in New Hampshire, I heard a strange rustling one night and, being new to rural life, asked my police chief the following morning, if it had turned out to be an intruder, whether I should have called him at home. "Well, you could," said Al. "But it would be better if you dealt with him. You're there and I'm not." That's the best advice I've ever been given.

This isn't an argument for guns, it's more basic than that: it's the difference between a citizen and a nanny-state baby. In Lee Harris's forthcoming book Civilization And Its Enemies, he talks about the threat of societal forgetfulness: "Forgetfulness occurs when those who have been long inured to civilized order can no longer remember a time in which they had to wonder whether their crops would grow to maturity without being stolen or their children sold into slavery by a victorious foe."

But Anna Lindh would have thought that was just American cowboy talk, too raw, too primal to be of relevance in Europe. After 9/11, my wife bought me a cellphone, so that, in the event I found myself in a similar situation, I could at least call my family one last time. It's not much use up here in the mountains, so I never bothered getting it out of the box. If I ever am on a hijacked plane, while everyone else is dialling home, I'll be calling AT&T or Verizon trying to set up an account.

But, of course, no one will ever hijack an American plane ever again - not because of idiotic confiscations of tweezers, but because of the brave passengers on the fourth flight. That's why the great British shoebomber had barely got the match to his sock before half the cabin pounded the crap out of him. Even the French. To expect the government to save you is to be a bystander in your own fate.


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: annalindh; apathy; assassination; assassinationplots; barbaraolson; civilization; leeharris; lindh; loneranger; marksteyn; marksteynlist; murder; olson; passivity; stabbing; steyn; theloneranger; welfare; yemen
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Steyn Alert!
1 posted on 09/12/2003 7:26:43 PM PDT by Rummyfan
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To: Pokey78; quidnunc
Ping!
2 posted on 09/12/2003 7:27:18 PM PDT by Rummyfan
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To: Rummyfan
...whom I'd sat next to at dinner a couple of months earlier. ... whom I also sat next to a couple of months ago...

Remind me never to dine with this fellow.
3 posted on 09/12/2003 7:32:01 PM PDT by Russian Sage
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To: Rummyfan
I truly love this man of words.
4 posted on 09/12/2003 7:32:54 PM PDT by Conservababe
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To: Rummyfan
Now, now, Mark... the Swedes were simply acting as they have been taught to act. Like sheep.
5 posted on 09/12/2003 7:34:25 PM PDT by wizardoz (Bomb Hollywood!)
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To: Rummyfan
Steyn at his best. The rest of the media, if they even noticed that there were bystanders, evidently didn't think anything about it.
6 posted on 09/12/2003 7:36:00 PM PDT by Cicero (Marcus Tullius)
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To: Rummyfan; Pokey78; knighthawk; JohnHuang2
To expect the government to save you is to be a bystander in your own fate.

Steyn, the one and only.

7 posted on 09/12/2003 7:37:28 PM PDT by TopQuark
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To: Rummyfan
"To expect the government to save you is to be a bystander in your own fate. "
8 posted on 09/12/2003 7:38:05 PM PDT by gcruse (http://gcruse.typepad.com/)
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To: Rummyfan
This isn't an argument for guns, it's more basic than that: it's the difference between a citizen and a nanny-state baby.

Take care of yourself first and let the state take care of you second or even third.
Good advice at any time.

9 posted on 09/12/2003 7:38:19 PM PDT by Just another Joe (FReeping can be addictive and helpful to your mental health)
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To: Rummyfan
The lone exception was Lanja Rashid, a Kurdish immigrant. "If I had been there at the stabbing, I would have ripped his face off," she said. "How could people just stand back and watch?"

Unilaterist cowboy.

10 posted on 09/12/2003 7:43:40 PM PDT by Roscoe Karns
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To: Rummyfan
This man is one of the best minds in journalism today. He is wonderful.
11 posted on 09/12/2003 7:49:04 PM PDT by ItisaReligionofPeace ((the original))
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To: Roscoe Karns
The Kurds appear to be good folks.
12 posted on 09/12/2003 7:50:10 PM PDT by ItisaReligionofPeace ((the original))
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To: Rummyfan
Oh, someone will notify the authorities!
13 posted on 09/12/2003 7:52:59 PM PDT by UnklGene
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To: Rummyfan
"When I bought my home in New Hampshire, I heard a strange rustling one night and, being new to rural life, asked my police chief the following morning, if it had turned out to be an intruder, whether I should have called him at home. "Well, you could," said Al. "But it would be better if you dealt with him. You're there and I'm not." That's the best advice I've ever been given."

With the exodus of so many liberal tax emigres from Massachusetts, New Hampshire is home to fewer of these 'understanding' police chiefs.
14 posted on 09/12/2003 8:00:15 PM PDT by thegreatbeast (Quid lucrum istic mihi est?)
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To: Rummyfan; BartMan1
The idea that this Swedish statist was a random victim, as was reported elsewhere, does not ring true to me.

Islamism is loose in Europe.

Once the politicians who don't fear it are gone, those that do fear it will show the world a new definition for tyranny.

15 posted on 09/12/2003 8:01:12 PM PDT by IncPen
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To: Rummyfan
in broad daylight, in a crowded department store, after being pursued by her assailant up an escalator.

I hadnot heard that.

I thought she was either stabbed by someone when she resisted them grabbing her purse or money, or else a stealth assasin, who got away because it wasn't noticed she was stabbed.

On the other hand, the medical reports said she had arm wounds, which are common in defensive i.e.fighting off an assailant.

Sounds like an assassination, and not by a professional. SO yes, it does sound like it could be AlQuada or another nutso assassin who was poorly trained, not a random act of violence.

16 posted on 09/12/2003 8:06:56 PM PDT by LadyDoc
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To: Rummyfan
It wasn't until afterwards that I found out she liked to refer to Bush as "the Lone Ranger" and that she'd complained about America dropping bombs on six al-Qa'eda terrorists in Yemen.

Many of us knew all about that. I used to ask if she was related to Johnny Walker Lindh? No tears shed here.

17 posted on 09/12/2003 8:11:01 PM PDT by montag813
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To: Rummyfan
Sweden's violent crime and murder rates have been going up, up, up over the past quarter-century.

Sveedun a target country for a million middle eastern wogs?...wherver they go they leave a trail of dead in their wake... They love taking advantage of "enlightend people"..those whose rabid devotion to inclusiveness tolerance and diversity and whose dedication to an open society means letting everyone do what evey their evil little hearts desire... They simply "have" to give terrorists complete access to their society and their children... other wise they could be called "intolerant" "bigoted" "racist" something they seem to prefer death to vs being called those kinds of names...

18 posted on 09/12/2003 8:11:09 PM PDT by joesnuffy (Moderate Islam Is For Dilettantes)
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To: Rummyfan
it still seems odd - at least from my side of the Atlantic - that no one attempted to intervene or halt the blood-drenched killer as he calmly left the store

They were waiting for the Telescreens to annouce Big Brother's next commands.

19 posted on 09/12/2003 8:13:49 PM PDT by montag813
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To: Rummyfan
I will never understand the Swedes. They are such strange folk. It must be the climate.
20 posted on 09/12/2003 8:15:01 PM PDT by Palladin (Proud to be a FReeper!)
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