How can anyone be a bystander while someone is stabbed? Mark Steyn

Steyn Online ^ | 12 Sep 2003 | Mark Steyn

[mrustow]

One name comes to mind... Kitty Genovese.

Mark

Right. But those people at least were ashamed. None of the Swedes experienced the least bit of shame.

[MEG33]

Thanks Pokey.I was most disturbed by the passive onlookers.

[radiohead]

Islamism is loose in Europe.

I have no idea who stabbed this woman, but I do know that a Norwegian friend and I share news stories from around Scandanavia. Many, many crimes that make it to the news seem to be perpetrated by Muslim immigrants to these countries. Amazingly, they are often let off w/light sentences because they 'don't understand the Nordic culture' - even if they've been in Norway or Sweden for 10 years!

Every country homebrews enough criminals. It would appear to me that the Nordic countries should seriously reconsider continuing to let in a group of people who seemed hell bent on crime and disruption.

[IncPen]

The mental illness called liberalism does not recognize that it has embraced the seeds of mankind's destruction, under the guise of enlightenment.

[radiohead]

Absolutely correct. Couldn't say it better.

[Lurker]

"To expect the government to save you is to be a bystander in your own fate."

Since noone else seems to have done it, I'm replacing my tagline with this.

L

[Amelia]

Great article BTTT.

[McGavin999]

But Anna Lindh would have thought that was just American cowboy talk, too raw, too primal to be of relevance in Europe.

I'll bet in the last seconds of her life, she regrets those thoughts, a nice American cowboy was just what she needed. Too bad the Swedes are testosterone deficient.

[xJones]

I don't see a description of the attacker, although he was witnessed by several.

[hellinahandcart]

You'll like this.

[Britton J Wingfield]

Ping.

[Ichneumon]

Which would bring us to golliwog: (again the American Heritage Dictionary) NOUN: A doll fashioned in grotesque caricature of a Black male. ETYMOLOGY: After Golliwog, a character in books by Florence Upton (died 1922), American illustrator.

One of the original Upton "Golliwogg" illustrations:

And one of the many subsequent incarnations of the craze:

As one source points out, the doll in the story was copied from blackface minstrel show costumes, making it a caricature of a caricature...

[Libertina]

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....

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. ...

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.
Another Mark Styen treasure...

[Ichneumon]

Dave Kopel described, after 9/11, as "the culture of passivity"

The best essay ever written on that topic, and the need for a personal dedication to self defense (and the defense of others), is A Nation of Cowards, by Jeffrey R. Snyder .

Mr. Snyder has turned oddly leftist in recent years, in a manner seemingly incompatible with his thoughts and tone in the linked essay, but the essay he wrote in 1993 is more relevant today than ever.

Excerpt:

For years, feminists have labored to educate people that rape is not about sex, but about domination, degradation, and control. Evidently, someone needs to inform the law enforcement establishment and the media that kidnapping, robbery, carjacking, and assault are not about property. Crime is not only a complete disavowal of the social contract, but also a commandeering of the victim's person and liberty. If the individual's dignity lies in the fact that he is a moral agent engaging in actions of his own will, in free exchange with others, then crime always violates the victim's dignity. It is, in fact, an act of enslavement. Your wallet, your purse, or your car may not be worth your life, but your dignity is; and if it is not worth fighting for, it can hardly be said to exist.

[Tares]

One name comes to mind... Kitty Genovese.

You might want to try reading this.

Excerpt: What follows is the 1964 New York Times article that first broke the Kitty Genovese story. It remains today the primary source of popular information about the case. However, as explained below, evidence from her killer's trial and other sources shows that the popular account of the murder is mostly wrong.

[vaudine]

I wonder how long the body lay there before someone actually called the authorities. The attitude seems to be one Gallic (or in this case Swedish) shrug.

Steyne is truly one of the best.

vaudine

[stands2reason]

The term is acually an acronym standing for "Westernized Oriental Gentleman", and dates from Victorian times...

Do you have a reputable source for that? I distrust any proffered etymologies that involve pre-Modern Era acronyms. I've seen apocryphal ones for "posh" and "shit" that supposedly predate the modern era which are undoubtedly false.

[stands2reason]

Feel free to disregard my previous post. The OED is quoted further down the thread.

[PLK]

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.

Well, I'm not saying it WASN'T Al Quada, but why would Islamists attack people who are on their side?????