[Rummyfan]

Steyn Alert!

[Gritty]

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

BTTT

[headsonpikes]

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

So true, on so many levels.

[Penner]

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".

Yeah, those passive Swedes. Why can't they be more like Americans?

[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.

[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.