Elsewhere (254)
Law professor Adam MacLeod on undoing the ‘progressive’ miseducation of his students:
Slapping a label on the box without first opening the box and examining its contents is a form of cheating. Worse, it prevents you from discovering the treasures hidden inside the box. For example, when we discussed the Code of Hammurabi, some of you wanted to slap labels on what you read [“classist,” “racist,”] which enabled you to convince yourself that you had nothing to learn from ancient Babylonians. But when we peeled off the labels and looked carefully inside the box, we discovered several surprising truths.
Related: “Who is this Mozart?”
Michael Walsh on the real-world destination of “social justice” activism:
In the aftermath of the Ferguson riots in Missouri and the Freddie Gray fiasco in Baltimore, the decriminalisation of crime in the name of “social justice” – long a goal of the cultural-Marxist Left – got fully underway. The result was exactly what anyone not fully invested in Critical Theory would have expected… Baltimore is a prime example of what happens when citizens are categorised by skin colour or cultural background, and then have differing standards of behaviour applied to them by what should be an impartial justice system. Instead of “social justice,” the outcome is social disruption, mistrust, resentment and lawlessness.
If violent and predatory behaviour has consequences only for the victim, then the situation is unlikely to improve.
And David Cole on gentrification, its opponents, and the kind of nakedly racial animus that’s apparently okay:
Activists [in Pilsen, Chicago] protested the opening of a new restaurant in the neighbourhood. The owners of the eatery, named S.K.Y., are accused of “gentrifying” the neighbourhood with their presence. So of course the activists responded by defacing the building, threatening the staff, and blocking people from entering… But the chef-owner of S.K.Y., Stephen Gillanders, is baffled. His meals start at $7, hardly the stuff of billionaire foodies. So why the resistance from the locals? Well, it turns out that Gillanders is Filipino and his wife is Korean.
Media reports that have mentioned Gillanders’ race have suggested that it’s somehow odd that the activists are attacking a fellow minority… [But] the activists speak again and again of keeping Pilsen “Mexican.” Not “diverse,” not “rainbow,” but Mexican. In fact, CBS Chicago reported that it isn’t just Gillanders’ business that’s being targeted. The protesters are “demanding that non-Mexican owners here [at S.K.Y.] and across the street get out of Pilsen.” Viva la Raza! There’s your identity politics, leftists. This is the logical conclusion of the race-centred worldview that the left encourages non-whites to embrace.
Feel free to share your own links and snippets, on any subject, in the comments.
Over in ‘The Guardian’, it’s the teenage knife thugs who are the ‘vulnerable’ ones:
“As an ex-prisoner myself, I believe that where children and young adults are concerned, jail should be the very last resort. In the local prison where I spent several months of my life as an adult, we mixed with young offenders aged between 18 and 20. What most struck me was their immaturity – and their vulnerability.”
Related: “Who is this Mozart?”
“arrogant mediocrity” – that.
Over in ‘The Guardian’, it’s the teenage knife thugs who are the ‘vulnerable’ ones
Will someone please dry my eyes. But then this is the newspaper that expected its readers to fret about the “poor quality of toothbrushes” used by burglars and rapists. And the paper whose columnists airily waved aside burglary – the violation of someone’s home – as “really quite inconsequential,” before dismissing anger at that violation as plebeian and unsophisticated.
“And the paper whose columnists airily waved aside burglary – the violation of someone’s home – as “really quite inconsequential,” before dismissing anger at that violation as plebeian and unsophisticated.”
– Clearly they themselves haven’t been burglarised then; did anybody ask their address?
It all changes when you have skin in the game – “A Conservative is a Liberal who’s been mugged; a Libertarian is a Conservative who’s been audited.”
“arrogant mediocrity” – that.
It’s quite a thing. The young woman in question, whose views are far from uncommon, seemed proud of her ignorance. As if not knowing – and not caring to find out, despite having chosen a music humanities course at Columbia – were a badge of honour, a mark of being woke.
Clearly they themselves haven’t been burglarised then;
Criminal predation and its punishment is one of those areas where the ‘progressive’ left can’t help but display its contempt for working-class people, whose lives are more likely to be degraded by criminals, and degraded repeatedly, and whose homes are much more likely to be violated than the fashionable addresses favoured by so many Guardian columnists.
For some Guardianistas, there’s no level of dysfunction and sociopathy that they won’t excuse, or minimise, or ostentatiously endorse. And as Theodore Dalrymple noted,
All illustrated rather vividly during the London riots of 2011, when numerous Guardian columnists, and of course the BBC, were obstinately referring to looters, arsonists and muggers as “protestors.” Protestors who were presumably vexed by the existence of Mothercare and small ethnic restaurants, and therefore burned them to the ground. Protestors who took exception to female fire-fighters and so dragged them from their vehicles and punched them insensible. Protestors, it turned out, who were mostly known thugs and career criminals – 75% having previous convictions for an average of fifteen crimes, some more than fifty.
Baltimore is a prime example of what happens when citizens are categorised by skin colour or cultural background, and then have differing standards of behaviour applied to them by what should be an impartial justice system.
Somewhat related:
http://twitter.com/boschfawstin/status/842011311277989888
Ben Sixsmith on “the” Richard Spencer.
having previous convictions for an average of fifteen crimes, some more than fifty
One does wonder, at what point do you take some of these jolly ‘protesters’, lock them up and lose the key?
Two socialist student groups at Kent State University recently refused to participate in a food drive with their conservative counterparts because conservatives have “dangerous” beliefs. On Friday, the Kent State University chapters of Turning Point USA and Young Americans for Liberty challenged the Kent State Socialist Collective and the Kent State Young Democratic Socialists to a friendly, competitive food drive, tweeting, “come together to do something good for the community?” The YDSA chapter issued a response statement Sunday refusing to join TPUSA or YAL in the challenge, explaining that “while this event would benefit the public greatly, we at YDSA do not work with organizations that promote/endorse figures who do promote sexism, racism, homophobia, transphobia, Zionism or any other intolerant dangerous belief.”
https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=10142
One does wonder, at what point do you take some of these jolly ‘protesters’, lock them up and lose the key?
It seems to me that for many crimes, and in particular for habitual offenders, we aren’t nearly punitive enough. And almost every poll taken suggests that a majority of the public shares this view. As I suggested some time ago, a three-strikes-and-we-put-you-out-to-sea-on-a-fucking-raft law would, I suspect, be very popular.
Somewhat related.
[But] the activists speak again and again of keeping Pilsen “Mexican.”
Lost on the Mexicans and “activists” is that the neighborhood was named “Pilsen” because of the, oddly enough, large number of Czech immigrants, who were displaced by Polish and Slavic people, and so it goes in big cities all over the US and A.
My youngest son, 13, recently did a summer course on law at a local university. Part of the course was a trip to the local criminal courts to view the proceedings. He was less than impressed with the ‘innocent until proven guilty’ defendants. He noticed that they all seemed to limp into the dock but were magically healed by the passing of judgement and were able to walk normally on the way out. At least in cases where judgement went against them. He was also amazed that someone was still walking the street with 162 (!?) previous convictions – not charges mind you, actual convictions.
The end result was that the criminal class of Dublin should fervently hope and pray that he never gets the opportunity to ascend to the bench.
Somewhat related:
Regarding gentrification, if we assume a modicum of good-faith on the part of the opponents, i.e. that they are legitimately concerned about being forced out of their homes because of increasing property values, the fault of that lies squarely on the progressive worthies who are in charge and who enact housing & environmental policies which artificially inflate the cost of housing stock. Simply put, Progressives have artificially restricted the supply of land through burdensome and nonsensical regulations thereby increasing the cost to those who demand a place to live. There’s a lot of NIMBYism which goes on in Progressive circles and a lot of that is also racially driven, though the racial animus is hidden behind catch phrases like, “green space,” “historic preservation,” “rent control” and the like.
a three-strikes-and-we-put-you-out-to-sea-on-a-fucking-raft law would, I suspect, be very popular.
Where do I do sign?
“It seems to me that for many crimes, and in particular for habitual offenders, we aren’t nearly punitive enough.”
Well, indeed:
“The court heard when Burrell was 16 he stabbed two nightclub doormen in Cardiff after being refused entry to a club… Burrell had previously been jailed for seven years for shooting his teenage girlfriend through the heart.”
Matthew Sheehan paid the price for the justice system’s squeamishness and reluctance to admit what this savage really was.
What do you want to bet that some inmate or guard will also pay some price for the justice system’s squeamishness? This guy has been telling society through his behaviour how much he hates it, and those who should have been escorting him to the gallows have been making excuses for him.
From David’s first link:
3. If you ever begin a statement with the words “I feel,” before continuing you must cluck like a chicken or make some other suitable animal sound.
********************************
To their credit, the students received the speech well. And so far this semester, only two students have been required to cluck like chickens.
I started laughing and nearly spit out my coffee when I read that. Thanks, David.
That’s freakin’ awesome, and he is a brave man for making those rules.
I am heartened that his students accepted it as well as they did. Maybe there is hope for us yet.
Re: three-strikes-and-we-put-you-out-to-sea-on-a-fucking-raft law
I am astounded that the criminal justice system treats drug addiction as a mitigating factor in sentencing. I take a very relaxed attitude to the use of recreational drugs, thus fail to see why responsible drug users should suffer because others rob and steal to support their habit.
There was a UK survey a few years ago (which I cannot find online) which found a huge number of crimes committed by a small number of people who were addicted to both heroin and crack. As a remember, around 20,000 people committing literally millions of crimes every year.
A part of sentencing for addicts should be a commitment to getting clean ie you don’t get released until you have tested clean on a weekly basis for at least a year and then you get tested once a month as part of your probation. Fail and it’s back in the can until you are clean again.
“It seems to me that for many crimes, and in particular for habitual offenders, we aren’t nearly punitive enough.”
If I may, let me express a somewhat contrary view, based upon several decades of experience both as a prosecutor and defender of crimes. When it comes to criminal recidivism, one has to distinguish between those habitual offenders who are truly evil versus those who are merely stupid. The former usually appear on the serious, violent felony dockets. You can see it in their eyes. You know, that at some point, they will either be dead as a result of their behavior or they will kill pursuant to same. Those are the people for whom “three strikes” laws are even too lenient. The criminal justice system is society’s self-defense mechanism
The merely stupid, however, seem to be stunted in some far-off place where they have a complete inability to grasp the normal rules of social interaction. They cannot see nor understand cause and effect. They exist from impulse to impulse and when confronted by the legal system, they truly are incapable of understanding why they’re in their predicament. Some–precious few, no doubt–of these can be saved, if intervention is early enough. Sadly, many of these “stupid” criminals are also the ones most easily prey to social justice hustlers who are eager provide them with all manner of excuses for their fuck-ups.
I don’t purport to have the answer. I certainly don’t want to dive into the “nature v. nurture” debate, though I think, at least for the stupid recidivist, it’s more the latter. Simply put, most of these idiots have never had an appropriate example to follow, in part because as has been noted, the Progressive Left is invested in making sure those examples are few and far between.
The Guardian say that,
“As an ex-prisoner myself, I believe that where children and young adults are concerned, jail should be the very last resort. In the local prison where I spent several months of my life as an adult, we mixed with young offenders aged between 18 and 20. What most struck me was their immaturity – and their vulnerability.
Whatever you might have heard, prison is not a holiday camp. All too often it is a chaotic environment plagued by drugs – notably new psychoactive substances such as “spice” – bullying and violence. Some establishments aim to protect young offenders by housing them in their own wings, but this isn’t universal.”
If I may, let me express a somewhat contrary view, based upon several decades of experience both as a prosecutor and defender of crimes.
My understanding is that once you remove the fairly consistent percentage of people who are congenital sociopaths/psychopaths from the pool, most crimes are impulsive and opportunistic. Now, I recall reading many years ago that the conventional thinking was wrong: severe or escalating penalties for crimes did not reduce crime because no one commits a crime believing they’re going to get caught (I suppose some career criminals perform that calculus). Instead, the study claimed, what reduced crime rates was increasing the risk of getting caught, even if the penalties were fairly mild.
I find myself wondering about this, given as mentioned upthread the number of wildly repeat offenders that seem to be walking around. What’s your take on this thesis? I know it worked here in Canada; some years ago photo radar for enforcing the speed limit was introduced, and despite the penalties for speeding being trivial at the time, by god did it bring the traffic down to the actual limit (until the local gov was voted out and their replacements turfed the notion).
Some–precious few, no doubt–of these can be saved, if intervention is early enough.
Well, I, for one, am not in the soul-saving business, and as noted in an earlier thread, I don’t have a Grand Unified Theory of Crime and Punishment. Perhaps the rest of you can thrash one out.
I will, though, repeat some comments I’ve made before. Specifically, that the indifference that’s often shown towards victims of supposedly unimportant crime – say, car crime and now, apparently, burglary – and the excuses made for the perpetrators, as above – are socially and morally corrosive, and are readily exploited by the criminal demographic. The implication of the Guardian piece, upthread, seems to be that insurance is a close-to-adequate solution and one should simply get used to being preyed upon, repeatedly, and often by the same people. A point illustrated some years ago by the now sadly defunct Inspector Gadget blog:
At a time when “we need to send a message” is a common political phrase, the above – and any number of similar incidents I could dig out – seems an odd choice of message. As I’ve said before, it would be preferable if the perpetrators, who are generally serial perpetrators, were the ones who lived in fear, rather than their victims. Many of whom might be deemed as “disadvantaged” as those who prey on them, possibly more so, and who may struggle to pay for the insurance that’s supposed to offer comfort. And who may well find the theft and destruction of what little they have particularly distressing, a particular violation.
The kinds of people who indulge in such behaviour, repeatedly, are hardly worthy of the disingenuous sympathy expressed by Guardianistas, whose own motives generally amount to elevating themselves in the eyes of their equally pretentious peers, relative to thee and me. The people who do these things – again and again, until forcibly stopped – don’t regard their neighbours, the people around them, as deserving of anything. They – we – are little more than furniture or scenery, props in their psychodrama. At best, we’re people from whom things can be taken. A kind of foodstuff.
And so my interest in saving such people is, well, nil.
activists speak again and again of keeping Pilsen “Mexican.”
It is a travesty that there is simply nowhere to go if one wishes to be surrounded by Mexicans.
Here’s a link to an excellent essay which does a lot to explain Social Justice Warriors, Leftist identity politics, and the planned disruption of our society (put another way, the subjects of at least half of David’s posts), found at American Digest:
Biological Leninism
Well worth the time.
Well, I, for one, am not in the soul-saving business. . .
I don’t disagree, and indeed, for even the stupid recidivist criminal, there comes a point where there is no longer any hope. Rather, I speak from those who get caught up in the system early primarily because they’ve never been exposed to–let’s say it–bourgeois propriety.
I recently read and recommend Hillbilly Elegy which is quite good in explaining the dynamic and generational dysfunction which plagues substantial portions of our society. What’s striking, to me at least, is that I come from a family which had similar backgrounds, i.e. dirt poor, minimal education, etc. Yet, somehow, my ancestors didn’t succumb to the sort of dysfunction. Really simple stuff: get married, work to support your family, go to church, do well in school, speak properly and hope that your kids will have it better. It boils down to choices, yes, but too many people don’t know those choices exist. And, as mentioned, a substantial part of the problem is the the Left insists upon subsidizing and encouraging such dysfunction.
On a day that looks like it marks the beginning of the end for Big Bad Bob Mugabe, here is a piece by Theodore Dalrymple. It’s fifteen years old but is nevertheless timely:
“My Zimbabwean experiences sensitized me to the chaos I later witnessed throughout Africa. The contrast between kindness on the one hand and rapacity on the other was everywhere evident: and I learned that there is no more heartless saying than that the people get the government they deserve”.
Mrs. Oik and I have traveled widely in sub-Saharan Africa over the last twenty-odd years and came to the same conclusion as Dr. Dalrymple on our first trip. Zimbabwe was our favourite country, and we were married there twenty-odd years ago, just before Mugabe went full retard. We later learned that many of the people we met had been thrown off their land by Mugabe’s thugs and in one heartbreaking case a splendid young man was maimed for life by being slashed across the face with a machete.
For more on the heartbreak of Zimbabwe, a beautiful and potentially peaceful and prosperous nation ruined by racism and genocide courtesy of a doctrinaire Marxist psychopath, the Oik recommends Peter Godwin’s Mukiwa.
‘Hillbilly Elegy’ is indeed a great book. It’s not a happy read, though.
“…whose own motives generally amount to elevating themselves in the eyes of their equally pretentious peers, relative to thee and me…”
That is a most excellent sequence of words and explains so many things…
Not to start the War of 1812 (as we call it) all over again, but having taken abuse of “baseball is just rounders” (wth that is)…regarding:
As I suggested some time ago, a three-strikes-and-we-put-you-out-to-sea-on-a-fucking-raft law would, I suspect, be very popular.
See, that’s the problem with Cricket. There’s no limit to the number of pitches. Baseball is three strikes and STFD. (* ducks thrown wickets *)
As for the “out-to-sea-on-a-fucking-raft” part, that’s how some of our players got here in the first place.
See, that’s the problem with Cricket. There’s no limit to the number of pitches.
I’ll have to take your word for that.
Bugger. I’m feeding the in-laws in an hour. Play nicely.
What’s striking, to me at least, is that I come from a family which had similar backgrounds, i.e. dirt poor, minimal education, etc. Yet, somehow, my ancestors didn’t succumb to the sort of dysfunction. Really simple stuff: get married, work to support your family, go to church, do well in school, speak properly and hope that your kids will have it better. It boils down to choices, yes, but too many people don’t know those choices exist. And, as mentioned, a substantial part of the problem is the the Left insists upon subsidizing and encouraging such dysfunction.
Snap- I am from a working class background, was first in my family to go to university, obtained professional qualifications, became a criminal lawyer- and I had hard-working, aspirational, self-sacrficing parents, strong discipline at home and school and we were church-going Roman Catholics. A good friend of mine came from genuine, heart-breaking poverty, and now has a Chair in a STEM subject at a well-regarded redbrick university. His elder brothers are respectively a senior civil servant and a landscape artist. It’s a route which has been well-mapped, but Leftists are snobs when it comes to Oiks such as yours truly getting on that petit bourgeois Bus To Somewhere.
It is a travesty that there is simply nowhere to go if one wishes to be surrounded by Mexicans.
Si, pero no hay los cartes de EBT alli…
Ahora yo voy a la sala de denunciacion.
“the London riots of 2011, when numerous Guardian columnists, and of course the BBC, were obstinately referring to looters, arsonists and muggers as ‘protestors.’ “
Was Cory Doctorow one of them?
la sala de denunciacion.
Heh…Throwing this non-sequitur out there to see if anyone can fill in the blank…
Está Susana en casa?
Sí, está con una amiga.
Está in la sala?
______
But more to the topic of Elsewhere…can you tell I’ve little to do today?…Checking the news I see this headline:
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/879749/Robert-Mugabe-dead-Zimbabwe-leader-alive-or-dead-where-is-he-latest-news
Yes. Is he and his family safe? Our thoughts and prayers at this difficult time.
This is clearly oppression against UN WHO Goodwill Ambassadors.
Leftists are snobs when it comes to Oiks such as yours truly getting on that petit bourgeois Bus To Somewhere.
Quite. Recall some weeks back the uproar/outrage among the Leftist glitterati when a couple of professors dared to suggest that bourgeois habits were beneficial to social cohesion and functioning. These pages have seen numerous examples of this sort pernicious clap-trap from the Left. Cultural “Authenticity” is an all-purpose excuse for all manner of counterproductive behaviors and shall not be questioned or criticized.
Re: gentrification in Chicago
Boyle Heights, a hard scrapple neighborhood of Los Angeles, has a long history of being where poor immigrants first landed – it was the first stepping stone to upward mobility. Prior to WWII and into the 1950’s it was a Jewish community. Then it became the center of Latino population and politics.
And people living there now are fully La Raza and will even use violence to drive out anyone who threatens their barrio, including fellow “Hispanics”…
I’m not sure that was the 150lb you should have lost:
https://mobile.twitter.com/becca_Y034/status/930199028075085824
I know. It was unworthy of me. Please prepare the Scold-o-Mat 9000. Two hours should do it. Make sure the rocks are hard and pointy.
1) Define diligence, responsibility, delayed gratification and sacrifice as “acting white.”
2) Discourage non-whites from “acting white.”
3) Pat yourself on the back for helping non-whites stay true to their cultures.
4) Denounce whites for their undeserved success.
5) Pay no attention to the Asian kids running circles around everyone.
They honestly believe this stuff, and are incapable of recognizing the contradictions. And we wonder why our counterparts are incoherent all the time.
The people who do these things – again and again, until forcibly stopped – don’t regard their neighbours, the people around them, as deserving of anything. They – we – are little more than furniture or scenery, props in their psychodrama. At best, we’re people from whom things can be taken. A kind of foodstuff.
That.
Leftists are snobs when it comes to Oiks such as yours truly getting on that petit bourgeois Bus To Somewhere.
That does explain the UK state education system.
Marc Thiessen on the strange omissions of the New York Times:
The spirit of Walter Duranty is apparently alive and well.
The comments below Thiessen’s article are extremely depressing. Trump/Putin/collusion whataboutery, “but that wasn’t really communism”, astonishing claims that the NYT articles don’t brush over the crimes of communism, a few ad hominems and of course the claim that capitalism has killed more (if you include the slave trade, the potato famine, the imaginary genocide of Native Americans etc).
I sometimes wonder whether US or UK liberals are the most deranged, stupid and pernicious.
One day, I will write a slim but worthy tome on the pathology of liberal self-hatred and its deleterious effect on Western Civilisation.
I think I’m going to call it: “Why don’t you all just fucking kill yourselves?”
The comments below Thiessen’s article are extremely depressing.
Marxism and its variants have always attracted a high concentration of dysfunctional people, starting with Marx himself. That many of the people who object to Marxism being criticised sound a little, well, dysfunctional shouldn’t be too surprising.
They honestly believe this stuff, and are incapable of recognizing the contradictions. And we wonder why our counterparts are incoherent all the time.
And they wonder why black urban ghettos are so often referred to as “crab buckets”…
In “Lenin’s Eco-Warriors,” Yale lecturer Fred Strebeigh writes that Lenin was “a long-time enthusiast for hiking and camping” who turned Russia into “a global pioneer in conservation.”
The only way for a person to make such a statement with a straight face is if they’d never visited any of the hell-holes behind the Iron Curtain. I had the opportunity to drive from (then) West Germany to Prague once in the mid-’80s and what I remember most is the sickly, yellowish-brown haze and stink of all the sulfur dioxide and hydrogen sulfide in the air from the brown coal the Czechs were burning to heat their homes. And let’s not forget the paragon of environmental policy, Chernobyl.
Meanwhile, in the world of art, this is what a mere $46 million and change will get you…
If it was half as expensive, it would be twice as cheap, and still a bargain. Or something.
@Farnsworth,
In fairness, the work does come with a 35 minute speech from the “artiste” about what the work is really about–something about the ennui of modern life in the age of Trump, I think–along with a half dozen dismissive, disdainful looks cast in your direction because you need the 35 minute speech in the first place.
The implication of the Guardian piece, upthread, seems to be that insurance is a close-to-adequate solution and one should simply get used to being preyed upon, repeatedly, and often by the same people. A point illustrated some years ago by the now sadly defunct Inspector Gadget blog:
What’s interesting is that the Guardian is probably not wrong. If society was poor enough, and the cars being stolen in the Inspector Gadget example essential to someone’s very life, the police and courts would either deal with the thieves appropriately or the mob would. What a lot of people don’t realise, and I only discovered this recently, is that the police and justice system don’t exist to protect the law-abiding from criminals, but to protect suspected criminals from the mob. As a society, we have decided we’re rich enough to absorb car thefts and burglaries that the justice system has decided not to deal with. Eventually, a mob will get hold of one of the perpetrators and murder them, and when the police turn up they’ll either face a wall of silence or be beaten to death.
I might have told this story before, but I knew a driver in Nigeria who was robbed at gunpoint by two men. Once they’d helped himself to his possessions they ran off, but the one with the gun ran faster leaving his accomplice trailing behind. The driver gave chase shouting “armed robber! armed robber!” Someone tripped the miscreant up (the one with the gun disappeared) and the mob got hold of him. A few minutes later a tyre was put around his neck and set ablaze. The driver filmed it on his phone and showed my friend, his employer, what Lagos street justice looks like. Had a policeman been stupid enough to show up and intervene, he’d have likely been killed as well.
At the moment the British public aren’t there, but if the police and justice system refuse to do their jobs, eventually they will be. Part of me is surprised it hasn’t happened already in Rotherham and some other places.
car thefts and burglaries that the justice system has decided not to deal with.
Can’t help feeling that’s a significant string of words.
“Meanwhile, in the world of art”
This has got to be some kind of tax dodgery or money laundering or something.
As a society, we have decided we’re rich enough to absorb car thefts and burglaries that the justice system has decided not to deal with.
For most of us, or many of us, this is likely true. The burglary that I once inadvertently prevented comes to mind. My neighbour at the time would most likely have been able to absorb the theft of a TV or laptop or whatever. But of course the fact that one has to, and is increasingly expected to, and may have to more than once, is rather demoralising. And, dare I say, it’s demoralising as a society.
The only time my home was burgled, back in the Nineties in a scummy part of Nottingham, was gutting. Not just the loss of possessions, which at the time were few in number and impossible to replace, but the sense of violation and lingering insecurity. All compounded by the news, via a police officer, that the thief was – and I quote – “probably one of your neighbours, someone on the same street.” Left unopposed, a fairly small number of sociopaths and repeat offenders can degrade the wellbeing of a great many people, year after year.
And it seems to me such creatures aren’t worth that loss of wellbeing.
re: street justice in Africa (and by extension, elsewhere)
The Bayou Renaissance Man posted his thoughts on how to deal with child pornographers and their customers, which tale included descriptions of how African tribal society used to deal with sexual crimes:
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.co.uk/2017/11/how-to-deal-with-child-pornography.html
This lends support to the “cops exist to protect criminals from the mob” argument, though ideally cops would only protect the mis-identified *innocent*, while mobs would only target the actually guilty. Alas, perfection is not an option.
I had to look twice to see that this is NOT The Onion.
“like somebody … making a song just littered with the N-word everywhere.”
So it’s like a rap “song” then?
…car thefts and burglaries that the justice system has decided not to deal with.
Yet, the worthies still wish to denude us of the right to defend ourselves and our homes. Um, not so much. It’s fascinating how property crimes tend to diminish when potential perpetrators worry they’ll have a .12 gauge stuck in their face if apprehended in flagrante delicto.
Something I read somewhere years and years ago: “A single savage can hold a thousand gentle people hostage.”
Can’t wait for the remakes of Dirty Harry and Death Wish to hit the theaters. At least they might be somewhat more relevant that all the other remakes spilling out of Hollywood.
Can’t wait for the remakes of Dirty Harry and Death Wish
Falling Down seems to be particularly apposite nowadays too.
The end is nigh.
The end is nigh.
That sound you hear is a million British commuters looking on in envy.
I had to look twice to see that this is NOT The Onion.
Yeah, but not expected from a bunch of ahistoric slackwits to whom the highest form of humor consists of, “Wypiop, amirite ?”
Or what, is there a threat other than continuing to be asses to back this up ? If so, just expel the brats, or at least the ringleaders, pour encourager les autres, as it were.
If Irish Rail arrives within ten minutes of the scheduled time they consider it to be ‘on time’. I’d weep but what would be the point?
That will never happen as long as they’re getting that sweet, sweet, government guaranteed lucre to keep those misfits in jail… I mean university.
What happens when you don’t pay attention in high school biology, brought to you by SJWs and The Party of Science™.
What happens when you don’t pay attention in high school biology, brought to you by SJWs and The Party of Science”
There was a lot of that in the Science Wars of the 1990’s–feminist numbskulls attacking biology as sexist because of some cartoonish idea of passive eggs and active sperm.
Addendum: While it is true that the sperm swim to the egg, biologists know that there is, at the chemical level, a lot of action in both directions, which demolishes the radfem idea that biology is sexist. Of course, even if the egg were completely passive in all respects this would not make biology sexist: Reality is what counts, not the sensitive feelings of feminazi fools.
A homunculus speaks.
Oh, how I did chortle.
A homunculus speaks.
“Socialism is coming,” says the prophet of the left.
I’ll just leave this other prophesy here, shall I?
So, Owen Jones is prophesying that one day he will be up against a wall?
Why is a 12-year-old writing pro-socialism articles for whatever that news site is?
A homunculus speaks.
To be fair, a socialist state might have provided him a proper speech therapist.
To be fair, a socialist state might have provided him a proper speech therapist.
A thinking and reasoning specialist should be his first priority.
The end is nigh.
Spent 3 weeks last November riding about Japan via rail pass … what an awesome experience.
I’m heavily armed, and live in a “castle” state. Anyone attempting to burglarize me is going to get a rude surprise.
Does Owen Jones remind anyone else of Hugh Laurie’s Bertie Wooster? It’s been bugging me for months now every time David throws up that Independent Voices screen grab…I think that’s who I’m thinking of. But I think there’s also an American teenage actor that is his doppelgänger, but I’m not sure if the Bertie thing is blocking my recollection.
Anthony Michael Hall. In The Breakfast Club. That was an hour not so well spent…
https://goo.gl/images/zg15Mq
Left unopposed, a fairly small number of sociopaths and repeat offenders can degrade the wellbeing of a great many people, year after year.
Indeed, and when things get to a tipping point those great many people either tell those who govern them to sort it out, or they form a mob and do it themselves. The whole point of western civilisation is that this situation doesn’t arise, but our political establishment seem almost embarrassed by it, hence they seek to destroy it.
Indeed, and when things get to a tipping point those great many people either tell those who govern them to sort it out, or they form a mob and do it themselves.
Yeah, but which mob? The one that formed in St. Petersburg in 1917 was not so amusing.
If we’re lucky (very lucky), it’ll be more like the Northfield residents who decided that they didn’t want the James-Younger gang robbing their bank. One can hope, anyway.
Down here in Australia the progressives have started tying themselves in knots trying to show the Muslim population of western Sydney wasn’t the reason for the notable amount of “no” responses in that region to the same sex marriage survey.
Of course they’re pointing the finger, in part, at the poorly educated. They go on to say some of the highest “yes” regions also have high immigrant populations without going on to analyse what the differences between the two immigrant populations are.
The Sydney Morning Herald has basically become the Daily Progressive Whinge. There was another classic SMH article recently from a millennial about how they couldn’t get up at 7:00am each day to go to work so that job was a year of misery. If only they’d been allowed to start an hour later each day they’d have been able to make it work. Another one was about the cultural appropriation of yoga by the west.
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-opinion/samesex-marriage-survey-the-yes-and-no-city-20171117-gznh5t.html
For no other reason except I like this very much.
(and found it when I become curious about some of the musicians cited in the Harry Bosch novels)
WTP: I assume you mean the young Hugh Laurie as Bertram Wilberforce W.
Yeah, Tom. That guy. But after an hour of constipating on it, I came to think Owen more resembles Anthony Michael Hall. Or at least that was more the character type I was thinking of. The video was quite … triggering in this regard.