A Nation Of Cowards
By Mitch Berg
In the 1960s into the 1980s, New York City hit rock bottom – so far.
It was a time when leftism had ravaged the city – rent control had eliminated the supply of affordable housing, leaving block after block of vacant, burned out buildings in a city where finding an apartment was the stuff of upper-middle-class horror story.
And the crime?
It got to the point where New Yorkers were advised to carry a “decoy” wallet – with a little bit of money in it (because muggers would sometimes attack or kill people who didn’t have some money to give up. New York had well over 2,000 homicides a year – among the most dangerous cities in the country.
And here we are today: as criminals re-take the streets, the violent mentally ill are all over the subway, and our idiot elite is saying we have it coming.
Go ahead – condemn the bystanders for grabbing cameras instead of hauling off on the crazy who’s abusing the woman on the bench. We’ve seen what happens when the wrong criminal, addict of crazy gets harmed. New York has a long history of holding good guys to a level of account that no bad guy will ever see.
Giuliani cleaned all that up. It’d doubtful there are enough sane voters left in Gotham to do that again, of course.
It’s not just New York, of course. This happened in Dinkytown Minneapolis on Friday night/Saturday morning:
Another episode – same night, some of the same “people”:
One of the victims contacted CrimeWatch:
A few people asked why “bystanders” didn’t help out. It’s simple – they travel in a pack, and pick out people walking alone:
Perhaps the good guys need a lot more bystanders to flood the zone?
By the way – this was the media’s coverage:
No word if the authorities are still looking for a man with an umbrella.
I bring it up because of the parallels with the 1970s.
It was 30 years ago that New Statesman published Jeffrey Snyder’s epochal monograph, “A Nation of Cowards”, which made the case that it was time for citizens to step up and defend the order that society depends on.
It was one of several prime movers in pushing “gun culture” out of the shadows and into the mainstream, of course – but more signally, it made the case that relying on the police to protect order was not only futile, but a little craven; what makes your life invaluable, but a cop’s worth only whatever we pay them to do the job?
Once, and always, worth a read.
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May 9th, 2023 at 11:07 am
So, if Atlas shrugs, jails are going to get filled with good samaritans and people who choose to defend themselves, while perps will be free to walk the streets. So, we are headed for prison overcrowding, no? So how libturd DA’s solve THAT problem? Public hanging? Summary execution? Firing squad? For good samaritans and citizens who chose to defend themselves, of course.
May 9th, 2023 at 11:49 am
Remember the old man in NYC last year who wrestled away some thug’s gun, killed the thug, was arrested for murder, sent to Ryker’s, and he’d still be there if it hadn’t turned out to be bad publicity for the DA. That’s what we’re up against.
May 9th, 2023 at 12:27 pm
“A nation Of Cowards” emerged about the time the Dirty Harry and Death Wish movies emerged in popular culture.
“They’re targeting anyone who is separate or alone” that is basically the plot device of the Death Wish movies
May 9th, 2023 at 12:35 pm
Jesse Kelley says: do NOT intervene in a blue city, you will just go to jail. Sad but true.
May 9th, 2023 at 1:20 pm
Call me a coward if you want, but I’m a white, middle class, heterosexual male. If I lived in a city like that, I wouldn’t be getting arrested, charged with a crime and most likely convicted for trying to defend some stranger in the street.
Heck, in the current environment, I’d be trying to avoid getting involved even if I was a cop. They’re sending cops to jail for 20 years for doing their jobs.
Luckily (or wisely, depending on who you ask), I don’t live in a hell-hole like that and I’m not much for the night life any more, so I’ll likely never be in a position to make that decision, but that’s what it would be.
Especially since the people I’d be risking my freedom and future on are most likely the very ones who voted into office the government that facilitates feral teenagers and criminals rampaging through society without fear of consequence.
A people gets the government it deserves.
May 9th, 2023 at 8:50 pm
White Flight is the only responsible reaction.
I wonder if Woodbury or St. Michael are far enough?
May 9th, 2023 at 11:50 pm
[…] Teacher Pay Increase, Imposes Limits On Union Bosses & School Board Members Shot In The Dark: A Nation Of Cowards, also, Do Try To Keep Up STUMP: Some U.S. Mortality Nuggets – Meep on the Beeb (Radio 4 […]
May 10th, 2023 at 5:15 am
Waiting for the toxicology report on Jordan. Betting it reveals an amazing cocktail of psychotropics. As for hero Dan Penny, the mob is ready to pounce. Derek Chauvin 2.0 is in the works. The “choke hold” that wasn’t is now branded in the tiny minds of progs everywhere.
May 10th, 2023 at 11:39 am
I’m just adding precious metals to my investment portfolio. True Shot Gun Club has got 1000 rounds of ZSR 9mm FMJ for $229.99 or .23 per round. I’ve shot plenty of this brand and it’s good stuff and the brass can be reloaded. It comes from Turkey, but it’s cheap and it works.
May 11th, 2023 at 7:24 am
I don’t live in a leftist shithole, I don’t use public conveyance and I don’t get around blacks gathered in numbers, so it’s no surprise I haven’t been witness to the chaos.
But if I was, there’s a real good chance I’d not intercede. It’s not worth the risk of being hauled in by the local Stazi who might sympathize with my actions privately, but…muh penshun.
I aver though, that I’d probably not allow a man, or men, to brutalize a White, or Asian woman, unless she was advertising her leftist beliefs in some way.
May 15th, 2023 at 9:30 am
[…] Last week, I did one of my periodic cites of Jeff Snyder’s epochal “A Nation of Cowards“. […]