Several were almost tharn - that is, in that state of staring, glazed paralysis that comes over terrified or exhausted rabbits, so that they sit and watch their enemies - weasels or humans - approach to take their lives.
~ Watership Down, Richard Adams
The popular narrative amongst the media class is that Guns Are Bad, and so we should be protected from the sight or sound of them for our own good.
As a result there is a proliferation of gunfree zones and ever more raucous calls for tighter gun laws.
Those who want fewer guns in the hands of the law-abiding seem to wilfully disregard the obvious fact that criminals who want a gun will get one. They're called criminals for a reason, after all.
Whenever there is a mass-shooting incident we are treated to a parade of people telling us that we need to give up ever more of our freedom to defend ourselves lest our weapons fall in the hands of those who would do us ill.
Milo is correct in that gunfree zones are definitely safe spaces for murderers. Especially when he says that the would be killer knows that nobody will fight back.
These days, fewer and fewer people are prepared to fight back.
This is because so many go tharn at the first hint of danger.
We have had over a decade now of social programming designed to disarm us completely. We are bombarded with news reports of people carrying out terrible crimes with guns and it is hammered home to us how terrible guns are, and how we should let the authorities deal with the situation at hand.
In a perfect world that would be wonderful. Of course, in a perfect, Utopian world, we would have no aggression, no concerns, every one of us would live contentedly in our designated safe spaces.
That day has not yet come, because humans are a somewhat tendentious crowd.
We have our opinions, and constant messages from in the mass media (books, movies, social sites and apps, television shows) still have not managed to herd us all into thinking alike.
Not completely.
In some ways, the massaging and messaging have been a roaring success.
We now have large segments of the population that are so thoroughly cowed that they freeze at the sign of violence.
“I'm screaming 'Open the door! Open the door!'” Yousuf told CBS. “And no one is moving because they are scared.
"There was only one choice — either we all stay there and we all die, or I could take the chance, and I jumped over to open that latch and we got everyone that we can out of there."
By creating the exit, Yousuf estimated that about 70 people were able to get out of the nightclub safely.
At the recent Pulse Nightclub atrocity where forty-nine people were killed and a further fifty-three were injured, one man reacting to the sound of gunfire saved dozens of lives by opening a door.
He is rightly regarded as a hero because he acted when those around him were frozen with fear for their lives. It can be pointed out that young Mr. Yousuf is a Marine veteran and therefore accustomed to dealing with situations involving gunfire, but that is not the point.
The point is that he was not too scared to take necessary action.
So many people today are so unaccustomed to the sights and sounds of violence that they are unable to react in any meaningful way, let alone re-act.
This may sound like criticism, but only because any negative commentary is considered aggression and triggering and therefore frowned upon.
Takimag: It’s hard to talk about the attack without sounding like you’re blaming the victims, but it’s impossible to deny fear of Islamophobia and fear of guns led to a lot of deaths that night.
Jesse Hughes: I saw fear fall like a blanket on the whole crowd and they fell like wheat in the wind—the way you would before a god. I was totally alert from the very beginning. The first thing I needed to do was find my girl. Fear took a backseat and “where’s my girl?” took over. I could smell gunpowder in the backstage area and I knew someone fired a round back there...
Jesse Hughes is the singer from the band Eagles of Death Metal. A band I'd never heard of until the massacre at the Bataclan Theatre in Paris on November 13, 2015. His interview with Gavin McInnes of Takimag produced mixed reactions, with some agreeing and some disagreeing with his experience of the night.
My interest, though, lies in his comment about the fear he saw in people. Jesse Hughes grew up with experience of guns, and like Imran Yousuf he recognised the sound and acted.
He did not go tharn like so many others.
This is not to blame the victims - if they have no experience of gunfire then they can hardly be expected to know how to combat it or how to escape it. Especially when for the most of their lives they have been told to keep away from guns and other bad things.
We are at a stage in our civilisation where citizens are not supposed to defend themselves. They are happily disarmed and content to allow the government in any of its incarnations (politicians, police, the military) to take action on their behalf.
Except that the government does not always act in a timely manner and citizens are left defenceless. Tragically and fatally so.
Lest this be seen as an ode to guns for all, it's not. I have no problems with reasonable gun restrictions such as police checks for criminal history or mental health problems. That is not the issue.
The issue is a populace that takes no care for its own protection because it is dependent upon the "authorities" to do so instead.
It's just that sometimes you're on your own and need to open the door to escape by your own hand. The police or the cavalry rarely arrive in time to rescue the damsel in distress and there will not always be a former Marine Sergeant around to do it for you.
Okay, social justice warriors. Here's where we currently stand.
A man can walk into a nightclub, shout "Allah ackbar" and shoot the place up and all you're worried about is where to place the blame so that it doesn't fall on jihadi shoulders.
Screw you.
Fifty people die and you want to blame guns, or christians, or right wing nut jobs rather than a jihadi demonstrating his allegiance to Allah and the umma as personified by the Islamic State.
Screw you.
His father says that it was nothing to do with religion, but his son did actually see two men kissing and that upset him. You're probably okay with this victim blaming. After all, how often to you stop to consider those gays that are thrown off buildings in Syria just for being.... gay? That's right, you don't. You're too busy waving your "Queers For Palestine" banner around. You've got to keep your Hierarchy of Oppression in order.
Screw you.
You want to turn the discussion straight away to gun laws, never mind the bodies cooling on the floor of the club. Never mind that the shooter was a registered security worker and had access to guns. He was on the FBI watch list. Heck, even in Australia young men can get their hands on guns to use on innocent bystanders. But no, let's talk about guns.
Screw you.
The bottom line is that thanks to the endless scolding by SJWs and mealy-mouthed wowsers, political correctness has muzzled far too many and occluded the vision of many more.
Nobody really wants to look at the root causes, because they might have to admit that maybe those bigoted islamophobes are correct. Maybe there is something about islam that leads those who follow it to look at things just a bit differently to the rest of us.
Something like, you know, considering homosexuality as being like alcoholism. Forbidden in islam, but you still have to have compassion for them.
MOHAMAD ABDALLA: Precisely. What we have to understand is that homosexuality is seen as a sin. It does not take a person out of the fold. So it doesn’t become out of the fold of Islam. It is like in Islamic tradition it is very much like alcoholism, if you like. And so people like this should not be seen as outside of the fold. Compassion should be showed toward them. But the culture we have - many Muslims have grown up in cultures that does not tolerate that behaviour. And so we have to have a compassionate approach. We have to approach them...
Note the silence that greets his pronouncement in the video and ponder wisely. "People like this should not be seen outside of the fold." He is talking of gay muslims. He's already waffled about how the islamic teaching is applicable to muslims only (it's not, it's for the whole of the world), and doesn't expand upon what islamic teaching says should be done about homosexuals.
O12.1 The legal penalty is obligatorily imposed upon anyone who fornicates or commits sodomy (A: provided it is legally established) when they:
(a) have reached puberty;
(b) are sane;
(c) and commit the act voluntarily;
no matter whether the person is a Muslim, non-Muslim subject of the Islamic state, or someone who has left Islam.
And what is the penalty (also from the Reliance)?
p17.0 Sodomy and Lesbian persuasion
p17.1 In more than one place in the Holy Koran, Allah tells the tale of the people of Lot, and how he destroyed them because of their perverted practices. There is agreement amongst both Muslims and the followers of other religions that the practice of sodomy is an abomination. It is even more abominable than adultery.
p17.2 Allah, He who is Most High, says :
“"Of all the creatures in the world, will ye approach males,
"And leave those whom Allah has created for you to be your mates? Nay, ye are a people transgressing [all limits]!"
26.165-166”
p17.3 The Prophet (may Allah’s blessings and Peace be upon Him) has said:
(1) “Kill the sodomites and those who consent to submit.”
(2) “May Allah damn to perdition those who do what Lot’s people did”
(3) “Lesbian practice by women is adultery amongst them.”
Remind me again why Queers for Palestine is a thing, and take the blinkers off your own eyes. Sure you won't like what you see - especially in the mirror - but at least it will be honest for a change.
Ah, no, but that won't happen. It's too easy to point at soft targets like Christians and Jews and sheeple who won't fight back, who do turn the other cheek.
Not like the muslims. We all know that when they threaten to behead someone there's a very real possibility that they'll attempt to do so.
Deep down, where nobody can see you, you know that those mean, bigoted islamophobes are right but you can't admit it to yourself.
I don't know if anyone else knows or cares, but I have just learned that Lawrence Auster passed from this life on Good Friday.
He wasn't someone that I corresponded with; he was a blogger that I read occasionally - because I had the tendency to get blogged down in his works. He had a lot of worthy and thought-provoking posts.
While it's sad and I am crying, it's also uplifting in a way that some will find difficult to understand.
Good Friday is a good day to die, especially when you have just been received into the Catholic Church.
[39] And one of those robbers who were hanged, blasphemed him, saying: If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. [40] But the other answering, rebuked him, saying: Neither dost thou fear God, seeing thou art condemned under the same condemnation?
[41] And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this man hath done no evil. [42] And he said to Jesus: Lord, remember me when thou shalt come into thy kingdom. [43] And Jesus said to him: Amen I say to thee, this day thou shalt be with me in paradise. [44] And it was almost the sixth hour; and there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. [45] And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst.Luke 23:39-45
(nb. Circe wrote this a week and a half ago, and I wanted to fill it up with links, as is my wont, before posting it. However, time is short and I can add links later.Please also note that Bolta has a good post on this also.)
IREA Islamic conference: Are Aborigines supporting Islam’s anti-black racist ideology?
The Islamic Research and Education Academy (ie Islamic propaganda and dawah) plans a huge meeting at the Victorian showgrounds on 15th/16th/17th March. According to their meeting in Sydney Rd on the 9th December, to plan this event some very unpleasant people are being invited to speak (eg AbdulRahman Al-Sudais, the imam of Mecca who called on allah to annihilate the Jews whom he said were ‘the grandsons of monkeys and pigs…and they also intend to use gullible Australians to promote their frightening ideology.
The claim is made the ‘we’ve got brothers and sisters from aboriginal backgrounds who have become muslim in the past 2 years ….. there are constant numbers who become muslims’
Here is a man who spends his life under armed guard. He has done so for years, and if you do a google image search of his name, there are very, very few candid snaps of this man who has managed to single-handedly demolish the idea that Australia is a free country.
We comment on car-b-ques and the taking over of the streets by muslims at prayer on fridays and the no-go zones in the banlieues.
What doesn't seem to get much comment is what response should there be to these actions?
We have a couple of ossified generations of former radicals enculturating our youth via the media and education organs of State, and politicians who are terrified to upset the prevailing atmosphere of moral cowardice.
The recent riots in Sydney are not the exception, they have become the norm.
Here in Melbournistan, for example, I have attended BDS demos with Colonel Neville, and on one occasion he was hit from behind. When he spoke with the police he was told that he was inciting the reaction and if he had a complaint he could head down the street to the police station.
On another occasion, when the Occupy Melbourne idiocy began, we were warned from going too near the City Square because they occupods wouldn't like my tshirt.
The police followed us around that day.
I guess a couple of white, middle-aged citizens are more of a danger to society than the riffraff who are regularly fired up by extreme politicking from the leftward side of the debate.
Those of us who do know our history, who do like to engage with more than the headlines, who watch the descent of our society into fear and mistrust and hidden anger, will not be surprised to see this:
The only question, apart from Vlad's, is what took so long?
For all the talk we hear about honouring different cultures, about respect and all the rest, this smacks a little of the NIMBY attitude, Austrian-style.
07/17/2012
Blow to Alpine Tradition Austrian Court Bans Cowbells After Noise Dispute
The sound of cowbells has left Austrian residents 'at the end of their tether.'
Cowbells are just as much a part of Alpine culture as yodelling and Lederhosen, but the constant clanging can be annoying. An Austrian court has ordered a farmer to remove the bells after residents complained they couldn't get any sleep.
Info
Next they'll be banning yodelling. In a ringing blow to Alpine tradition, an Austrian court on Tuesday banned cow bells from a field after residents complained they weren't get any sleep at night because of the endess clanging.
The owner of the cows had refused to remove the bells from his herd, arguing that they were traditional and had a generally calming effect.
But judge Erich Kundegraber visited the field near Stallhofen, a small town in the southeastern foothills of the Alps, population 3,000, and ruled in favor of the farmer's neighbors.
"They couldn't sleep anymore. They were at the end of their tether," he said, according to Austrian newspapers. Kundegraber could not be reached for comment on Tuesday.
The cows were free to roam the field at night and the noise was reportedly made worse by the scraping of their bells against a metal trough.
The ruling confirmed a May court decision which the farmer had appealed. The ruling stated: "Cattle are kept in an unacceptably disturbing way if the animals wearing cowbells are held in a rural area with scattered residential buildings within a fenced meadow and the animals cause a loud noise at night through the clanging of bells that disturbs the nocturnal peace of neighbors."
The court decided there was no need to give cows bells if they were in a fenced field, easily visible and not located in a mountain pasture. It added that cowbells weren't a traditional feature of rural residential areas.
The farmer will face a fine if he doesn't comply with the ruling.
Cowbells were originally used to help trace errant animals and to make it easier for the cows to stay close to each other in mountain pastures.
It remains unclear to what extent the ruling sets a precedent that could lead to the widespread removal of bells from cows across Austria.
cro -- with wire reports
If you've never heard of the NIMBYs, then you've survived those whose mantra is 'Not In My Backyard'. They are often close cousins to the Nanny Staters who are happy for people to renovate their house so long as it's in colours they approve of.
And never, ever consider removing that tree in the corner of your yard. It might not be a good look for the streetscape and the council will have something to say about that. Usually in the form of a hefty fine.
And all, no doubt, in the interest of 'social cohesion' and 'inclusion', whatever they mean.
It's not very inclusive when you are discriminating against a centuries-old local tradition, but that's probably not the way the debate is allowed to be framed.
Please leave your Political Correctness at the door. Freedom of speech and thought are mandatory.
Good grammar will be rewarded (although posting and drinking may impact upon this at times).
