Monday 2 December 2019

"We don't need another hero..."

I don't know about that.

I do know we don't need another Sean O'Grady, who - while everyone was praising the courage of the men who took on a terrorist with a fire extinguisher and narwhal tusk - was wringing his hands and pleading 'Leave it to the police..':
...is it entirely right for the public to react in this way? Usually the authorities tell people to leave dangerous criminals alone, and leave it to the authorities. On this occasion the suicide vest was false – but what, actually, if it was real? What if the very acts of selfless heroism by those who took the man down actually triggered a bomb that might otherwise not have exploded? Or had done so with still more deaths and casualties than if everyone had fled the scene instead? Or what if someone panicked and an innocent was attacked by a mob?
I looked up the term 'beta male'  in the dictionary, Sean. There wasn't a definition, though. There was just a photo of you.
...the authorities, if they want to preserve our safety, should give us a clearer more consistent advice in the event that we are caught up in such events. It is by no means clear what the right “right thing to do” actually is.
It was crystal clear to those people, one of whom was a convicted murderer.

12 comments:

MTG said...

Mr O'Grady is at the sharp end of political journalism, JuliaM. He continues to provide excellent coverage of terrorist attacks and offers his readers sufficient information to make up their own minds and provoke thoughtful discussion. His ORIGINAL thinking of which you are understandably envious, sets out very valid points re the mindset and tactics of future terrorists, which you may have failed to grasp.

If they less overwhelmed by his journalistic skills and considered his articles with reasonable thought, some 'beta female bloggers' could learn lessons from Mr O'Grady, dear.

DJ said...

It's the 'might otherwise not have exploded' thing that really pushes it into the winner's enclosure.

It's a bomb vest but not the exploding sort. More of a fashion statement, really.

I keep hearing Mila Joavich in Zoolander saying 'Semtex is soooo hawt right now'.

Anonymous said...

It transpired, did it not, that the London Bridge simply happened to be outside Fishmonger's Hall, and that Usman got into an argument about the catering, and stole the knives from the venue. i.e. he didn't carry them in (and it seems that there were two knives). I'm beginning to doubt the 'fake bomb' story too - why take a fake bomb vest to that sort of event?.

Now, don't get the idea that I'm not glad the little shit was offed. But as always, we don't get the full story. It seems to me likely that he got in a row about Halal or Haram with the catering, and because he's a nutter, he went berserk over that. They don't like the idea that ham or BLT sarnies have been cut by the same knife, or prepared by the same kitchen, as what they will eat, which sometimes means that they have to go hungry. Even sane (!) RoPpers can do that.

As for the two other fatalities, the girl and the boy, I think that they should get Darwin Awards for being stupid enough to mix in the company. My sympathies have somewhat evaporated when I discovered what they were up to. Left-wing touchy-feelly stuff with dangerous animals. I still feel sorry for their relatives, mind.

ivan said...

Now if the British public were allowed to carry guns without the loony left getting their knickers in a twist terrorists would have a very short life when they tried something.

Unfortunately that right has been taken away in order to make the public defenceless.

Sobers said...

" I still feel sorry for their relatives, mind."

Not so sorry for the ones who used the death of their son to make political points though.........

Doonhamer said...

Where is Cur ( the c is soft ) Craig Mackey when you need him to give a proper police response. Well worthy of a promotion and a Lordship.

Andrew Carey said...

My unreasonable view, without empathy for the relatives of the victims:
Why are these rehabilitation courses taking place in the most expensive big city in Europe? Hartlepool could do with the income from hosting this sort of thing in the function room of the rugby club.
Sure, there's going to be a conflict of sorts between people who previously had internationalist terroristic aspirations and local people who've generally got a little bit more time for weirdos, and this hasn't been tested properly in the wilds of the NE, but why bring people into central London for this sort of schit.

Anonymous said...

Sobers, I had a momentary misunderstanding of the point you made. The lad who was killed seems to have been a do-gooder of the sort that I, for one, won't miss much. Just desserts, I'd say.

selsey.steve said...

I think that those who kicked the sh*t out of the murderous bs'tard before he was deservedly shot dead all deserve a medal for bravery.
Just sayin'.

Sobers said...

"Sobers, I had a momentary misunderstanding of the point you made. The lad who was killed seems to have been a do-gooder of the sort that I, for one, won't miss much. Just desserts, I'd say."

The father of the man killed is a typical Leftist 'activist' type and immediately made statements attacking Boris Johnson for his response to the attack, and declaring that his son's death should not be used as an excuse for stiffer sentences and less lenient treatment of criminals. The Left never miss a chance to use a catastrophe to further their political ends, even the death of their own children (or in the case of Brendan Cox, his wife). Usman Khan was the creation of the Left, and him turning on one of them is no more a cause for sympathy from me than someone who takes a polar bear into their house and it attacks and kills them.

Dave Merritt is all over the Guardian today, of course.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/dec/02/jack-merritt-london-bridge-attack-dave-merritt

Anonymous said...

AC,
Hartlepool could, indeed, do with the income and, with a history, allegedly, of dealing with insurgents, may have been a more suitable venue. Anyone who has witnessed the behaviour of the attendees of the Hart Lane Day Care Centre on a Saturday afternoon, would confirm that armed Police would not have been necessary.
Penseivat

JuliaM said...

" His ORIGINAL thinking of which you are understandably envious..."

Yeah, you rumbled me, Melv. I aspire to be a cowardly do-gooder armchair general.

And I thought I concealed it so well..!

"It's a bomb vest but not the exploding sort. More of a fashion statement, really."

It's the zeitgeist, darhlink!

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7767413/Should-Topman-really-sell-mock-stab-vests-impressionable-teens-Campaigners-attack-fashion-house.html

"...and that Usman got into an argument about the catering, and stole the knives from the venue...."

I'm not sure anything like that has 'transpired' at all.

But hey, we've all been to catered events where the vol-au-vents are rubbish, so who hasn't thought of taping knives to their hands like a Pound Shop Wolverine and going on a rampage.

"Why are these rehabilitation courses taking place in the most expensive big city in Europe?"

Good question. Is it because the catering is better? ;)

"I think that those who kicked the sh*t out of the murderous bs'tard before he was deservedly shot dead all deserve a medal for bravery."

Me too, We'd better see that they get them.

"The father of the man killed is a typical Leftist 'activist' type..."

Isn't his five minutes of fame up yet?