Cowardice the status quo?

[Mjolnir]

I was just curious as to when being a coward became the acceptable approach to situations. My girlfriends roommate told me a story about one of her friends watching a little girl be abducted the other day in his apartment complex. He called the cops, however that does not seem enough to me. No one in the entire complex went out and actually tried to stop the situation. When I got angry about it my girlfriend responded, " they could have had a gun" Exactly, that little girl certainly didn't have any way to protect herself and no one stepped up to do so. Why has society become so cowardly and why is it acceptable?

[kingnothingugm]

Sad but true. The typical response is "what about me?" He could have had a gun!? Those people SHOULD have had a gun. They don't make holsters large enough to hold police officers so why would anyone rely on them for protection? Arm yourselves and protect AT LEAST the children! Sorry for the rant. I know how you feel my friend.

[bcj1755]

Because the sheeple are brainwashed into thinking that they CANNOT defend themselves. That they must call the police for everything. That way, the sheeple become dependent on the gov't for everything. Well, no thank you. I can defend myself just fine. And I"m sorry to all the liberals, brainwashed minions, and Obamite whimps, but I would have interveined to stop that child from being abducted! "But they might have had a gun" Well good for them, I have one too! But mine is legal.

[mrkirker]

They don't make holsters large enough to hold police officers That's a GREAT response to anyone who asks, "Why would anyone want to carry a GUN!" I hope you don't mind if I 'borrow' . . . .

[kingnothingugm]

Originally Posted by mrkirker

They don't make holsters large enough to hold police officers That's a GREAT response to anyone who asks, "Why would anyone want to carry a GUN!" I hope you don't mind if I 'borrow' . . . .

Feel free. I can't claim that one though. I honestly can't quote the originator of the idea either. But I don't believe they would mind either.

[Deathbunny]

If enough people are watching, nobody'll do anything.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bystander_effect

People who actively decide to get involved are definately the minority.

[pickenup]

Originally Posted by bcj1755

Because the sheeple are brainwashed into thinking that they CANNOT defend themselves. That they must call the police for everything.

+1
The brainwashing is working.

[Ed K]

They fear lawsuit as well as being cowards wimps it should have been their kid maybe next time it will be. Call the cops call a lawyer not necessarly in that order

[358 winchester]

With or without a gun legal or not I do believe I would have stepped up and helped the child. Now as for the abductors, we have gators around here that need to be feed.

[Mjolnir]

What is more irritating about the situation is that the guy who called the cops is evidently a black belt martial artist. What is the point of that training if you don't use it when needed?

[KING64]

I have no burning desire to be a hero but if confronted with a child abduction I am sure, armed or not (and 90% of the time I am armed) I would have made efforts to thwart the abductor's efforts. I cannot imagine standing by watching and listening to a child's screams as someone attempts to pull them away. Put myself in harm's way? I suppose, but rather that than live with the consequences of my inaction. How would one feel if the child's mutilated body was later found and you had not taken any action to stop the dirt bag?

[bcj1755]

Originally Posted by KING64

I have no burning desire to be a hero but if confronted with a child abduction I am sure, armed or not (and 90% of the time I am armed) I would have made efforts to thwart the abductor's efforts. I cannot imagine standing by watching and listening to a child's screams as someone attempts to pull them away. Put myself in harm's way? I suppose, but rather that than live with the consequences of my inaction. How would one feel if the child's mutilated body was later found and you had not taken any action to stop the dirt bag?

Mutilated body. That's what I'm thinking will be the outcome of that sorry sadsack display of spinlessness. That poor little girl will probably be raped, tortured, and killed. I hope those p****** can live with that for the rest of their miserable, useless, coward lives.

[Mjolnir]

The horrible state of our country is quickly wearing down my sanity.

[TranterUK]

Comments from people who have been in harms way please?

I have, and its not always black and white. If unarmed would you rush to help a young lady being assaulted? Bang! Would you stay back and call the cops? Too late. Military people, wounded exposed to enemy fire. Go get them? Depends on a lot, armour available? wait for dark? call for smoke? too late. Cowardice? I would think very carefully before using the term.

Now bravery is a much better term. My uncle, an Army doctor in Korea got decorated for treating wounded soldiers while exposed to enemy fire. Remaining with them rather than retire to safety. Never mentioned it once that I remember. A very brave and modest man who never fired a shot in anger, and used to play with my toys when he came round.

[4EvrLearning]

Thank you for your wisdom, insights and points to ponder, Tranter. Very few things in life are black and white issues. I suppose if they were, life would be a whole lot simpler.

Your uncle sounds like a wonderful man of honor; what a blessing to have had his example in your life.

[Mjolnir]

Thanks for an educated input Tranter. You helped bring down my blood presure and put a little perspective on things. Still it's a disturbing situation to have heard of and further reflects the degradation of our society. Who needs protection if not the children?

[GunHugger]

I think the bigger problem is that many people won't even defend themselves. They have no concept of it. They don't understand a person that has a CCW, or even a person that owns guns. If attacked they hope the police are near. If they are home and someone is breaking in their door, they call the police and hope. It never enters their mind..."if I had a gun to defend myself and my family..." In their twisted logic they think if all guns are banned they will somehow be safe. It's nuts.

That's the problem.

Everything is backwards...mexican drug gangs threaten US citizens in the US. Our government's solution....keep guns away from the US citizens, ban those evil black scary guns. It's nut I tell ya.

[TranterUK]

Originally Posted by Mjolnir

Thanks for an educated input Tranter. You helped bring down my blood presure and put a little perspective on things. Still it's a disturbing situation to have heard of and further reflects the degradation of our society. Who needs protection if not the children?

Your blood pressure is down, mine went up! The children you mention, a real sore point with me. I one saw a most dreadful sight, it was children and I was in tears. Too late to help you see, still makes me shiver, for real. Since then I support the NSPCC a children's charity here in the UK. I made Gold supporter!

Because your right, who needs protection if not the children, the innocents.

4Evr, wisdom? Ha, thanks but badly mis placed. There are many on this very forum with more than I can hope to achieve. No false modesty, I mean it. I have some experience to draw on, more than many, less than some. That's about it.

Oh and that Uncle. Your right, a fine example. Long since passed away but still here. I remember him riding my bicycle, far too small for him! A lovely and gentle man.

[delta13soultaker]

Originally Posted by TranterUK

Comments from people who have been in harms way please?

Military people, wounded exposed to enemy fire. Go get them?

Depends on a lot, armour available?

wait for dark? call for smoke? too late.

Cowardice? I would think very carefully before using the term.

At the small unit level...go get them. If you're assaulting, then you must return for them after objectives are secured. But you get them however you can...

....Lay down smoke for close concealment, suppress the enemy with direct and indirect fires, maneuver on the enemy as a distraction, use multiple vehicles to cover and extract casualties.

Anything you do will probably be wrong, including doing nothing, so just do something.

At the larger unit level (field grade), leaders must make hard decisions, to include waiting until other objectives are satisfied before an effort is sent to assist losses inside the area of operations. I saw this happen in 2004 with a lot of loss of American lives, Soldiers and contractors, and it was a hard pill to swallow.


On the child abduction thing, I agree with what's already been said. People have been pacified.

I was in a college class where an assignment was to find an attention grabbing media article and dissect what made it hold attention. I chose an article about a lady who was killed and police arrived 48 minutes after the 911 call. (It was an article link from this forum I used; Some will remember it, Brittany Zimmerman.)

On a sidebar about the article, several people said things to the affect of, "Police should take these calls more serious" "An oversight should be placed to fix the 911 system" "There should be more police."

"It is sad that there is no national standard for 911 operators and how human error can destroy so much. It was that one or two people's error that caused that young women's life. I am not leaving out the fact that their was a killer he or she is to blame as well but the young women had a chance to survive and those humans error or lack of concern or miscommunication did not help."

"Compelling. I find it hard to believe the dispatcher did not hear any real concern. The evidence on tape should prove to be enough to press charges against the dispatcher and the force. New york is a busy place. I am sure there is a huge shortage in police services and that these type of calls happen often with the end result being minor. Then again, I think many crimes could be prevented if the calls were taken more seriously or responsed to in a timely manner."

"...it’s a sad story, but no dispatcher should ever have to analyze a 911call to determine an emergency or routine call. They will not hear every thing."

These are smart people with analytical minds, BUT not one of those who I corresponded with mentioned the fact that the woman was defenceless, so at anyone's mercy. It was the police department's fault. It was the dispatcher's fault.

When I mentioned that police stop murders about the same way that parachutes stop plane crash deaths, correspondence stopped. I guess this idea was new: Police help AFTER the crime has begun. But that means regular citizens have to actually take some responsibility for if they are or are not victimized. Holy crap!

We live in a country where a person calls 911 three times to report not being served what they want at McDonalds. (Fox News today)

Remember, we let LE get sued in civil court for shooting armed criminals, but we insist that LE be on point protecting us everywhere at every moment of the day or night. Emotions rule over logic apparently.

Cowardice? Yes. It is okay to say it. Our society has emasculated itself so thoroughly that we produce cowards from cradle to grave, which is ironic, because the one thing every coward has in common is the subconscious belief that he'll live forever.

[Mjolnir]

"because the one thing every coward has in common is the subconscious belief that he'll live forever."

Interesting thought. Going along that line of thought the people who risk their lives are the people who realize that they have to die sometime and decide they might as well die for a good cause.

[delta13soultaker]

Originally Posted by Mjolnir

"because the one thing every coward has in common is the subconscious belief that he'll live forever."

Interesting thought. Going along that line of thought the people who risk their lives are the people who realize that they have to die sometime and decide they might as well die for a good cause.

It's a simple question: What about my life is so important that it can't be risked to save a child from torture, humiliation, and death?

[bcj1755]

Originally Posted by delta13soultaker

It's a simple question: What about my life is so important that it can't be risked to save a child from torture, humiliation, and death?

Nothing about my life is so important that it couldn't be risked to save an innocent child. Not a damn thing! That's what pisses me off about this story! Most of us here would probably have done the right thing whether we were armed or not. But apparently we're the minority in this country now