Another hero of the Glasgow Airport attack was cabby Alex McIlveen, who was rewarded with a front page Daily Record headline reading "I kicked burning terrorist in the balls so hard I broke a tendon in my foot."
While reading that it struck me how many of the civilian heroes weren't born in the country where they performed their heroic acts. Three possibilities:
1. Russians and Syrians etc. are braver than Australians.
2. Many people today don't live in the country where they were born so the law of averages says that some of them will be potential heroes.
3. There is something about being in a foreign country that makes you more open to risking your life.
I suspect that 2 is most likely but I think it's plausible that people who move countries are more likely to be risk-takers. Entrepreneurs are more likely to migrate, and so (I think) are psychopaths.
Comforting to see Australia's "world-class" strict gun laws in action ~ Two ISIS-wannabe terrorists armed to the teeth with rifles, shotguns, and homemade bombs turn a peaceful Hanukkah celebration into a bloodbath, mowing down families while the on-scene cops, adorably equipped with nothing but handguns, contribute those charming "small pops" that wouldn't dent a tin can, let alone stop heavily armed fanatics raining hell from an elevated bridge.
How profoundly comforting for the disarmed citizenry.
Nearby police, badly outgunned and apparently content to play spectator until the cavalry arrives, leave brave civilians like Ahmed al Ahmed (charging unarmed to disarm a shooter, eating multiple bullets like a boss), Reuven Morrison (hurling bricks before getting murdered), Gefen Bitton (running back into the kill zone to help, now in a coma), and the Gurmans (wrestling guns bare-handed only to die heroes) to do the heavy lifting because, bless their hearts, the professionals are too angst riddled and underarmed to rush the bridge effectively.
And spare a thought for the delayed, ineffective response that forced these legends to improvise with narwhal tusks in past attacks or bare hands here, because when terrorists bring war rifles to a "gun-free" paradise, the cops' peashooters just don't cut it.
Massive eternal respect to the real heroes who saved lives with sheer guts. But isn't it just swell how gun control utopia reliably turns ordinary folks into mandatory first responders while the "experts" fiddle from afar?
Thank God for men with actual spines—civilians who step up when the state leaves them defenseless.
Yesterday I watched Piers Morgan interviewing Mosab Hassan Yousef, the son of a Hamas leader turned Israeli spy, defender of Jews and the west. Morgan [Lord, how I hate him] was trying to push the idea of double-standards: westerners were quick to attribute Islam as a motivating factor behind the father and son shooting spree but less so to attributing Ahmed al-Ahmend's heroism to his Muslim faith. Mosab gave a really interesting answer. He said: At the moment Ahmed al-Ahmed rushed at the shooter he wasn't a Muslim. Do you think he was thinking, 'I'm a Muslim'? No! At that moment he had no identity. He was just pure potential, pure humanity.
I have since thought a lot about that answer. I once fainted in a doctor's surgery and all I was conscious of was being in complete darkness, of the room spinning round and knowing only I hadn't always been there. I had no idea who I was, or even what kind of being I was. I was simply a consciousness trying to escape that black, spinning room. At some point I became aware of the doctor calling my name and I woke up sweating.
My point is that Mohab could well be right i.e. in times of emergency everything else drops away from us, including the identity we are generally so attached to. Then there is nothing left, only instinct and consciousness, like a leopard or a cockroach.
Google says the park is roughly 100 meters by 100 meters, which would be 10,000 square meters. 100 square meters is about the footprint of my house: a little over 1,000 square feet.
If you had typed "1,000 square feet," you would probably have realized that this would give each of the attendees less space than one square of my kitchen tile.
At the age of 66 I've gone back to school and am currently learning Functional Maths at evening school. Even so, I've gotta say that '100 squares metres in size' sounded perfectly reasonable to me. Maybe we haven't yet got to the lesson about 'picturing area'.
Also, knowing how many square feet your kitchen is is one of those things that non-Brits always know but we never do. It's only when we need it re-flooring that we think to measure it.
Not to be too nitpicky, but I think you meant "zenith" (highest point) instead of "nadir" (lowest point)? Anyway, thanks for your writings, and happy Christmas!
Another hero of the Glasgow Airport attack was cabby Alex McIlveen, who was rewarded with a front page Daily Record headline reading "I kicked burning terrorist in the balls so hard I broke a tendon in my foot."
While reading that it struck me how many of the civilian heroes weren't born in the country where they performed their heroic acts. Three possibilities:
1. Russians and Syrians etc. are braver than Australians.
2. Many people today don't live in the country where they were born so the law of averages says that some of them will be potential heroes.
3. There is something about being in a foreign country that makes you more open to risking your life.
I suspect that 2 is most likely but I think it's plausible that people who move countries are more likely to be risk-takers. Entrepreneurs are more likely to migrate, and so (I think) are psychopaths.
Ahmed saved a lot of Muslims from the depths of embarrassment and shame!
Comforting to see Australia's "world-class" strict gun laws in action ~ Two ISIS-wannabe terrorists armed to the teeth with rifles, shotguns, and homemade bombs turn a peaceful Hanukkah celebration into a bloodbath, mowing down families while the on-scene cops, adorably equipped with nothing but handguns, contribute those charming "small pops" that wouldn't dent a tin can, let alone stop heavily armed fanatics raining hell from an elevated bridge.
How profoundly comforting for the disarmed citizenry.
Nearby police, badly outgunned and apparently content to play spectator until the cavalry arrives, leave brave civilians like Ahmed al Ahmed (charging unarmed to disarm a shooter, eating multiple bullets like a boss), Reuven Morrison (hurling bricks before getting murdered), Gefen Bitton (running back into the kill zone to help, now in a coma), and the Gurmans (wrestling guns bare-handed only to die heroes) to do the heavy lifting because, bless their hearts, the professionals are too angst riddled and underarmed to rush the bridge effectively.
And spare a thought for the delayed, ineffective response that forced these legends to improvise with narwhal tusks in past attacks or bare hands here, because when terrorists bring war rifles to a "gun-free" paradise, the cops' peashooters just don't cut it.
Massive eternal respect to the real heroes who saved lives with sheer guts. But isn't it just swell how gun control utopia reliably turns ordinary folks into mandatory first responders while the "experts" fiddle from afar?
Thank God for men with actual spines—civilians who step up when the state leaves them defenseless.
Yesterday I watched Piers Morgan interviewing Mosab Hassan Yousef, the son of a Hamas leader turned Israeli spy, defender of Jews and the west. Morgan [Lord, how I hate him] was trying to push the idea of double-standards: westerners were quick to attribute Islam as a motivating factor behind the father and son shooting spree but less so to attributing Ahmed al-Ahmend's heroism to his Muslim faith. Mosab gave a really interesting answer. He said: At the moment Ahmed al-Ahmed rushed at the shooter he wasn't a Muslim. Do you think he was thinking, 'I'm a Muslim'? No! At that moment he had no identity. He was just pure potential, pure humanity.
I have since thought a lot about that answer. I once fainted in a doctor's surgery and all I was conscious of was being in complete darkness, of the room spinning round and knowing only I hadn't always been there. I had no idea who I was, or even what kind of being I was. I was simply a consciousness trying to escape that black, spinning room. At some point I became aware of the doctor calling my name and I woke up sweating.
My point is that Mohab could well be right i.e. in times of emergency everything else drops away from us, including the identity we are generally so attached to. Then there is nothing left, only instinct and consciousness, like a leopard or a cockroach.
If I wondered to start stabbing people the last place I would chose would be a place full of ex-cons with loads of armed police nearby.
If Usman Khan had decided a different place it could have been worse.
Apparently he had problems with his train and Jack Merritt helped him.
"an area roughly 100 square metres in size"
Google says the park is roughly 100 meters by 100 meters, which would be 10,000 square meters. 100 square meters is about the footprint of my house: a little over 1,000 square feet.
oh good point!
If you had typed "1,000 square feet," you would probably have realized that this would give each of the attendees less space than one square of my kitchen tile.
At the age of 66 I've gone back to school and am currently learning Functional Maths at evening school. Even so, I've gotta say that '100 squares metres in size' sounded perfectly reasonable to me. Maybe we haven't yet got to the lesson about 'picturing area'.
Also, knowing how many square feet your kitchen is is one of those things that non-Brits always know but we never do. It's only when we need it re-flooring that we think to measure it.
We try not to think about how many square metres our homes are as it would be too upsetting.
Not to be too nitpicky, but I think you meant "zenith" (highest point) instead of "nadir" (lowest point)? Anyway, thanks for your writings, and happy Christmas!
surely it's nadir if it's something bad
And Merry Christmas to you too!
You have a point -- the nadir of morality. Perhaps "peak" is better than "zenith".
Happy New Year, too!