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| Britain |
| Mark Steyn: Lessons for us from London in flames |
| 2011-08-16 |
| ...Big Government debauches not only a nation's finances but its human capital, too. ...one-fifth of children are raised in homes in which no adult works – in which the weekday ritual of rising, dressing and leaving for gainful employment is entirely unknown. One-tenth of the adult population has done not a day's work since Tony Blair took office on May 1, 1997. If you were born into such a household, you've been comprehensively "stimulated" into the dead-eyed zombies staggering about the streets this past week: pathetic inarticulate subhumans unable even to grunt the minimal monosyllables to BBC interviewers desperate to appease their pathologies. C'mon, we're not asking much: just a word or two about how it's all the fault of government "cuts" like the leftie columnists argue. And yet even that is beyond these baying beasts. ...Her Majesty's cowed and craven politically correct constabulary stand around with their riot shields and Robocop gear as young rioters lob concrete through store windows to steal the electronic toys which provide their only non-narcotic or alcoholic amusement. I chanced to be in Piccadilly for the springtime riots when the police failed to stop the mob from smashing the windows of the Ritz and other upscale emporia, so it goes without saying that they wouldn't lift a finger to protect less-prestigious private property from thugs. Some of whom are as young as 9 years old. And girls. Yet a police force all but entirely useless when it comes to preventing crime or maintaining public order has time to police everything else. When Sam Brown observed en passant to a mounted policeman on Cornmarket Street in Oxford, "Do you know your horse is gay?", he was surrounded within minutes by six officers and a fleet of patrol cars, handcuffed, tossed in the slammer overnight, and fined 80 pounds. ...This is the logical dead end of the Nanny State. When William Beveridge laid out his blueprint for the British welfare regime in 1942, his goal was the "abolition of want" to be accomplished by "co-operation between the State and the individual." In attempting to insulate the citizenry from life's vicissitudes, Sir William succeeded beyond his wildest dreams. As I write in my book: "Want has been all but abolished. Today, fewer and fewer Britons want to work, want to marry, want to raise children, want to lead a life of any purpose or dignity." |
| Posted by:g(r)omgoru |
| #28 Eric, I shall happily add you to my list of polite and charming mathematicians. I always attributed the nastiness to clever idiots lacking the key social skill of understanding that when one annoys others, they won,t let him play with their toys, and that isn,t worth the momentary amusement. Publish or perish is the ruination of academia, but I don,t doubt the outside world benefitted from your transfer. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2011-08-16 23:58 |
| #27 Obviously he was captured by the Russians and sent to a Gulag, where he was whipped daily by evil KGB agents who forced him to produce new and wonderful math which they then burned in front of him. And my work truck is an F-150. Did you know that sliding sideways down a hill toward a river in an F-150 at 50 mph at night during freaking winter is NOT a fun thing? But to it's credit, a little gas and proper steering straightened it out and I did not fly out into the river to land with a splash. So, while I might malign ford sometimes, I will give it the proper dues and note that it is a fine and comfy truck that has gotten me everywhere I needed to go, be there snow, ice, mud, or some bizarre combo thereof. Good truck. |
| Posted by: Silentbrick - Halliburton Lost Drill Bit Division 2011-08-16 20:30 |
| #26 TW, I used to be a mathematician: Publish or Perish, and I perished. I have known some amazingly nasty mathematicians in my time, and some who were just loud and forceful. I'm not giving names because it wouldn't do any good. My area of mathematics was Riemann Surfaces and Teichmüller Spaces; Teichmüller was a Nazi who published in the only Jüdenrein journal in mathematical history, and was MIA on the Russian front. |
| Posted by: Eric Jablow 2011-08-16 20:20 |
| #25 I once drove a fullsize Bronco crammed with 11 mens, wimmins and childrens (including the Navaho guide) through Canyon De Chelly without any major injuries. Something like that, Delirium Tremons Stve. |
| Posted by: Pollyandrew 2011-08-16 19:48 |
| #24 Don't give up Shakey Steve, listen to TW and approach RB with Humility. If you have an F-150 story that would be good too. |
| Posted by: S 2011-08-16 18:23 |
| #23 I say keep de Medici and boot Shakey |
| Posted by: Beavis 2011-08-16 18:14 |
| #22 I still prefer Oban, but I'd never turn down a glass of single malt. I already gave Simple Stevie the wishes that he'd seek professional medical help for his sad delusions, but it was a futile wish I'm sure. He'd rather wallow in stupidity and ignorance instead. Congratulations Stevie, you are now classified as vermin and therefore will be ignored as unworthy of notice. |
| Posted by: Silentbrick - Halliburton Lost Drill Bit Division 2011-08-16 18:11 |
| #21 Ahhhhhhhhhh, Laphroaig. Nectar of the gods. |
| Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 2011-08-16 18:02 |
| #20 Who wants to see de Medici vs. Shakey Steve in a steel-cage death match?!?!? I do. Ha ha. |
| Posted by: Scooter McGruder 2011-08-16 17:24 |
| #19 IP address can be changed like underwear. Back on topic.... A society that is given everything with nothing demanded in return will continue to demand more and more until there is nothing left to give. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2011-08-16 16:49 |
| #18 but I suppose he (it?) has a Canadian IP address Ottowa, Barbara. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2011-08-16 16:43 |
| #17 My hat's off to the magnificent bastard who created Shakey Steve since it caused us to examine and articulate the absurdity of the Left |
| Posted by: jack salami 2011-08-16 16:25 |
| #16 Canuckistan sniper, no need to apologize for an idiot just because he's (alas) a fellow countryman. I don't apologize for Bambi et al. We know he's not the real Canada. In fact, he sounds more like a left coast left-wing wanna-be who would be much happier in an echo chamber like the puffington host (or worse), but I suppose he (it?) has a Canadian IP address. More's the pity. |
| Posted by: Barbara 2011-08-16 16:21 |
| #15 By the way, it's not "Canuckistanian adult" but "Canuck adult"...unless in Winnipeg your taught to call Afghans "Afghanistanians"...which wouldn't surprise me... |
| Posted by: Shakey Steve 2011-08-16 16:10 |
| #14 "Ya know . . . this 15 year old Laphroaig is GREAT stuff!!" Can I have some of what your drinking? Clearly its altering your perception of reality... |
| Posted by: Shakey Steve 2011-08-16 16:06 |
| #13 People! Please! Remember rule #3: Don't feed the trolls. They thrive on recognition but wilt when ignored. Lacking attention they just . . . eventually . . . . go away. On behalf of all Canadians who, like me, have been enjoying the delights of 15 year old Laphroaig this afternoon, I wish to apologize for the behaviour and singular lack of manners that have been displayed by "Silly Steve" who claims to be a Canadian but doesn't act like one. His keyboard diarrehoea is NOT indicative of the thoughts of a thinking Canuckistanian adult, but rather is the result of an attention-requiring personality seeking fodder for its greatest psychological need. The pathology is quite clear. Ya know . . . this 15 year old Laphroaig is GREAT stuff!! |
| Posted by: Canuckistan sniper 2011-08-16 16:02 |
| #12 You go, tw! :-D |
| Posted by: Barbara 2011-08-16 15:49 |
| #11 Yes I am cuz, let me tell you, we don't want him... Posted by: Shakey Steve "We"? LOL you and your imaginary friends? |
| Posted by: Frank G on the road 2011-08-16 15:05 |
| #10 "Unless you are suggesting that the US government should force its citizenship upon him?" Yes I am cuz, let me tell you, we don't want him... |
| Posted by: Shakey Steve 2011-08-16 14:45 |
| #9 I don't find that funny at all. His choice, his prerogative. Unless you are suggesting that the US government should force its citizenship upon him? |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2011-08-16 14:38 |
| #8 Tut, tut, tw. You're letting him get to you. He seems to me like the kind of juvenile who thrives on attention and doesn't care how he gets it. Try ignoring him and maybe he'll go away. |
| Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 2011-08-16 14:32 |
| #7 What part of Mr. Steyn's statement is incorrect, Shakey? Entrepreneurship in Britain is down. Unemployment is up. The number of people on the dole is up. The marriage rate in Britain is down. The fertility rate is down in all groups except Muslims. And one really can't claim that people are living 'lives of purpose' when they're loot appliance stores. So tell me, what part did Mr. Steyn get wrong? |
| Posted by: Steve White 2011-08-16 14:28 |
| #6 Birth rates are higher, now? Illegitimacy rates are lower, now? Entrepreneurship and the work ethic are more dominant, now? Most importantly, there were more people on public assistance in the 1940's than now? Your data set is flawed, if you believe any of those things. All the facts point the other way. But don't let the facts interrupt your crappy little subhuman narrative. |
| Posted by: no mo uro 2011-08-16 14:18 |
| #5 Why do you insist on being rude and insulting when the same thing can be said without being rude and insulting, Shakey Steve? I know a number of physicists and mathematicians, and all of them, uniformly, are polite and charming. It can't be because you are merely an MS, as even the one who was all-but-dissertation, as they say, had those characteristics. Nor can it be because you are Canadian, as most of the Canadians I know are also polite and charming. So what the fuck is your excuse for acting like the kind of unmitigated, thirteen year old ass that prompted Mark Twain to prescribe nailing them all into a barrel, feeding them through the bung hold until they reached majority, then pounding in the bung? You shame every set you are part of by choosing such behavior when you are so capable of doing otherwise. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2011-08-16 14:11 |
| #4 What part of : This is the logical dead end of the Nanny State. When William Beveridge laid out his blueprint for the British welfare regime in 1942, his goal was the "abolition of want" to be accomplished by "co-operation between the State and the individual." In attempting to insulate the citizenry from life's vicissitudes, Sir William succeeded beyond his wildest dreams. As I write in my book: "Want has been all but abolished. Today, fewer and fewer Britons want to work, want to marry, want to raise children, want to lead a life of any purpose or dignity." is factually incorrect? |
| Posted by: no mo uro 2011-08-16 13:41 |
| #3 a police force all but entirely useless when it comes to preventing crime or maintaining public order has time to police everything else. There have been lots of comments on British websites about this pattern, and 'attitude' on the part of the police. One wrote of a middle-aged, middle-class Britisher asking a PC riding a bicycle in an area marked 'no bicycles', "Is bicycle riding allowed here?" The PC didn't answer the question and then threatened to arrest him for obstructing police business. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2011-08-16 12:52 |
| #2 I believe it is regarded as a sign of insanity to start quoting oneself, but at the risk of trying your patience I'll try one more, because it's the link between America's downgraded debt and Britain's downgraded citizenry: "The evil of such a system is not the waste of money but the waste of people." Big Government means small citizens: it corrodes the integrity of a people, catastrophically. Within living memory, the city in flames on our TV screens every night governed a fifth of the Earth's surface and a quarter of its population. When you're imperialists on that scale, there are bound to be a few mishaps along the way. But nothing the British Empire did to its subject peoples has been as total and catastrophic as what a post-great Britain did to its own. There are lessons for all of us there. Unfortunately nobody (besides us and TeaPartiers) are interested in listening... |
| Posted by: CrazyFool in the Philippines 2011-08-16 07:26 |
| #1 There is no Truth and there is no God. Values are relative. It all depends on what you "feel" is right "for you". There is no right and wrong and if it feels good why, then.... do it. All that Judeo-Christian BS is for nerds and suckers. Everybody owes it to me. I want what's fair, I want more. And i don't want a job. All the rules are just made up anyway, right? There IS no one and nothing over the individuals decision about what they think is good for them personally. And what is good for an individual is his own self interest. I can attack you in the street and take what you have because I want it. There ain't no right and wrong. Shut up and give me your wallet and take off your clothes. And gays are just as good as everybody else. Sometimes they are better. What's wrong with a whole lifestyle that revolves around MY penis, anyway? God is just made up and its all baloney. Gimme...and be quick about it. Rules are for suckers and I have my "rights". Work is for suckers too. You can't tell ME what to do, I have my "rights". But we all have "rights"...based on nothing, of course, except "what's fair"...which is another way of saying what we find most advantageous to our self interests. If we "get some" for nuthin'.... then of course, that's what's "fair". You diss off to ME, mofo..... and I will burn your house down and take everything you have.I dont think any of the gay cops should carry guns anyway, it might interfere with my "rights". See you in Church, Dwayne. |
| Posted by: de Medici 2011-08-16 06:51 |