2006-10-02 23:34 | fche blog seriously school shootings and flight 93
There is an interesting parallel between the recent spate of school shootings and the September 11 hijackings.
That is that, in both cases, the hijackees/victims were (a) physically disarmed by virtue of being there (in a school / on board an airplane) as well as (b) trained to cooperate with armed attackers. In both cases, the attackers were bent on murder/suicide, so the usual presumption of rationality on part of the attacker flew right out the window.
It seems to me that a new more violent reality is around us. Being a passive victim can no longer be assumed to be a good idea. Faith in the police as an effective rapid-response force is obviously unjustified. People need to realize that, when a life-threatening attack is underway, one has to be willing to act to defend oneself. One has to be willing to counter-attack or escape by any means necessary. This could extend to the standards of chivalry, where spontaneous heroes would throw themselves in front of a weapon to save others. No more emasculated males marching out of a misogynist maniac’s execution chamber, as happens time after time. We need more Todd Beamers, not just with terrorists, but also with violent criminals.
I wonder if this self-reliant sort of mentality can be revived in a populace trained to co-operate with violent attackers like muggers, rapists, home invaders, carjackers. I hope that it can – and that it doesn’t take too many more lives before it happens. Perhaps one day people will start to value again a heavily armed civilian population, with all the deterrent value such an empowered and self-confident citizenry would entail.