the price of our fear

The man shot dead in Stockwell tube station yesterday was not connected to the attempted bombings of London on July 21, police said tonight. Police said the shooting was a "tragedy" and they expressed "regret".
I bet his wife and kids regret it even more. Tragedy? I call it a crime.

Guardian story here. Thanks to B.W. Ventril of It's Time.

Comments

  1. allan23 July 2005 at 12:57

    The guy was chased, tripped and fell and was then pushed down on the ground by these non-uniformed men and shot five times at point blank range.

    Oops.

    ***

    So what should an innocent person do?

    Keep running and risk being shot to death?

    Or stop when told to stop risk being shot to death?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jason23 July 2005 at 12:58

    Totally agree. I mean tragedies are when something couldn't be helped. I mean the guy was shot in the head five times. Did the cop's hand cramp or something?

    Gimme a break!

    ReplyDelete
  3. laura k23 July 2005 at 13:07

    Oh god. That is so sickening. We're fighting barbaric and we are barbaric.

    We. Us. Them. Was the guy the cops murdered an us or a them?

    Interesting Gibson uses the words cojones. We could use a few less cojones in the decision-making process, and a few more brains.

    ReplyDelete
  4. laura k23 July 2005 at 13:08

    I mean tragedies are when something couldn't be helped.

    Exactly. We get this in NYC when the cops murder an innocent man. It's always a "tragedy". Bullshit! It's murder.

    ReplyDelete
  5. allan23 July 2005 at 13:45

    "Turns out he didn't have a bomb, and turns out he wasn't one of the four bombers Thursday ... as long as they get the five in the noggin of the right bomber boy. They do that and I'm fine."

    Just keep murdering them brown people. Sooner or later, we'll plug one that musta done something wrong sometime.

    So for the moment, all's well.

    Can't wait for Gibson's follow-up.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Kyle_From_Ottawa23 July 2005 at 14:33

    Don't forget this statement Gibson made either:

    "I love the way the Brits have 10 million cameras sticking up the nose of every citizen no matter where they are, except in the loo."

    So, lets see, its good that government can spy on you 24 hours a day, its good that the government cops can kill somebody innocent because he might have been guilty, its fine to lock people up in Gitmo and torture them, even if they just happened to be rounded up by some Afghan warlord for the reward money payed by the U.S. government, its good to be barbaric, and its great to be part of the moral majority.

    Exactly what is this "freedom" and "democracy" we're supposed to be defending anyway. If it's fine to abandon all principles and morals in its defence, then its not worth defending.

    ReplyDelete
  7. laura k23 July 2005 at 14:36

    Great post, Kyle.

    Perhaps the answer is "freedom for me and who gives a shit about anybody else".

    ReplyDelete
  8. Kyle_From_Ottawa23 July 2005 at 15:10

    "Just keep murdering them brown people. Sooner or later, we'll plug one that musta done something wrong sometime."

    The really stupid thing is that many Arabs could easily pass for white Europeans. The stereotypical Arab that people see in movies is usually played by hispanics (since you won't find a lot of Arab actors who will willingly portray themselves in such a degrading stereotype). And, surprise, surprise the man the police shot was actually Brazillian.

    ReplyDelete
  9. laura k23 July 2005 at 15:15

    And soon we'll be asked to believe that "race" (i.e., physical appearance) had nothing to do with this.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous23 July 2005 at 17:00

    Good point. I wonder what Gibson would have said had the guy turned out to be an American citizen?

    ReplyDelete
  11. laura k23 July 2005 at 17:15

    I wonder what Gibson would have said had the guy turned out to be an American citizen?

    Maybe something about letting cops do their jobs. Or the making omlettes / breaking eggs routine - you know, the unavoidable but unintentional consequences of TWOT.

    ReplyDelete
  12. James Redekop23 July 2005 at 17:26

    "Can you imagine the job of those cops? Tackle the guy wearing a vest bomb and hope your colleague is right behind with the gun to put five bullets in the noggin before he sets off the bomb."

    Yeah, real smart. That's why terrorists inventeds the "dead man switch" -- as long as he's alive and holding the trigger down, it's safe, but as soon as he lets go, *boom*.

    In other words, tackling and shooting -- not good tactics.

    "Five in the noggin is fine. Don't complain that sounds barbaric. We're fighting barbaric."

    That's kind of like fighting AIDS by injecting everyone with HIV.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Niobium23 July 2005 at 19:15

    What comes around, goes around. It'll come back to the cops who did this.

    The worst part--the absoulte tragedy-- of this whole horrible scenerio is I'm not surpised. I'm not.

    *Deep Sigh*

    ReplyDelete
  14. laura k23 July 2005 at 19:25

    What comes around, goes around. It'll come back to the cops who did this.

    Not necessarily. It might be nice to believe that, but the universe may not be so tidy.

    Yes, I'm not surprised either, and that is very, very sad, I agree.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous23 July 2005 at 22:18

    It's sad indeed. I wonder what was going through the minds of those murderers as they chased down and executed that man.

    The sad part is that all this reckless fear mongering has caused otherwise good people to do such a horrible thing.

    ReplyDelete

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