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Quote of the Day: The Lady Who Wouldn’t Raise Her Fist
“Courage is being scared to death — and saddling up anyway.” — John Wayne
I started thinking about courage after I read a news account of a lady in a restaurant in DC who was harassed by a roving mob of Black Lives Matter fanatics.
They surrounded her and others in the restaurant and screamed that everyone must raise their fists to show solidarity with BLM. (Yes, this is America, 2020.) Everyone raised their fists except for one brave person, Lauren Victor (the lady in pink below), who refused to raise her fist.* They screamed within a few inches of her face. She still wouldn’t raise her fist.
I started wondering what I would have done. I hope I would not only refuse to raise my fist but that I would also tell the little fascists to go to hell.
That’s what I hope I would do. It’s hard to say what I would actually do without being in the shoes of Ms. Victor.
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*The story would have been better if Ms. Victor had been a brave conservative. Instead, she sympathized with BLM goals and had actually marched on its behalf numerous times. But these particular bullies got her hackles up when they tried to coerce her into raising her fist. So she refused.
One would hope that Ms. Victor’s enthusiasm for BLM would wane just a bit after she got home and gave this little episode some further thought.
Published in General
I think the story is better BECAUSE she was sympathetic to BLM (which sounds like a digestive disorder.) It further illustrates the blind fury of the mob.
Perhaps you’re right.
My answer to what I would have done would depend on if I was alone, with the guys or with the Mrs.
People really need to re-watch Cabaret. It captures the Nazi rise to power brilliantly. It was stuff like this that heralded it.
If BLM had any musical taste they could even borrow the music. Sadly I fear their anthem will be some garbage like Cardi.
But in another time and place, this would be their style.
SkipSul, that is a chilling song in a great movie.
The patrons should have imitated Casablanca and started to sing “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
I imagine the BLM thugs would have had to take a knee.
I saw the video. One fellow tried to intimidate her by getting right in her face. I hope I would have given him 3 seconds to move or bash him in the face. I hope.
In the face of dozens?
At this point the mobs feel justified in their violence, and any provocation would only set them off.
To offset the prior clip, something a bit more humorous.
Yes. In a restaurant with people all around. Pretty nervy, huh?
Wait a second @Buckpasser. It sounds like you’re living up to your name. Hmmm.
I would have taken them singing Les Marsailles (which I obviously can’t spell) at least.
Being of German descent on one side, I used to think about what I would have done as a German citizen in the thirties. When young, I, of course, thought I would be a brave fighter against Nazism. Later I sadly thought that I would probably have gone along.
I would not recommending going physical against a mob. It is better to get the restaurant management to get involved.
I would never do anything that increases the dangerous conditions for my wife (we’re 64). I would react differently if I was alone or with someone like me. It would also be different if I was a bit younger. Alas, I don’t possess the same punch I used to have.
They’re all wearing black shirts, just like the fascist mobs in Italy circa 1920-22.
Jordan Peterson, before he became famous, specialized in studying societies that became violent. I heard him in an interview years ago explaining how the good people of Germany came to wiping out Jewish citizens. He explained that you cannot get people to do bad things, until you convince them that the actions are actually good things. Then, people will virtue signal by doing those things. In Nazi Germany, Jews were declared to be “bad” and taking their stuff was “justice” and putting them in ghettos and train cars was just more “justice”. The same is happening with these Marxist BLM youths. They see their rioting and looting and mob intimidation as “justice” for some grievance and that those that oppose their sayings and actions are perpetuating “injustice” and force/intimidation is “justified” in confronting them. It is madness and a weakness of human psychology. There is no limiting principle to their behavior and they can only be stopped by clear-thinking people saying “no”.
I should read the book “Maps of Meaning” someday…
This is the fruit of the last 12 years, since Obama took office, of the Left constantly equating the Right with racism, fascism, authoritarianism, and other nonsense.
And this is abundantly clear in the rhetoric and actions of these mobs – they are absolutely convinced that they are out “fighting the fascists”, and they’ve been taught since the cradle that fascists are evil scum who deserve to die.
Their rhetoric is so bloody transparent: The only reason the Nazis came to power was that the “good people” were silent and did not stop them. YOU wouldn’t have let that happen, right? YOU would have punched the Nazis if you’d been there, right? Well, the Right are the Nazis of today! And YOU are not a bad person, right? So you won’t stand by and let them seize power, right? Good, go fight them!
It’s why you hear such utterly stupid rhetoric spewing from these thugs, claiming “America is more racist than it’s ever been!” They have to believe, in the core of their being, that there is a real crisis, and only their violence can halt it.
Yes, I’ve seen the video and good for Lauren Victor.
I like the way you think, and I plan to do that if this happens to me.
I should note too, though, that Trump’s own bombastic rhetoric, which is not only shallow and silly but utterly unmatched by how little he has actually done, and how deferential and / or powerless he has acted, nonetheless has only fed the Left’s fantasy that they have a war on their hands. Rather than defuse situations, he largely eggs on the nasty vitriol of the Left. Anyone with a lick of sense would see that the “danger” of Trump is ephemeral (else he’d have sent in the Army to fix Portland by now, and certainly deployed the Army on the streets of DC to keep these “peaceful” jackasses off the streets), but instead the Left has fixated on the bombast as the “proof” of the need for their righteous violence.
Can’t go wrong with a quotation of the Duke. This is the Quote of the Day. If you’d like to see quotations from earlier in the month, go here. If you have a quotation you would like to share or a situation you’d like to talk about where you could start it with a quotation, our September sign-up sheet awaits.
I hope I would have given them the finger and told them to f off.
I agree that this is a really difficult decision to make – especially when you are with others and have to make the decision quickly. I’m a wee bit older than you and never have punched anyone so doubt I would start now. But then again, I may not get the choice to not have to start fighting back. Remember in one of the early Avengers movies when the stalwart (probably Jewish) old guy stands up against Loki who’s asking everyone to kneel to him. He was good and Loki was bad. Good times.
Carry stink bombs in your handbag . Lots and lots of them.
Or a 9mm. These yahoos are really tightly wound up. It wouldn’t take a.lot for them to escalate.
By the way, I would never give in to any demands. Fist raised or any other “request”.
I don’t like big crowds in general. Angry mobs are legit terrifying. I can’t even imagine being on the receiving end of this. I’m not sure exactly what I would do but I’m guessing it wouldn’t be a profile in courage. Fortunately Mr. Charlotte is 6′-3″ and built like a linebacker, so people generally leave us alone.
So far, anyway.
Another reason for me not to go out. I would fear for my life and . . . well, you don’t want to know . . .
They wouldn’t like you when you fear for your life?
That mob looks like a bunch of fascist wussies.